OS Manuals

/usr/bin/nerdctl

Docker-compatible CLI for containerd, with support for Compose, Rootless, eStargz, OCIcrypt, IPFS, ...

From nerdctl 2.4.2-r0 (os), captured 2026-11-05 by running nerdctl --help (exit 0). permalink

Also provided by 1 other package version
nerdctl is a command line interface for containerd

Config file ($NERDCTL_TOML): /tmp/.config/nerdctl/nerdctl.toml

Usage: nerdctl [command]

Management commands:
  apparmor    Manage AppArmor profiles
  builder     Manage builds
  checkpoint  Manage checkpoints.
  container   Manage containers
  image       Manage images
  ipfs        Distributing images on IPFS
  manifest    Manage image manifests.
  namespace   Manage containerd namespaces
  network     Manage networks
  system      Manage containerd
  volume      Manage volumes

Commands:
  attach       Attach stdin, stdout, and stderr to a running container.
  build        Build an image from a Dockerfile. Needs buildkitd to be running.
  commit       Create a new image from a container's changes
  completion   Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
  compose      Compose
  cp           Copy files/folders between a running container and the local filesystem.
  create       Create a new container. Optionally specify "ipfs://" or "ipns://" scheme to pull image from IPFS.
  diff         Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
  events       Get real time events from the server
  exec         Run a command in a running container
  export       Export a containers filesystem as a tar archive
  healthcheck  Execute the health check command in a container
  help         Help about any command
  history      Show the history of an image
  images       List images
  import       Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
  info         Display system-wide information
  inspect      Return low-level information on objects.
  kill         Kill one or more running containers
  load         Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
  login        Log in to a container registry
  logout       Log out from a container registry
  logs         Fetch the logs of a container. Expected to be used with 'nerdctl run -d'.
  pause        Pause all processes within one or more containers
  port         List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
  ps           List containers
  pull         Pull an image from a registry. Optionally specify "ipfs://" or "ipns://" scheme to pull image from IPFS.
  push         Push an image or a repository to a registry. Optionally specify "ipfs://" or "ipns://" scheme to push image to IPFS.
  rename       rename a container
  restart      Restart one or more running containers
  rm           Remove one or more containers
  rmi          Remove one or more images
  run          Run a command in a new container. Optionally specify "ipfs://" or "ipns://" scheme to pull image from IPFS.
  save         Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
  search       Search registry for images
  start        Start one or more running containers
  stats        Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics.
  stop         Stop one or more running containers
  tag          Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
  top          Display the running processes of a container
  unpause      Unpause all processes within one or more containers
  update       Update one or more running containers
  version      Show the nerdctl version information
  wait         Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes.

Flags:
      --address string           containerd address, optionally with "unix://" prefix [$CONTAINERD_ADDRESS] (aliases: -a, -H, --host) (default "/run/containerd/containerd.sock")
      --bridge-ip string         IP address for the default nerdctl bridge network [$NERDCTL_BRIDGE_IP]
      --cdi-spec-dirs strings    The directories to search for CDI spec files. Defaults to /etc/cdi,/var/run/cdi (default [/tmp/.config/cdi,/run/user/1100/cdi])
      --cgroup-manager string    Cgroup manager to use ("cgroupfs"|"systemd") (default "none")
      --cni-netconfpath string   cni config directory [$NETCONFPATH] (default "/tmp/.config/cni/net.d")
      --cni-path string          cni plugins binary directory [$CNI_PATH] (default "/opt/cni/bin")
      --data-root string         Root directory of persistent nerdctl state (managed by nerdctl, not by containerd) (default "/tmp/.local/share/nerdctl")
      --debug                    debug mode
      --debug-full               debug mode (with full output)
      --experimental             Control experimental: https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/blob/main/docs/experimental.md [$NERDCTL_EXPERIMENTAL] (default true)
  -h, --help                     help for nerdctl
      --host-gateway-ip string   IP address that the special 'host-gateway' string in --add-host resolves to. Defaults to the IP address of the host. It has no effect without setting --add-host [$NERDCTL_HOST_GATEWAY_IP]
      --hosts-dir strings        A directory that contains <HOST:PORT>/hosts.toml (containerd style) or <HOST:PORT>/{ca.cert, cert.pem, key.pem} (docker style) (default [/tmp/.config/containerd/certs.d,/tmp/.config/docker/certs.d])
      --insecure-registry        skips verifying HTTPS certs, and allows falling back to plain HTTP
      --kube-hide-dupe           Deduplicate images for Kubernetes with namespace k8s.io
      --log-file string          Append nerdctl's own log to this file, in addition to the standard error [$NERDCTL_LOG_FILE]
      --namespace string         containerd namespace, such as "moby" for Docker, "k8s.io" for Kubernetes [$CONTAINERD_NAMESPACE] (aliases: -n) (default "default")
      --selinux-enabled          Enable selinux support
      --snapshotter string       containerd snapshotter [$CONTAINERD_SNAPSHOTTER] (aliases: --storage-driver) (default "overlayfs")
      --userns-remap host        Support idmapping for creating and running containers. This options is only supported on linux. If host is passed, no idmapping is done. if a user name is passed, it does idmapping based on the uidmap and gidmap ranges specified in /etc/subuid and /etc/subgid respectively
  -v, --version                  version for nerdctl

Run 'nerdctl COMMAND --help' for more information on a command.
Options (21)
OptionDescriptionSource
--address stringcontainerd address, optionally with "unix://" prefix [$CONTAINERD_ADDRESS] (aliases: -a, -H, --host) (default "/run/containerd/containerd.sock")help
--bridge-ip stringIP address for the default nerdctl bridge network [$NERDCTL_BRIDGE_IP]help
--cdi-spec-dirs stringsThe directories to search for CDI spec files.help
--cgroup-manager stringCgroup manager to use ("cgroupfs"|"systemd") (default "none")help
--cni-netconfpath stringcni config directory [$NETCONFPATH] (default "/tmp/.config/cni/net.d")help
--cni-path stringcni plugins binary directory [$CNI_PATH] (default "/opt/cni/bin")help
--data-root stringRoot directory of persistent nerdctl state (managed by nerdctl, not by containerd) (default "/tmp/.local/share/nerdctl")help
--debugdebug modehelp
--debug-fulldebug mode (with full output)help
--experimentalControl experimental: https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/blob/main/docs/experimental.md [$NERDCTL_EXPERIMENTAL] (default true)help
-h, --helphelp for nerdctlhelp
--host-gateway-ip stringIP address that the special 'host-gateway' string in --add-host resolves to.help
--hosts-dir stringsA directory that contains <HOST:PORT>/hosts.toml (containerd style) or <HOST:PORT>/{ca.cert, cert.pem, key.pem} (docker style) (default [/tmp/.config/containerd/certs.d,/tmp/.config/docker/certs.d])help
--insecure-registryskips verifying HTTPS certs, and allows falling back to plain HTTPhelp
--kube-hide-dupeDeduplicate images for Kubernetes with namespace k8s.iohelp
--log-file stringAppend nerdctl's own log to this file, in addition to the standard error [$NERDCTL_LOG_FILE]help
--namespace stringcontainerd namespace, such as "moby" for Docker, "k8s.io" for Kubernetes [$CONTAINERD_NAMESPACE] (aliases: -n) (default "default")help
--selinux-enabledEnable selinux supporthelp
--snapshotter stringcontainerd snapshotter [$CONTAINERD_SNAPSHOTTER] (aliases: --storage-driver) (default "overlayfs")help
--userns-remap hostSupport idmapping for creating and running containers.help
-v, --versionversion for nerdctlhelp

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.