Pulumi is a platform that emphasizes the use of code to manage infrastructure, specifically highlighting its application in deploying Docker containers. The text outlines how Pulumi allows developers to write infrastructure as software by leveraging general-purpose programming languages like TypeScript, which facilitates code reuse, abstraction, and encapsulation. By defining Docker resources in code, Pulumi enables the creation and management of containers, such as a Redis instance and its management interface, Redis Commander, without relying on YAML. This flexibility extends to production environments, where Pulumi can abstract the deployment of these containers across different systems, including AWS ElastiCache, local Docker setups, or Kubernetes clusters. Pulumi's approach integrates software engineering practices, such as testing and error detection within IDEs, into infrastructure management, offering an open-source and versatile solution compatible with various cloud providers.