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nerdctl: Docker-compatible CLI for containerd

nerdctl is a Docker-compatible CLI for containerd.

✅ Same UI/UX as docker

✅ Supports Docker Compose (nerdctl compose up)

✅ Supports rootless mode

✅ Supports lazy-pulling (Stargz)

✅ Supports encrypted images (ocicrypt)

✅ Supports P2P image distribution (IPFS)

✅ Supports container image signing and verifying (cosign)

nerdctl is a non-core sub-project of containerd.

Examples

Basic usage

To run a container with the default CNI network (10.4.0.0/24):

# nerdctl run -it --rm alpine

To build an image using BuildKit:

# nerdctl build -t foo /some-dockerfile-directory
# nerdctl run -it --rm foo

To build and send output to a local directory using BuildKit:

# nerdctl build -o type=local,dest=. /some-dockerfile-directory

To run containers from docker-compose.yaml:

# nerdctl compose -f ./examples/compose-wordpress/docker-compose.yaml up

See also ./examples/compose-wordpress.

Debugging Kubernetes

To list Kubernetes containers:

# nerdctl --namespace k8s.io ps -a

Rootless mode

To launch rootless containerd:

$ containerd-rootless-setuptool.sh install

To run a container with rootless containerd:

$ nerdctl run -d -p 8080:80 --name nginx nginx:alpine

See ./docs/rootless.md.

Install

Binaries are available here: https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/releases

In addition to containerd, the following components should be installed (optional):

CNI plugins: for using nerdctl run.
CNI isolation plugin: for isolating bridge networks (nerdctl network create)
BuildKit: for using nerdctl build. BuildKit daemon (buildkitd) needs to be running.
RootlessKit and slirp4netns: for Rootless mode
- RootlessKit needs to be v0.10.0 or later. v0.14.1 or later is recommended.
- slirp4netns needs to be v0.4.0 or later. v1.1.7 or later is recommended.

These dependencies are included in nerdctl-full-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz, but not included in nerdctl-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz.

Brew

On Linux systems you can install nerdctl via brew:

brew install nerdctl

This is currently not supported for macOS. The section below shows how to install on macOS using brew.

macOS

Lima project provides Linux virtual machines for macOS, with built-in integration for nerdctl.

$ brew install lima
$ limactl start
$ lima nerdctl run -d --name nginx -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 nginx:alpine

FreeBSD

See ./docs/freebsd.md.

Windows

Linux containers: Known to work on WSL2
Windows containers: experimental support for Windows (see below for features that are currently known to work)

Docker

To run containerd and nerdctl inside Docker:

docker build -t nerdctl .
docker run -it --rm --privileged nerdctl

Motivation

The goal of nerdctl is to facilitate experimenting the cutting-edge features of containerd that are not present in Docker.

Such features include, but not limited to, on-demand image pulling (lazy-pulling) and image encryption/decryption.

Note that competing with Docker is not the goal of nerdctl. Those cutting-edge features are expected to be eventually available in Docker as well.

Also, nerdctl might be potentially useful for debugging Kubernetes clusters, but it is not the primary goal.

Features present in `nerdctl` but not present in Docker

Major:

On-demand image pulling (lazy-pulling) using Stargz Snapshotter: nerdctl --snapshotter=stargz run IMAGE .
Image encryption and decryption using ocicrypt (imgcrypt): nerdctl image (encrypt|decrypt) SRC DST
P2P image distribution using IPFS: nerdctl run ipfs://CID
Recursive read-only (RRO) bind-mount: nerdctl run -v /mnt:/mnt:rro (make children such as /mnt/usb to be read-only, too). Requires kernel >= 5.12, and crun >= 1.4 or runc >= 1.1 (PR #3272).
Cosign integration: nerdctl pull --verify=cosign and nerdctl push --sign=cosign

Minor:

Namespacing: nerdctl --namespace=<NS> ps . (NOTE: All Kubernetes containers are in the k8s.io containerd namespace regardless to Kubernetes namespaces)
Exporting Docker/OCI dual-format archives: nerdctl save .
Importing OCI archives as well as Docker archives: nerdctl load .
Specifying a non-image rootfs: nerdctl run -it --rootfs <ROOTFS> /bin/sh . The CLI syntax conforms to Podman convention.
Connecting a container to multiple networks at once: nerdctl run --net foo --net bar
Running FreeBSD jails.
Better multi-platform support, e.g., nerdctl pull --all-platforms IMAGE
Applying an (existing) AppArmor profile to rootless containers: nerdctl run --security-opt apparmor=<PROFILE>. Use sudo nerdctl apparmor load to load the nerdctl-default profile.

Trivial:

Inspecting raw OCI config: nerdctl container inspect --mode=native .

Similar tools

ctr: incompatible with Docker CLI, and not friendly to users. Notably, ctr lacks the equivalents of the following nerdctl commands:
- nerdctl run -p <PORT>
- nerdctl run --restart=always --net=bridge
- nerdctl pull with ~/.docker/config.json and credential helper binaries such as docker-credential-ecr-login
- nerdctl logs
- nerdctl build
- nerdctl compose up
crictl: incompatible with Docker CLI, not friendly to users, and does not support non-CRI features
k3c v0.2 (abandoned): needs an extra daemon, and does not support non-CRI features
Rancher Kim (nee k3c v0.3): needs Kubernetes, and only focuses on image management commands such as kim build and kim push
PouchContainer (abandoned?): needs an extra daemon

Developer guide

nerdctl is a containerd non-core sub-project, licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. As a containerd non-core sub-project, you will find the:

information in our containerd/project repository.

Compiling nerdctl from source

Run make && sudo make install.

Using go install github.com/containerd/nerdctl/cmd/nerdctl is possible, but unrecommended because it does not fill version strings printed in nerdctl version

Test suite

Running unit tests

Run go test -v ./pkg/...

Running integration test suite against nerdctl

Run go test -exec sudo -v ./cmd/nerdctl/... after make && sudo make install.

For testing rootless mode, -exec sudo is not needed.

To run tests in a container:

docker build -t test-integration --target test-integration .
docker run -t --rm --privileged test-integration

Running integration test suite against Docker

Run go test -exec sudo -v ./cmd/nerdctl/... -args test.target=docker to ensure that the test suite is compatible with Docker.

Contributing to nerdctl

Lots of commands and flags are currently missing. Pull requests are highly welcome.

Please certify your Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO), by signing off your commit with git commit -s and with your real name.

Command reference

🐳 = Docker compatible

🤓 = nerdctl specific

🟦 = Windows enabled

Unlisted docker CLI flags are unimplemented yet in nerdctl CLI. It does not necessarily mean that the corresponding features are missing in containerd.

Run & Exec
- 🐳 🟦 nerdctl run
- 🐳 🟦 nerdctl exec
Container management
Build
- 🐳 nerdctl build
- 🐳 nerdctl commit
Image management
Registry
- 🐳 nerdctl login
- 🐳 nerdctl logout
Network management
Volume management
Namespace management
- 🤓 🟦 nerdctl namespace ls
AppArmor profile management
System
Stats
- 🐳 nerdctl stats
- 🐳 nerdctl top
Shell completion
Compose
IPFS management
Global flags
Unimplemented Docker commands
Additional documents

Container management

🐳 🟦 nerdctl run

Run a command in a new container.

Usage: nerdctl run [OPTIONS] IMAGE [COMMAND] [ARG...]

🤓 ipfs:// prefix can be used for IMAGE to pull it from IPFS. See /docs/ipfs.md for details.

Basic flags:

🐳 🟦 -i, --interactive: Keep STDIN open even if not attached"
🐳 🟦 -t, --tty: Allocate a pseudo-TTY
- ⚠️ WIP: currently -t requires -i, and conflicts with -d
🐳 🟦 -d, --detach: Run container in background and print container ID
🐳 --restart=(no|always): Restart policy to apply when a container exits
- Default: "no"
- ⚠️ No support for on-failure and unless-stopped
🐳 --rm: Automatically remove the container when it exits
🐳 --pull=(always|missing|never): Pull image before running
- Default: "missing"
🐳 --pid=(host): PID namespace to use

Platform flags:

🐳 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Set platform

Network flags:

🐳 --net, --network=(bridge|host|none|<CNI>): Connect a container to a network
- Default: "bridge"
- 🤓 Unlike Docker, this flag can be specified multiple times (--net foo --net bar)
🐳 -p, --publish: Publish a container's port(s) to the host
🐳 --dns: Set custom DNS servers
🐳 -h, --hostname: Container host name
🐳 --add-host: Add a custom host-to-IP mapping (host:ip)

Cgroup flags:

🐳 --cpus: Number of CPUs
🐳 --cpu-shares: CPU shares (relative weight)
🐳 --cpuset-cpus: CPUs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
🐳 --memory: Memory limit
🐳 --pids-limit: Tune container pids limit
🤓 --cgroup-conf: Configure cgroup v2 (key=value)
🐳 blkio-weight: Block IO (relative weight), between 10 and 1000, or 0 to disable (default 0)
🐳 --cgroupns=(host|private): Cgroup namespace to use
- Default: "private" on cgroup v2 hosts, "host" on cgroup v1 hosts
🐳 --device: Add a host device to the container

User flags:

🐳 🟦 -u, --user: Username or UID (format: <name|uid>[:<group|gid>])

Security flags:

🐳 --security-opt seccomp=<PROFILE_JSON_FILE>: specify custom seccomp profile
🐳 --security-opt apparmor=<PROFILE>: specify custom AppArmor profile
🐳 --security-opt no-new-privileges: disallow privilege escalation, e.g., setuid and file capabilities
🐳 --cap-add=<CAP>: Add Linux capabilities
🐳 --cap-drop=<CAP>: Drop Linux capabilities
🐳 --privileged: Give extended privileges to this container

Runtime flags:

🐳 --runtime: Runtime to use for this container, e.g. "crun", or "io.containerd.runsc.v1".
🐳 --sysctl: Sysctl options, e.g "net.ipv4.ip_forward=1"

Volume flags:

🐳 🟦 -v, --volume <SRC>:<DST>[:<OPT>]: Bind mount a volume, e.g., -v /mnt:/mnt:rro,rprivate
- 🐳 option rw : Read/Write (when writable)
- 🐳 option ro : Non-recursive read-only
- 🤓 option rro: Recursive read-only. Should be used in conjunction with rprivate. e.g., -v /mnt:/mnt:rro,rprivate makes children such as /mnt/usb to be read-only, too. Requires kernel >= 5.12, and crun >= 1.4 or runc >= 1.1 (PR #3272). With older runc, rro just works as ro.
- 🐳 option shared, slave, private: Non-recursive "shared" / "slave" / "private" propagation
- 🐳 option rshared, rslave, rprivate: Recursive "shared" / "slave" / "private" propagation
🐳 --tmpfs: Mount a tmpfs directory

Rootfs flags:

🐳 --read-only: Mount the container's root filesystem as read only
🤓 --rootfs: The first argument is not an image but the rootfs to the exploded container. Corresponds to Podman CLI.

Env flags:

🐳 🟦 --entrypoint: Overwrite the default ENTRYPOINT of the image
🐳 🟦 -w, --workdir: Working directory inside the container
🐳 🟦 -e, --env: Set environment variables
🐳 🟦 --env-file: Set environment variables from file

Metadata flags:

🐳 🟦 --name: Assign a name to the container
🐳 🟦 -l, --label: Set meta data on a container
🐳 🟦 --label-file: Read in a line delimited file of labels
🐳 🟦 --cidfile: Write the container ID to the file
🤓 --pidfile: file path to write the task's pid. The CLI syntax conforms to Podman convention.

Shared memory flags:

🐳 --shm-size: Size of /dev/shm

GPU flags:

🐳 --gpus: GPU devices to add to the container ('all' to pass all GPUs). Please see also ./docs/gpu.md for details.

Ulimit flags:

🐳 --ulimit: Set ulimit

Verify flags:

🤓 --verify: Verify the image (none|cosign). See docs/cosign.md for details.
🤓 --cosign-key: Path to the public key file, KMS, URI or Kubernetes Secret for --verify=cosign

Other docker run flags are on plan but unimplemented yet.

Clicke here to show all the `docker run` flags (Docker 20.10)

Usage:  docker run [OPTIONS] IMAGE [COMMAND] [ARG...]

Run a command in a new container

Options:
      --add-host list                  Add a custom host-to-IP mapping (host:ip)
  -a, --attach list                    Attach to STDIN, STDOUT or STDERR
      --blkio-weight uint16            Block IO (relative weight), between 10 and 1000, or 0 to disable (default 0)
      --blkio-weight-device list       Block IO weight (relative device weight) (default [])
      --cap-add list                   Add Linux capabilities
      --cap-drop list                  Drop Linux capabilities
      --cgroup-parent string           Optional parent cgroup for the container
      --cgroupns string                Cgroup namespace to use (host|private)
                                       'host':    Run the container in the Docker host's cgroup namespace
                                       'private': Run the container in its own private cgroup namespace
                                       '':        Use the cgroup namespace as configured by the
                                                  default-cgroupns-mode option on the daemon (default)
      --cidfile string                 Write the container ID to the file
      --cpu-period int                 Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) period
      --cpu-quota int                  Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) quota
      --cpu-rt-period int              Limit CPU real-time period in microseconds
      --cpu-rt-runtime int             Limit CPU real-time runtime in microseconds
  -c, --cpu-shares int                 CPU shares (relative weight)
      --cpus decimal                   Number of CPUs
      --cpuset-cpus string             CPUs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
      --cpuset-mems string             MEMs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
  -d, --detach                         Run container in background and print container ID
      --detach-keys string             Override the key sequence for detaching a container
      --device list                    Add a host device to the container
      --device-cgroup-rule list        Add a rule to the cgroup allowed devices list
      --device-read-bps list           Limit read rate (bytes per second) from a device (default [])
      --device-read-iops list          Limit read rate (IO per second) from a device (default [])
      --device-write-bps list          Limit write rate (bytes per second) to a device (default [])
      --device-write-iops list         Limit write rate (IO per second) to a device (default [])
      --disable-content-trust          Skip image verification (default true)
      --dns list                       Set custom DNS servers
      --dns-option list                Set DNS options
      --dns-search list                Set custom DNS search domains
      --domainname string              Container NIS domain name
      --entrypoint string              Overwrite the default ENTRYPOINT of the image
  -e, --env list                       Set environment variables
      --env-file list                  Read in a file of environment variables
      --expose list                    Expose a port or a range of ports
      --gpus gpu-request               GPU devices to add to the container ('all' to pass all GPUs)
      --group-add list                 Add additional groups to join
      --health-cmd string              Command to run to check health
      --health-interval duration       Time between running the check (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
      --health-retries int             Consecutive failures needed to report unhealthy
      --health-start-period duration   Start period for the container to initialize before starting health-retries countdown (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
      --health-timeout duration        Maximum time to allow one check to run (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
      --help                           Print usage
  -h, --hostname string                Container host name
      --init                           Run an init inside the container that forwards signals and reaps processes
  -i, --interactive                    Keep STDIN open even if not attached
      --ip string                      IPv4 address (e.g., 172.30.100.104)
      --ip6 string                     IPv6 address (e.g., 2001:db8::33)
      --ipc string                     IPC mode to use
      --isolation string               Container isolation technology
      --kernel-memory bytes            Kernel memory limit
  -l, --label list                     Set meta data on a container
      --label-file list                Read in a line delimited file of labels
      --link list                      Add link to another container
      --link-local-ip list             Container IPv4/IPv6 link-local addresses
      --log-driver string              Logging driver for the container
      --log-opt list                   Log driver options
      --mac-address string             Container MAC address (e.g., 92:d0:c6:0a:29:33)
  -m, --memory bytes                   Memory limit
      --memory-reservation bytes       Memory soft limit
      --memory-swap bytes              Swap limit equal to memory plus swap: '-1' to enable unlimited swap
      --memory-swappiness int          Tune container memory swappiness (0 to 100) (default -1)
      --mount mount                    Attach a filesystem mount to the container
      --name string                    Assign a name to the container
      --network network                Connect a container to a network
      --network-alias list             Add network-scoped alias for the container
      --no-healthcheck                 Disable any container-specified HEALTHCHECK
      --oom-kill-disable               Disable OOM Killer
      --oom-score-adj int              Tune host's OOM preferences (-1000 to 1000)
      --pid string                     PID namespace to use
      --pids-limit int                 Tune container pids limit (set -1 for unlimited)
      --platform string                Set platform if server is multi-platform capable
      --privileged                     Give extended privileges to this container
  -p, --publish list                   Publish a container's port(s) to the host
  -P, --publish-all                    Publish all exposed ports to random ports
      --pull string                    Pull image before running ("always"|"missing"|"never") (default "missing")
      --read-only                      Mount the container's root filesystem as read only
      --restart string                 Restart policy to apply when a container exits (default "no")
      --rm                             Automatically remove the container when it exits
      --runtime string                 Runtime to use for this container
      --security-opt list              Security Options
      --shm-size bytes                 Size of /dev/shm
      --sig-proxy                      Proxy received signals to the process (default true)
      --stop-signal string             Signal to stop a container (default "SIGTERM")
      --stop-timeout int               Timeout (in seconds) to stop a container
      --storage-opt list               Storage driver options for the container
      --sysctl map                     Sysctl options (default map[])
      --tmpfs list                     Mount a tmpfs directory
  -t, --tty                            Allocate a pseudo-TTY
      --ulimit ulimit                  Ulimit options (default [])
  -u, --user string                    Username or UID (format: <name|uid>[:<group|gid>])
      --userns string                  User namespace to use
      --uts string                     UTS namespace to use
  -v, --volume list                    Bind mount a volume
      --volume-driver string           Optional volume driver for the container
      --volumes-from list              Mount volumes from the specified container(s)
  -w, --workdir string                 Working directory inside the container

🐳 🟦 nerdctl exec

Run a command in a running container.

Usage: nerdctl exec [OPTIONS] CONTAINER COMMAND [ARG...]

Flags:

🐳 -i, --interactive: Keep STDIN open even if not attached
🐳 -t, --tty: Allocate a pseudo-TTY
- ⚠️ WIP: currently -t requires -i, and conflicts with -d
🐳 -d, --detach: Detached mode: run command in the background
🐳 -w, --workdir: Working directory inside the container
🐳 -e, --env: Set environment variables
🐳 --env-file: Set environment variables from file
🐳 --privileged: Give extended privileges to the command
🐳 -u, --user: Username or UID (format: <name|uid>[:<group|gid>])

Unimplemented docker exec flags: --detach-keys

🐳 🟦 nerdctl create

Create a new container.

Usage: nerdctl create [OPTIONS] IMAGE [COMMAND] [ARG...]

🤓 ipfs:// prefix can be used for IMAGE to pull it from IPFS. See /docs/ipfs.md for details.

The nerdctl create command similar to nerdctl run -d except the container is never started. You can then use the nerdctl start <container_id> command to start the container at any point.

🐳 🟦 nerdctl ps

List containers.

Usage: nerdctl ps [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -a, --all: Show all containers (default shows just running)
🐳 --no-trunc: Don't truncate output
🐳 -q, --quiet: Only display container IDs
🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template
- 🐳 --format=table (default): Table
- 🐳 --format='{{json .}}': JSON
- 🤓 --format=wide: Wide table
- 🤓 --format=json: Alias of --format='{{json .}}'
🐳 -n, --last: Show n last created containers (includes all states)
🐳 -l, --latest: Show the latest created container (includes all states)

Unimplemented docker ps flags: --filter, --size

🐳 🟦 nerdctl inspect

Display detailed information on one or more containers.

Usage: nerdctl inspect [OPTIONS] NAME|ID [NAME|ID...]

Flags:

🤓 --mode=(dockercompat|native): Inspection mode. "native" produces more information.
🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

Unimplemented docker inspect flags: --size, --type

🐳 nerdctl logs

Fetch the logs of a container.

⚠️ Currently, only containers created with nerdctl run -d are supported.

Usage: nerdctl logs [OPTIONS] CONTAINER

Flags:

🐳 --f, --follow: Follow log output
🐳 --since: Show logs since timestamp (e.g. 2013-01-02T13:23:37Z) or relative (e.g. 42m for 42 minutes)
🐳 --until: Show logs before a timestamp (e.g. 2013-01-02T13:23:37Z) or relative (e.g. 42m for 42 minutes)
🐳 -t, --timestamps: Show timestamps
🐳 -n, --tail: Number of lines to show from the end of the logs (default "all")

Unimplemented docker logs flags: --details

🐳 nerdctl port

List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container.

Usage: nerdctl port CONTAINER [PRIVATE_PORT[/PROTO]]

🐳 nerdctl rm

Remove one or more containers.

Usage: nerdctl rm [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Flags:

🐳 -f, --force: Force the removal of a running|paused|unknown container (uses SIGKILL)
🐳 -v, --volumes: Remove anonymous volumes associated with the container

Unimplemented docker rm flags: --link

🐳 nerdctl stop

Stop one or more running containers.

Usage: nerdctl stop [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Flags:

🐳 -t, --time=SECONDS: Seconds to wait for stop before killing it (default "10")

🐳 nerdctl start

Start one or more running containers.

Usage: nerdctl start [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Unimplemented docker start flags: --attach, --checkpoint, --checkpoint-dir, --detach-keys, --interactive

🐳 nerdctl restart

Restart one or more running containers.

Usage: nerdctl restart [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Flags:

🐳 -t, --time=SECONDS: Seconds to wait for stop before killing it (default "10")

🐳 nerdctl wait

Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes.

Usage: nerdctl wait CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

🐳 nerdctl kill

Kill one or more running containers.

Usage: nerdctl kill [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Flags:

🐳 -s, --signal: Signal to send to the container (default: "KILL")

🐳 nerdctl pause

Pause all processes within one or more containers.

Usage: nerdctl pause CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

🐳 nerdctl unpause

Unpause all processes within one or more containers.

Usage: nerdctl unpause CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]

Build

🐳 nerdctl build

Build an image from a Dockerfile.

ℹ️ Needs buildkitd to be running.

Usage: nerdctl build [OPTIONS] PATH

Flags:

🤓 --buildkit-host=<BUILDKIT_HOST>: BuildKit address
🐳 -t, --tag: Name and optionally a tag in the 'name:tag' format
🐳 -f, --file: Name of the Dockerfile
🐳 --target: Set the target build stage to build
🐳 --build-arg: Set build-time variables
🐳 --no-cache: Do not use cache when building the image
🐳 --output=OUTPUT: Output destination (format: type=local,dest=path)
🐳 --progress=(auto|plain|tty): Set type of progress output (auto, plain, tty). Use plain to show container output
🐳 --secret: Secret file to expose to the build: id=mysecret,src=/local/secret
🐳 --ssh: SSH agent socket or keys to expose to the build (format: default|<id>[=<socket>|<key>[,<key>]])
🐳 -q, --quiet: Suppress the build output and print image ID on success
🐳 --cache-from=CACHE: External cache sources (eg. user/app:cache, type=local,src=path/to/dir) (compatible with docker buildx build)
🐳 --cache-to=CACHE: Cache export destinations (eg. user/app:cache, type=local,dest=path/to/dir) (compatible with docker buildx build)
🐳 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Set target platform for build (compatible with docker buildx build)
🐳 --iidfile=FILE: Write the image ID to the file
🤓 --ipfs: Build image with pulling base images from IPFS. See ./docs/ipfs.md for details.
🐳 --label: Set metadata for an image

Unimplemented docker build flags: --add-host, --network, --squash

🐳 nerdctl commit

Create a new image from a container's changes

Usage: nerdctl commit [OPTIONS] CONTAINER [REPOSITORY[:TAG]]

Flags:

🐳 -a, --author: Author (e.g., "nerdctl contributor nerdctl-dev@example.com")
🐳 -m, --message: Commit message
🐳 -c, --change: Apply Dockerfile instruction to the created image (only CMD directive is supported)

Unimplemented docker commit flags: --pause

Image management

🐳 🟦 nerdctl images

List images

⚠️ The image ID is usually different from Docker image ID.

Usage: nerdctl images [OPTIONS] [REPOSITORY[:TAG]]

Flags:

🐳 -a, --all: Show all images (unimplemented)
🐳 -q, --quiet: Only show numeric IDs
🐳 --no-trunc: Don't truncate output
🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template
🐳 --digests: Show digests (compatible with Docker, unlike ID)

Unimplemented docker images flags: --filter

🐳 🟦 nerdctl pull

Pull an image from a registry.

Usage: nerdctl pull [OPTIONS] NAME[:TAG|@DIGEST]

🤓 ipfs:// prefix can be used for NAME to pull it from IPFS. See /docs/ipfs.md for details.

Flags:

🐳 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Pull content for a specific platform
- 🤓 Unlike Docker, this flag can be specified multiple times (--platform=amd64 --platform=arm64)
🤓 --all-platforms: Pull content for all platforms
🤓 --unpack: Unpack the image for the current single platform (auto/true/false)
🐳 -q, --quiet: Suppress verbose output
🤓 --verify: Verify the image (none|cosign). See docs/cosign.md for details.
🤓 --cosign-key: Path to the public key file, KMS, URI or Kubernetes Secret for --verify=cosign

Unimplemented docker pull flags: --all-tags, --disable-content-trust (default true)

🐳 nerdctl push

Push an image to a registry.

Usage: nerdctl push [OPTIONS] NAME[:TAG]

🤓 ipfs:// prefix can be used for NAME to push it to IPFS. See /docs/ipfs.md for details.

Flags:

🤓 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Push content for a specific platform
🤓 --all-platforms: Push content for all platforms
🤓 --sign: Sign the image (none|cosign). See docs/cosign.md for details.
🤓 --cosign-key: Path to the private key file, KMS, URI or Kubernetes Secret for --sign=cosign

Unimplemented docker push flags: --all-tags, --disable-content-trust (default true), --quiet

🐳 nerdctl load

Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN.

🤓 Supports both Docker Image Spec v1.2 and OCI Image Spec v1.0.

Usage: nerdctl load [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -i, --input: Read from tar archive file, instead of STDIN
🤓 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Import content for a specific platform
🤓 --all-platforms: Import content for all platforms

Unimplemented docker load flags: --quiet

🐳 nerdctl save

Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)

🤓 The archive implements both Docker Image Spec v1.2 and OCI Image Spec v1.0.

Usage: nerdctl save [OPTIONS] IMAGE [IMAGE...]

Flags:

🐳 -o, --output: Write to a file, instead of STDOUT
🤓 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Export content for a specific platform
🤓 --all-platforms: Export content for all platforms

🐳 nerdctl tag

Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE.

Usage: nerdctl tag SOURCE_IMAGE[:TAG] TARGET_IMAGE[:TAG]

🐳 nerdctl rmi

Remove one or more images

Usage: nerdctl rmi [OPTIONS] IMAGE [IMAGE...]

Flags:

🤓 --async: Asynchronous mode
🐳 -f, --force: Ignore removal errors
- ⚠️ WIP: currently, images are always forcibly removed, even when --force is not specified.

Unimplemented docker rmi flags: --no-prune

🐳 nerdctl image inspect

Display detailed information on one or more images.

Usage: nerdctl image inspect [OPTIONS] NAME|ID [NAME|ID...]

Flags:

🤓 --mode=(dockercompat|native): Inspection mode. "native" produces more information.
🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}
🤓 --platform=(amd64|arm64|...): Inspect a specific platform

🤓 nerdctl image convert

Convert an image format.

e.g., nerdctl image convert --estargz --oci example.com/foo:orig example.com/foo:esgz

Usage: nerdctl image convert [OPTIONS] SOURCE_IMAGE[:TAG] TARGET_IMAGE[:TAG]

Flags:

--estargz : convert legacy tar(.gz) layers to eStargz for lazy pulling. Should be used in conjunction with '--oci'
--estargz-record-in=<FILE> : read ctr-remote optimize --record-out=<FILE> record file. ⚠️ This flag is experimental and subject to change.
--estargz-compression-level=<LEVEL>: eStargz compression level (default: 9)
--estargz-chunk-size=<SIZE> : eStargz chunk size
--zstdchunked : Use zstd compression instead of gzip (a.k.a zstd:chunked). Should be used in conjunction with '--oci'
--uncompress : convert tar.gz layers to uncompressed tar layers
--oci : convert Docker media types to OCI media types
--platform=<PLATFORM> : convert content for a specific platform
--all-platforms : convert content for all platforms (default: false)

🤓 nerdctl image encrypt

Encrypt image layers. See ./docs/ocicrypt.md.

Usage: nerdctl image encrypt [OPTIONS] SOURCE_IMAGE[:TAG] TARGET_IMAGE[:TAG]

Example:

openssl genrsa -out mykey.pem
openssl rsa -in mykey.pem -pubout -out mypubkey.pem
nerdctl image encrypt --recipient=jwe:mypubkey.pem --platform=linux/amd64,linux/arm64 foo example.com/foo:encrypted
nerdctl push example.com/foo:encrypted

⚠️ CAUTION: This command only encrypts image layers, but does NOT encrypt container configuration such as Env and Cmd. To see non-encrypted information, run nerdctl image inspect --mode=native --platform=PLATFORM example.com/foo:encrypted .

Flags:

--recipient=<RECIPIENT> : Recipient of the image is the person who can decrypt (e.g., jwe:mypubkey.pem)
--dec-recipient=<RECIPIENT> : Recipient of the image; used only for PKCS7 and must be an x509 certificate
--key=<KEY>[:<PWDESC>] : A secret key's filename and an optional password separated by colon, PWDDESC=|pass:|fd=|filename
--gpg-homedir=<DIR> : The GPG homedir to use; by default gpg uses ~/.gnupg
--gpg-version=<VERSION> : The GPG version ("v1" or "v2"), default will make an educated guess
--platform=<PLATFORM> : Convert content for a specific platform
--all-platforms : Convert content for all platforms (default: false)

🤓 nerdctl image decrypt

Decrypt image layers. See ./docs/ocicrypt.md.

Usage: nerdctl image decrypt [OPTIONS] SOURCE_IMAGE[:TAG] TARGET_IMAGE[:TAG]

Example:

nerdctl pull --unpack=false example.com/foo:encrypted
nerdctl image decrypt --key=mykey.pem example.com/foo:encrypted foo:decrypted

Flags:

--dec-recipient=<RECIPIENT> : Recipient of the image; used only for PKCS7 and must be an x509 certificate
--key=<KEY>[:<PWDESC>] : A secret key's filename and an optional password separated by colon, PWDDESC=|pass:|fd=|filename
--gpg-homedir=<DIR> : The GPG homedir to use; by default gpg uses ~/.gnupg
--gpg-version=<VERSION> : The GPG version ("v1" or "v2"), default will make an educated guess
--platform=<PLATFORM> : Convert content for a specific platform
--all-platforms : Convert content for all platforms (default: false)

Registry

🐳 nerdctl login

Log in to a Docker registry.

Usage: nerdctl login [OPTIONS] [SERVER]

Flags:

🐳 -u, --username: Username
🐳 -p, --password: Password
🐳 --password-stdin: Take the password from stdin

🐳 nerdctl logout

Log out from a Docker registry

Usage: nerdctl logout [SERVER]

Network management

🐳 nerdctl network create

Create a network

ℹ️ To isolate CNI bridge, CNI isolation plugin needs to be installed.

Usage: nerdctl network create [OPTIONS] NETWORK

Flags:

🐳 --subnet: Subnet in CIDR format that represents a network segment, e.g. "10.5.0.0/16"
🐳 --label: Set metadata on a network

Unimplemented docker network create flags: --attachable, --aux-address, --config-from, --config-only, --driver, --gateway, --ingress, --internal, --ip-range, --ipam-driver, --ipam-opt, --ipv6, --opt, --scope

🐳 nerdctl network ls

List networks

Usage: nerdctl network ls [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -q, --quiet: Only display network IDs
🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template
- 🐳 --format=table (default): Table
- 🐳 --format='{{json .}}': JSON
- 🤓 --format=wide: Alias of --format=table
- 🤓 --format=json: Alias of --format='{{json .}}'

Unimplemented docker network ls flags: --filter, --no-trunc

🐳 nerdctl network inspect

Display detailed information on one or more networks

Usage: nerdctl network inspect [OPTIONS] NETWORK [NETWORK...]

Flags:

🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

Unimplemented docker network inspect flags: --verbose

🐳 nerdctl network rm

Remove one or more networks

Usage: nerdctl network rm NETWORK [NETWORK...]

Volume management

🐳 nerdctl volume create

Create a volume

Usage: nerdctl volume create [OPTIONS] [VOLUME]

Flags:

🐳 --label: Set metadata for a volume

Unimplemented docker volume create flags: --driver, --opt

🐳 nerdctl volume ls

List volumes

Usage: nerdctl volume ls [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -q, --quiet: Only display volume names
🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template
- 🐳 --format=table (default): Table
- 🐳 --format='{{json .}}': JSON
- 🤓 --format=wide: Alias of --format=table
- 🤓 --format=json: Alias of --format='{{json .}}'

Unimplemented docker volume ls flags: --filter

🐳 nerdctl volume inspect

Display detailed information on one or more volumes

Usage: nerdctl volume inspect [OPTIONS] VOLUME [VOLUME...]

Flags:

🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

🐳 nerdctl volume rm

Remove one or more volumes

Usage: nerdctl volume rm [OPTIONS] VOLUME [VOLUME...]

🐳 -f, --force: Force the removal of one or more volumes
- ⚠️ WIP: currently, volumes are always forcibly removed, even when --force is not specified.

Namespace management

🤓 🟦 nerdctl namespace ls

List containerd namespaces such as "default", "moby", or "k8s.io".

Usage: nerdctl namespace ls [OPTIONS]

Flags:

-q, --quiet: Only display namespace names

AppArmor profile management

🤓 nerdctl apparmor inspect

Display the default AppArmor profile "nerdctl-default". Other profiles cannot be displayed with this command.

Usage: nerdctl apparmor inspect

🤓 nerdctl apparmor load

Load the default AppArmor profile "nerdctl-default". Requires root.

Usage: nerdctl apparmor load

🤓 nerdctl apparmor ls

List the loaded AppArmor profile

Usage: nerdctl apparmor ls [OPTIONS]

Flags:

-q, --quiet: Only display volume names
--format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

🤓 nerdctl apparmor unload

Unload an AppArmor profile. The target profile name defaults to "nerdctl-default". Requires root.

Usage: nerdctl apparmor unload [PROFILE]

System

🐳 nerdctl events

Get real time events from the server.

⚠️ The output format is not compatible with Docker.

Usage: nerdctl events [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

Unimplemented docker events flags: --filter, --since, --until

🐳 nerdctl info

Display system-wide information

Usage: nerdctl info [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -f, --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

🐳 nerdctl version

Show the nerdctl version information

Usage: nerdctl version [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -f, --format: Format the output using the given Go template, e.g, {{json .}}

Stats

🐳 nerdctl stats

Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics.

Usage: nerdctl stats [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -a, --all: Show all containers (default shows just running)
🐳 --format=FORMAT: Pretty-print images using a Go template, e.g., {{json .}}
🐳 --no-stream: Disable streaming stats and only pull the first result
🐳 --no-trunc : Do not truncate output

🐳 nerdctl top

Display the running processes of a container.

Usage: nerdctl top CONTAINER [ps OPTIONS]

Shell completion

🤓 nerdctl completion bash

Generate the autocompletion script for bash.

Usage: add the following line to ~/.bash_profile:

source <(nerdctl completion bash)

Or run nerdctl completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/nerdctl as the root.

🤓 nerdctl completion zsh

Generate the autocompletion script for zsh.

Usage: see nerdctl completion zsh --help

🤓 nerdctl completion fish

Generate the autocompletion script for fish.

Usage: see nerdctl completion fish --help

🤓 nerdctl completion powershell

Generate the autocompletion script for powershell.

Usage: see nerdctl completion powershell --help

Compose

🐳 nerdctl compose

Compose

Usage: nerdctl compose [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

Flags:

🐳 -f, --file: Specify an alternate compose file
🐳 -p, --project-name: Specify an alternate project name

🐳 nerdctl compose up

Create and start containers

Usage: nerdctl compose up [OPTIONS] [SERVICE...]

Flags:

🐳 -d, --detach: Detached mode: Run containers in the background
🐳 --no-build: Don't build an image, even if it's missing.
🐳 --no-color: Produce monochrome output
🐳 --no-log-prefix: Don't print prefix in logs
🐳 --build: Build images before starting containers.
🤓 --ipfs: Build images with pulling base images from IPFS. See ./docs/ipfs.md for details.
🐳 --quiet-pull: Pull without printing progress information
🐳 --scale: Scale SERVICE to NUM instances. Overrides the scale setting in the Compose file if present.

Unimplemented docker-compose up (V1) flags: --no-deps, --force-recreate, --always-recreate-deps, --no-recreate, --no-start, --abort-on-container-exit, --attach-dependencies, --timeout, --renew-anon-volumes, --remove-orphans, --exit-code-from

Unimplemented docker compose up (V2) flags: --environment

🐳 nerdctl compose logs

Create and start containers

Usage: nerdctl compose logs [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 --no-color: Produce monochrome output
🐳 --no-log-prefix: Don't print prefix in logs
🐳 --timestamps: Show timestamps
🐳 --tail: Number of lines to show from the end of the logs

Unimplemented docker compose build (V2) flags: --since, --until

🐳 nerdctl compose build

Build or rebuild services.

Usage: nerdctl compose build [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 --build-arg: Set build-time variables for services
🐳 --no-cache: Do not use cache when building the image
🐳 --progress: Set type of progress output (auto, plain, tty)
🤓 --ipfs: Build images with pulling base images from IPFS. See ./docs/ipfs.md for details.

Unimplemented docker-compose build (V1) flags: --compress, --force-rm, --memory, --no-rm, --parallel, --pull, --quiet

🐳 nerdctl compose down

Remove containers and associated resources

Usage: nerdctl compose down [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🐳 -v, --volumes: Remove named volumes declared in the volumes section of the Compose file and anonymous volumes attached to containers

Unimplemented docker-compose down (V1) flags: --rmi, --remove-orphans, --timeout

🐳 nerdctl compose ps

List containers of services

Usage: nerdctl compose ps

Unimplemented docker-compose ps (V1) flags: --quiet, --services, --filter, --all

Unimplemented docker compose ps (V2) flags: --format, --status

🐳 nerdctl compose pull

Pull service images

Usage: nerdctl compose pull

Flags:

🐳 -q, --quiet: Pull without printing progress information

Unimplemented docker-compose pull (V1) flags: --ignore-pull-failures, --parallel, --no-parallel, include-deps

🐳 nerdctl compose push

Push service images

Usage: nerdctl compose push

Unimplemented docker-compose pull (V1) flags: --ignore-push-failures

🐳 nerdctl compose config

Validate and view the Compose file

Usage: nerdctl compose config

Flags:

🐳 -q, --quiet: Pull without printing progress information
🐳 --services: Print the service names, one per line.
🐳 --volumes: Print the volume names, one per line.
🐳 --hash="*": Print the service config hash, one per line.

Unimplemented docker-compose config (V1) flags: --resolve-image-digests, --no-interpolate

Unimplemented docker compose config (V2) flags: --resolve-image-digests, --no-interpolate, --format, --output, --profiles

🐳 nerdctl compose kill

Force stop service containers

Usage: nerdctl compose kill

Flags:

🐳 -s, --signal: SIGNAL to send to the container (default: "SIGKILL")

IPFS management

🤓 nerdctl ipfs registry up

Start read-only local registry backed by IPFS. See ./docs/ipfs.md for details.

Usage: nerdctl ipfs registry up [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🤓 --listen-registry: Address to listen (default localhost:5050)

🤓 nerdctl ipfs registry down

Stop and remove read-only local registry backed by IPFS. See ./docs/ipfs.md for details.

Usage: nerdctl ipfs registry down

🤓 nerdctl ipfs registry serve

Serve read-only registry backed by IPFS on localhost. Use nerdctl ipfs registry up.

Usage: nerdctl ipfs registry serve [OPTIONS]

Flags:

🤓 --ipfs-address: Multiaddr of IPFS API (default is pulled from $IPFS_PATH/api file. If $IPFS_PATH env var is not present, it defaults to ~/.ipfs).
🤓 --listen-registry: Address to listen (default localhost:5050).

Global flags

🤓 🟦 --address: containerd address, optionally with "unix://" prefix
🤓 🟦 -a, --host, -H: deprecated aliases of --address
🤓 🟦 --namespace: containerd namespace
🤓 🟦 -n: deprecated alias of --namespace
🤓 🟦 --snapshotter: containerd snapshotter
🤓 🟦 --storage-driver: deprecated alias of --snapshotter
🤓 🟦 --cni-path: CNI binary path (default: /opt/cni/bin) [$CNI_PATH]
🤓 🟦 --cni-netconfpath: CNI netconf path (default: /etc/cni/net.d) [$NETCONFPATH]
🤓 🟦 --data-root: nerdctl data root, e.g. "/var/lib/nerdctl"
🤓 --cgroup-manager=(cgroupfs|systemd|none): cgroup manager
- Default: "systemd" on cgroup v2 (rootful & rootless), "cgroupfs" on v1 rootful, "none" on v1 rootless
🤓 --insecure-registry: skips verifying HTTPS certs, and allows falling back to plain HTTP

The global flags can be also specified in /etc/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml (rootful) and ~/.config/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml (rootless). See ./docs/config.md.

Unimplemented Docker commands

Container management:

docker attach
docker cp
docker diff
docker rename
docker container prune
docker checkpoint *

Image:

docker export and docker import
docker history
docker image prune
docker trust * (Instead, nerdctl supports nerdctl pull --verify=cosign and nerdctl push --sign=cosign. See ./docs/cosign.md.)
docker manifest *

Network management:

docker network connect
docker network disconnect
docker network prune

Registry:

docker search

Compose:

docker-compose create|events|exec|images|pause|port|restart|rm|run|scale|start|stop|top|unpause

Others:

docker system df
docker system prune
docker context
Swarm commands are unimplemented and will not be implemented: docker swarm|node|service|config|secret|stack *
Plugin commands are unimplemented and will not be implemented: docker plugin *

Additional documents

Configuration guide:

./docs/config.md: Configuration (/etc/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml, ~/.config/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml)
./docs/registry.md: Registry authentication (~/.docker/config.json)

Basic features:

./docs/compose.md: Compose
./docs/rootless.md: Rootless mode

Advanced features:

./docs/stargz.md: Lazy-pulling using Stargz Snapshotter
./docs/ocicrypt.md: Running encrypted images
./docs/gpu.md: Using GPUs inside containers
./docs/multi-platform.md: Multi-platform mode

Experimental features:

./docs/experimental.md: Experimental features
./docs/freebsd.md: Running FreeBSD jails
./docs/ipfs.md: Distributing images on IPFS

Implementation details:

./docs/dir.md: Directory layout (/var/lib/nerdctl)

Misc:

./docs/faq.md: FAQs and Troubleshooting

License

ekmixon/nerdctl

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