Run a container with podman using Docker-compatible CLI syntax
domain: docs.podman.io · 8 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Start a container: `podman run [options] image [command [arg...]]` (alias of podman container run) — pull happens automatically if the image is missing.
Run detached and named: `podman run -d --name myapp nginx:latest`; podman auto-creates /etc/hosts, /etc/hostname, and /etc/resolv.conf.
Publish a port: `podman run -d -p 8080:80 --name web nginx:latest` (host 8080 -> container 80); -p only works with bridge or pasta networks.
Run an interactive shell: `podman run -it ubuntu bash` (-i keeps STDIN open, -t allocates a TTY; use -i alone when piping input).
Set env and attach persistent storage: `podman run -e API_KEY=xyz -v myvol:/data --name app img`.
Auto-remove on exit with `--rm`; set CPU/mem limits with --cpus, --memory (-m), --pids-limit (default 2048, -1 = unlimited).
Networking modes: `--network=host`, `none`, `container:id`, or a user-defined network name; publish-all (`-P`) maps all exposed ports to random host ports.
Official docs: https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-run.1.html
Known gotchas
PID 1 exit stops the container; a bare `podman run ubuntu bash` exits instantly because bash gets no TTY/input — use -it.
Rootless default networking is pasta (user-mode), rootful default is bridge; on remote Mac/Windows (non-WSL2) the only allowed image transport is `docker`.
Many resource-limit flags are unsupported on cgroups V1 rootless systems — non-root users can hit permission errors taking limits.
--network=host gives the container full access to host abstract Unix sockets and localhost TCP/UDP — a security risk.
--dns 'none' disables /etc/resolv.conf creation and cannot be combined with --network=none or container:id.
--ulimit nproc is not recommended in podman; use --pids-limit instead.
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