nerdctl

docker-compatible CLI for containerd, the industry-standard container runtime

TLDR

List all containers (running and stopped)

$ nerdctl ps -a

Run a container with custom name

$ nerdctl run --name [container_name] [image]

Start or stop a container

$ nerdctl start [container_name]

$ nerdctl stop [container_name]

Pull an image from registry

$ nerdctl pull [image]

List downloaded images

$ nerdctl images

Execute interactive shell in container

$ nerdctl exec -it [container_name] sh

Remove stopped containers

$ nerdctl rm [container1] [container2]

View logs of a container

$ nerdctl logs -f [container_name]

SYNOPSIS

nerdctl command [options] [arguments]

nerdctl is a Docker-compatible CLI for containerd, the industry-standard container runtime. It provides familiar Docker commands while leveraging containerd's capabilities, including rootless containers and lazy-pulling images.The tool supports Docker Compose files, Dockerfile builds, and most Docker CLI syntax. It can work with both Docker and containerd images and registries.

PARAMETERS

-a, --all

Show all containers (default: running only)

-i, --interactive

Keep STDIN open

-t, --tty

Allocate a pseudo-TTY

-d, --detach

Run container in background

--name name

Assign name to container

-p, --publish port

Publish container port (host:container)

-v, --volume mount

Bind mount a volume (host:container)

-f, --follow

Follow log output

--rm

Remove container after exit

-e, --env VAR=VALUE

Set environment variable

--network network

Connect to a network

COMMANDS

run

Run a new container

List containers

start

Start stopped containers

stop

Stop running containers

exec

Execute command in running container

pull

Pull image from registry

push

Push image to registry

images

List images

Remove containers

rmi

Remove images

build

Build image from Dockerfile

logs

Fetch container logs

compose

Docker Compose compatible commands

CAVEATS

Some Docker features may not have exact equivalents. Rootless mode requires user namespace configuration. Image compatibility depends on container runtime configuration.

HISTORY

nerdctl was developed by containerd maintainers as part of the containerd project. It provides a user-friendly CLI for containerd, which is used by Kubernetes and other container orchestrators as the underlying runtime.