apptainer-pull

Download container images from remote registries.

TLDR

Pull a container from Docker Hub

$ apptainer pull [path/to/image.sif] docker://[image]:[tag]

Pull a container from the Container Library

$ apptainer pull [path/to/image.sif] library://[user/collection/container]:[tag]

Pull a container from an OCI registry

$ apptainer pull [path/to/image.sif] oras://[registry/namespace/image]:[tag]

Pull a container for a specific architecture

$ apptainer pull --arch [amd64|arm64|ppc64le] [path/to/image.sif] library://[image]:[tag]

Force overwrite an existing image file

$ apptainer pull -F [path/to/image.sif] docker://[image]:[tag]

Pull a container as a writable sandbox directory

$ apptainer pull --sandbox [path/to/directory] docker://[image]:[tag]

Pull a container without using the cache

$ apptainer pull --disable-cache [path/to/image.sif] docker://[image]:[tag]

SYNOPSIS

apptainer pull [options] [output] URI

apptainer pull downloads container images from remote registries and converts them to the SIF (Singularity Image Format). Supported sources include Docker Hub (docker://), the Sylabs Container Library (library://), OCI registries (oras://), Shub (shub://), and HTTP/HTTPS URLs.Downloaded images are cached locally to speed up subsequent operations. The resulting SIF file is portable and can be run on any system with Apptainer installed.

PARAMETERS

--arch architecture

Pull image for a specific CPU architecture.

--arch-variant variant

Pull image for a specific architecture variant (e.g., 6 for armv6).

-F, --force

Overwrite an existing local image file.

--sandbox

Create a writable directory instead of a SIF file.

--disable-cache

Do not use or update the image cache.

--no-https

Use HTTP instead of HTTPS for downloads.

--dir path

Download images to the specified directory.

CONFIGURATION

/etc/apptainer/apptainer.conf

Main configuration file controlling cache directories, registry defaults, and download behavior.

CAVEATS

Large images may take significant time and bandwidth to download. Docker images are converted on-the-fly which can add overhead. Some Docker images may not convert perfectly due to differences in runtime expectations.