Podman Cheat Sheet

Podman is a daemonless, open source, Linux native tool designed to make it easy to find, run, build, share and deploy applications using Open Containers Initiative (OCI) Containers and Container Images.

Key Differences from Docker

• Daemonless architecture: Podman interacts directly with Linux container components instead of relying on a continuously running daemon
• Rootless by default: Reduces security risks by not requiring root privileges
• Independent containers: Containers are not spawned as child processes, making them durable and independent
• systemd integration: Better integration with systemd for service management

tip

Most Podman commands are compatible with Docker commands. You can often alias docker to podman for a seamless transition.

Quick Navigation

• Working with Image Repositories
• Building Images
• Working with Containers
• Container Processes and Resources
• Working with Container Filesystem
• Miscellaneous Commands
• Quick Reference

Working with Image Repositories

List Local Images

Lists all container images stored on your local machine.

podman images [options]

Example:

$ podman images
REPOSITORY                          TAG      IMAGE ID      CREATED       SIZE
quay.io/ansible/ansible-runner      latest   697a4af2d624  16 hours ago  738 MB
docker.io/library/mysql             latest   6126b4587b1b  18 hours ago  525 MB
docker.io/library/redis             latest   f1b6973564e9  4 weeks ago   116 MB
docker.io/library/nginx             latest   c316d5a335a5  4 weeks ago   146 MB

Pull an Image

Downloads a container image from a remote registry.

podman pull [options] <remote_registry_url>/<username>/<image>:<tag>

Example:

$ podman pull quay.io/ansible/ansible-runner:latest

Push an Image

Uploads a container image to a remote registry.

podman push <registry_url>/<username>/<image>:<tag>

Example:

$ podman build -t quay.io/myrepo/customer_container:v1 .
Successfully tagged quay.io/myrepo/customer_container:v1

$ podman push quay.io/myrepo/customer_container:v1

Search for Images

Searches container image registries defined in /etc/containers/registries.conf.

podman search [options] <search_string>

Example:

$ podman search pinger
INDEX       NAME                                    STARS   OFFICIAL
quay.io     quay.io/giantswarm/calico-ipip-pinger   0
docker.io   docker.io/hosterping/pinger             0
docker.io   docker.io/reselbob/pinger               1

Remove an Image

Removes a local image from the local cache. Use -f to force removal.

podman rmi [-f] <image>:<tag>

Example:

$ podman rmi c316d5a335a5

warning

This only removes the image from your local system, not from the remote registry.

Image History

Displays historical information about a container image.

podman history [options] <image>:<tag>

Example:

$ podman history quay.io/openzipkin/zipkin:latest
ID            CREATED      CREATED BY                                      SIZE
b9fb334d7cd1  2 years ago  /busybox/sh -c #(nop) ENTRYPOINT ["/busyb...    0 B
<missing>     2 years ago  /busybox/sh -c #(nop) EXPOSE 9410 9411          0 B
<missing>     2 years ago  /busybox/sh -c #(nop) USER zipkin               0 B

Registry Login

Logs into a remote container image registry.

podman login [options] <image_registry_url>

Example:

$ podman login quay.io
Username: cooluser
Password:
Login Succeeded!

Registry Logout

Logs out of the current container registry.

podman logout [options]

Example:

$ podman logout quay.io
Removed login credentials for quay.io

Building Images

Build an Image

Builds and tags an image using instructions in a Dockerfile.

podman build [options] <image>:<tag> [-f <Dockerfile>]

Examples:

Using the default Dockerfile in the current directory:

$ podman build -t mynode:v1 .
STEP 1/3: FROM node:latest
STEP 2/3: CMD ["-v"]
STEP 3/3: ENTRYPOINT ["node"]
Successfully tagged localhost/mynode:v1

Using a custom Dockerfile:

$ podman build -t othernode:v1 -f Otherdockerfile
STEP 1/2: FROM node:latest
STEP 2/2: RUN echo "The latest version of Node is installed"
Successfully tagged localhost/othernode:v1

tip

The -f option specifies the Dockerfile location. If omitted, Podman looks for a Dockerfile in the current directory.

Tag an Image

Creates a new tag for an existing container image.

podman tag <image>:<tag> <image>:<new_tag>
podman tag <image_uuid> <image>:<new_tag>

Example:

$ podman images
REPOSITORY            TAG   IMAGE ID      CREATED          SIZE
localhost/mynode      v1    a6b028f25b45  14 minutes ago   1.02 GB

$ podman tag a6b028f25b45 mynode:best

$ podman images
REPOSITORY            TAG   IMAGE ID      CREATED          SIZE
localhost/mynode      v1    a6b028f25b45  15 minutes ago   1.02 GB
localhost/mynode      best  a6b028f25b45  15 minutes ago   1.02 GB

Working with Containers

Run a Container

Runs a container based on a given image. If the image doesn't exist locally, Podman attempts to pull it from the specified remote repository.

podman run [options] <repo>/<image>:<tag>

Common Options:

• -d: Run container in detached mode (background)
• --name: Assign a name to the container
• -it: Interactive mode with terminal
• --rm: Automatically remove container when it exits
• -p: Publish container ports to the host

Examples:

Run in background:

$ podman run -d quay.io/openzipkin/zipkin
ea35aa9eda875dd0c3ea34beb6216cf1148725272f28829ea1d3ba262f9f2ada

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                              COMMAND   CREATED     STATUS      NAMES
ea35aa9eda87  quay.io/openzipkin/zipkin:latest             3 min ago   Up 3 min    laughing_mahavira

Run with custom name:

$ podman run -d --name mywebserver nginx:latest

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                   COMMAND       CREATED     STATUS      NAMES
90ac3eb5f5a6  nginx:latest            nginx -g…     4 sec ago   Up 4 sec    mywebserver

Run with auto-removal:

$ podman run --rm quay.io/centos7/nodejs-14-centos7:latest

Run with port mapping:

$ podman run --name mynginx -d -p 8181:80 docker.io/library/nginx
a4b59499314f7c4c6819340ec8e15732cb93c21c131fbd709e09370972fda1b7

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE          COMMAND    CREATED    STATUS    PORTS                   NAMES
a4b59499314f  nginx:latest   nginx -g…  8 sec ago  Up 7 sec  0.0.0.0:8181->80/tcp    mynginx

Run interactively:

$ podman run -it nginx:latest

$ podman run nginx:latest pwd
/

List Containers

Lists containers on the local system.

podman ps [options]

Example:

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                              COMMAND          CREATED      STATUS           NAMES
a4b59499314f  docker.io/library/nginx:latest     nginx -g…        23 hrs ago   Up 22 mins       mynginx
569ddc895737  quay.io/openzipkin/zipkin:latest                    38 secs ago  Exited (143)     myzipkin

tip

Use -a flag to show all containers, including stopped ones.

Create a Container

Creates a container from an image but does not start it.

podman create [options] <repo/image:tag>

Example:

$ podman create --name myredis quay.io/quay/redis
dcc2491a3d16809c5c7b939e48aa99ded40779cb79140b1b9ae8702561901952

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                   COMMAND           CREATED      STATUS    NAMES
dcc2491a3d16  quay.io/quay/redis      conf/redis.conf   3 secs ago   Created   myredis

Start a Container

Starts an existing container.

podman start [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE          COMMAND       CREATED      STATUS                    NAMES
90ac3eb5f5a6  nginx:latest   nginx -g…     21 mins ago  Exited (0) 3 seconds ago  mywebserver

$ podman start mywebserver
mywebserver

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE          COMMAND       CREATED      STATUS              NAMES
90ac3eb5f5a6  nginx:latest   nginx -g…     27 mins ago  Up 31 seconds ago   mywebserver

Stop a Container

Gracefully stops a running container.

podman stop [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman stop mywebserver
mywebserver

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE          COMMAND       CREATED      STATUS                    NAMES
90ac3eb5f5a6  nginx:latest   nginx -g…     21 mins ago  Exited (0) 3 seconds ago  mywebserver

Restart a Container

Restarts an existing container.

podman restart [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                   COMMAND           CREATED     STATUS    NAMES
dcc2491a3d16  quay.io/quay/redis      conf/redis.conf   22 hrs ago  Created   myredis

$ podman restart myredis

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                   COMMAND           CREATED     STATUS            NAMES
dcc2491a3d16  quay.io/quay/redis      conf/redis.conf   22 hrs ago  Up 8 seconds ago  myredis

Remove a Container

Removes a container from the host computer.

podman rm [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                   COMMAND           CREATED     STATUS            NAMES
dcc2491a3d16  quay.io/quay/redis      conf/redis.conf   22 hrs ago  Up 8 seconds ago  myredis

$ podman rm -f myredis
dcc2491a3d16809c5c7b939e48aa99ded40779cb79140b1b9ae8702561901952

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE  COMMAND  CREATED  STATUS  NAMES

warning

Use the -f flag to force removal of running containers.

Container Processes and Resources

Inspect a Container

Returns metadata describing a running container in JSON format.

podman inspect [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman inspect mynginx | more -10
[
  {
    "Id": "a4b59499314f7c4c6819340ec8e15732cb93c21c131fbd709e09370972fda1b7",
    "Created": "2022-02-24T11:17:00.499462518-08:00",
    "Path": "/docker-entrypoint.sh",
    "Args": [
      "nginx",
      "-g",
      "daemon off;"
    ],
--More--

View Container Logs

Displays the logs of a container.

podman logs [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman logs -t mynginx
2022-02-25T09:37:46.090921000-08:00 /docker-entrypoint.sh: Configuration complete
2022-02-25T09:37:46.361178000-08:00 2022/02/25 17:37:46 [notice] 1#1: nginx/1.21.6
2022-02-25T09:37:46.361434000-08:00 2022/02/25 17:37:46 [notice] 1#1: start worker processes

tip

Use the -t option to display timestamps for each log entry.

View Running Processes

Displays the running processes of a container.

podman top <container>

Example:

$ podman top mynginx
USER  PID   PPID  %CPU  ELAPSED                TTY  TIME     COMMAND
root  1     0     0.000 29m55.560928305s       ?    0s       nginx: master process
nginx 23    1     0.000 29m54.561101763s       ?    0s       nginx: worker process

Execute Commands in Container

Executes a command in a running container.

podman exec <container> <command>

Example:

$ podman exec -it myzipkin sh
~ $ ls
BOOT-INF  META-INF  classpath  org  run.sh

tip

Use -it flags to open an interactive terminal inside the container.

Attach to a Container

Attaches to a running container and views its output or controls it.

podman attach [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman attach myzipkin

tip

Use Ctrl+p followed by Ctrl+q to detach from the container while leaving it running.

View Container Stats

Displays a live stream of container resource usage statistics.

podman stats [options] [<container>]

Example:

$ sudo podman stats
ID            NAME        CPU %  MEM USAGE / LIMIT  MEM %  NET IO          BLOCK IO         PIDS
153aa53a52b9  rootnginx   --     2.044MB / 8.148GB  0.03%  698B / 2.574kB  8.192kB / 62.46kB  2
f7ac2c719ff7  myredis     0.19%  7.631MB / 8.148GB  0.09%  978B / 7.474kB  -- / --            5

note

This command must be executed as root and shows only containers running with root privileges.

Pause and Unpause Containers

Pauses all processes in a specified container.

podman pause [options] [<container>]

Unpauses all processes in a specified container.

podman unpause [options] [<container>]

Example:

$ sudo podman pause rootnginx
153aa53a52b93a480deab0f781d4a2b851ab8559d72c033c875f534af5e282f8

$ sudo podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                     COMMAND       CREATED      STATUS   NAMES
153aa53a52b9  quay.io/bitnami/nginx     nginx -g…     30 mins ago  paused   rootnginx

$ sudo podman unpause rootnginx
153aa53a52b93a480deab0f781d4a2b851ab8559d72c033c875f534af5e282f8

note

These commands can only be run against containers with root privileges.

Wait for Container

Waits for a specified container to meet a condition (default: stopped).

podman wait [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                              COMMAND   CREATED      STATUS        NAMES
569ddc895737  quay.io/openzipkin/zipkin:latest             46 mins ago  Up 44 mins    myzipkin

$ podman wait 569ddc895737

View Port Mappings

Lists the port mappings from a container to localhost.

podman port [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman port mynginx
80/tcp -> 0.0.0.0:8181

Commit Container Changes

Creates a new container image based on the current state of a running container.

podman commit [options] <container> <new_image>:<tag>

Example:

$ podman commit myzipkin yourzipkin:test

$ podman images
REPOSITORY              TAG   IMAGE ID      CREATED         SIZE
localhost/yourzipkin    test  179d9b389a21  21 seconds ago  156 MB

Working with Container Filesystem

View Filesystem Changes

Displays all changes caused by a container to the filesystem.

podman diff [options] <container>

Example:

$ podman diff mynginx
C /etc
C /etc/nginx
C /etc/nginx/conf.d
C /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
A /run/nginx.pid
C /var
C /var/cache
C /var/cache/nginx
A /var/cache/nginx/client_temp

note

• C indicates a changed file or directory
• A indicates an added file or directory

Mount Container Filesystem

Mounts and reports the location of a container's filesystem on the host computer.

podman mount [options] <container>

Example:

$ sudo podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                         COMMAND        CREATED    STATUS   NAMES
f7ac2c719ff7  docker.io/library/redis       redis-server   3 days ago Created  myredis

$ sudo podman mount myredis
/var/lib/containers/storage/overlay/b4f1aaed89bc.../merged

$ sudo ls /var/lib/containers/storage/overlay/b4f1aaed89bc.../merged
bin  boot  data  dev  etc  home  lib  lib64  media  mnt  opt  proc  root  run  sbin  srv  sys  tmp  usr  var

tip

This is useful for inspecting a container's filesystem without using podman exec -it.

Unmount Container Filesystem

Unmounts a container's root filesystem.

podman umount [options] <container>

Example:

$ sudo podman umount myredis
myredis

Export Container Filesystem

Exports a container's filesystem to a tar file.

podman export -o <output_filename> <container>

Example:

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE          COMMAND    CREATED    STATUS    NAMES
a4b59499314f  nginx:latest   nginx -g…  3 days ago Up 50 min mynginx

$ podman export mynginx > mynginx.tar

$ ls -lh
total 138M
-rw-rw-r--. 1 guest guest 138M Feb 28 09:44 mynginx.tar

Import Filesystem as Image

Imports a tar file and saves it as a filesystem image.

podman import <tar_filename>

Example:

$ podman import mynginx.tar new-nginx:v1
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 51ae4d2a0ffb done
Copying config 8d555a4dac done
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
sha256:8d555a4dac4bdeb2840ca21a1540e4e736c5c5ee65d1b3e18f3dd81a913b133d

$ podman images
REPOSITORY            TAG   IMAGE ID      CREATED          SIZE
localhost/new-nginx   v1    ad3620ffa74c  41 minutes ago   144 MB

Miscellaneous Commands

View Podman Version

Reports information about the installed version of Podman.

podman version

Example:

$ podman version
Version:      3.4.2
API Version:  3.4.2
Go Version:   go1.16.7
Built:        Thu Jan 13 02:15:49 2022
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

View Podman Info

Displays information about the Podman installation on the local computer.

podman info

Example:

$ podman info | more -10
host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.23.1
  cgroupControllers: []
  cgroupManager: cgroupfs
  cgroupVersion: v1
  conmon:
    package: conmon-2.0.32-1.module+el8.5.0+13852+150547f7.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.0.32'
--More--

Quick Reference

Common Command Patterns

Action	Command
List images	podman images
List containers	podman ps -a
Run container	podman run -d --name myapp image:tag
Stop container	podman stop myapp
Remove container	podman rm myapp
Remove image	podman rmi image:tag
View logs	podman logs myapp
Execute command	podman exec -it myapp /bin/bash
Build image	podman build -t myimage:tag .
Push image	podman push registry/myimage:tag

Useful Options

• -d, --detach: Run container in background
• -it, --interactive --tty: Interactive mode with terminal
• -p, --publish: Publish container ports to host
• -v, --volume: Mount volumes
• --name: Assign a name to container
• --rm: Automatically remove container when it exits
• -f, --force: Force operation

---

Source: Based on Red Hat Developer's Podman Basics Cheat Sheet