NAME¶
podman-quadlet-basic-usage - Basic usage examples and step-by-step guide for Podman Quadlet
DESCRIPTION¶
This guide introduces common usage patterns for Podman Quadlet. It provides step-by-step examples for defining
containers, exposing ports, creating volumes, and establishing dependencies using declarative .container, .volume,
and related unit files.
Quadlet simplifies container lifecycle management by translating these files into systemd services, making them
manageable with systemctl.
EXAMPLE 1: RUNNING A SIMPLE CONTAINER¶
Step 1: Create hello.container¶
[Unit]
Description=Hello Alpine Container
[Container]
Image=alpine
Exec=echo Hello from Quadlet!
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Step 2: Place the file¶
For rootless use:
mkdir -p ~/.config/containers/systemd
cp hello.container ~/.config/containers/systemd/
For rootful use:
sudo cp hello.container /etc/containers/systemd/
Step 3: Reload and enable the service¶
For rootless use:
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user start hello.service
For rootful use:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now hello.service
Expected Output:¶
For rootless, check logs using:
journalctl --user -u hello.service
For rootful:
journalctl -u hello.service
You should see: Hello from Quadlet!
That means the container started, executed the echo command, and exited.
EXAMPLE 2: CREATING A NAMED VOLUME¶
Step 1: Create mydata.volume¶
[Volume]
VolumeName=mydata
Label=purpose=demo
Step 2: Place and reload¶
For rootless use:
mkdir -p ~/.config/containers/systemd
cp mydata.volume ~/.config/containers/systemd/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
For rootful use:
sudo cp mydata.volume /etc/containers/systemd/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Step 3: Create the volume¶
For rootless use:
systemctl --user start mydata-volume.service
For rootful use:
systemctl start mydata-volume.service
EXAMPLE 3: CONTAINER USING A VOLUME¶
Create with-volume.container¶
[Unit]
Description=Container with Mounted Volume
[Container]
Image=alpine
Exec=sh -c "ls /data && echo Hello > /data/hello.txt"
Volume=mydata.volume:/data
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
This container lists all files in the volume and creates hello.txt.
Start the container and check the status¶
For rootless use:
cp with-volume.container ~/.config/containers/systemd/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user start with-volume.service
systemctl --user status with-volume.service
For rootful use:
sudo cp with-volume.container /etc/containers/systemd/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start with-volume.service
sudo systemctl status with-volume.service
When started for the first time, the hello.txt will not appear in the
systemctl status output, because it has not been created yet. But when
started for the second time, the output will be:
hello.txt
This means the volume is used and is persistent.
EXAMPLE 4: EXPOSING A CONTAINER PORT TO THE HOST¶
Create webserver.container¶
[Unit]
Description=Nginx Webserver
[Container]
Image=nginx:alpine
PublishPort=8080:80
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Start the web server¶
For rootless use:
cp webserver.container ~/.config/containers/systemd/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user start webserver.service
For rootful use:
sudo cp webserver.container /etc/containers/systemd/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start webserver.service
Visit http://localhost:8080 in your browser.
TIPS¶
To start a container on system boot, use:
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
If systemctl cannot find foo.service, it usually means there is a syntax
error in your Quadlet file. To find the details, use:
systemd-analyze --user --generators=true verify foo.service
SEE ALSO¶
podman-systemd.unit(5), podman-container.unit(5), podman-volume.unit(5), systemd.unit(5)