How to Find Available Commands for Container Management in Apple Container

You can discover all available container management commands by running container --help locally or consulting the authoritative docs/command-reference.md file in the Apple Container repository, which catalogs every subcommand organized by functional groups including Core, Image Management, and Container Machine operations.

The Apple Container repository provides a unified container binary that consolidates container lifecycle operations into a single CLI tool. Whether you are managing individual containers, building OCI images, or configuring the underlying virtual machine on macOS, understanding how to discover the complete command set is essential for effective container management. This guide explains how to access the full catalogue of commands using built-in help flags and the official reference documentation.

Understanding the CLI Command Structure

The container binary implements a hierarchical command structure organized into nine logical functional groups. According to the source code in the Sources/… directory, the CLI module registers subcommands that handle specific domains of container operations.

Each group covers a distinct aspect of container management:

• Core commands: container run, container build, container create, container start, container stop, container exec — Launch and control individual containers or build OCI images.
• Container Management: container delete, container list, container logs, container inspect, container stats, container prune, container copy — Operate on container lifecycles, retrieve diagnostics, and clean up stopped containers.
• Image Management: container image list, container image pull, container image push, container image save, container image load, container image delete, container image prune, container image inspect — Manage local image stores and interact with remote registries.
• Builder Management: container builder start, container builder status, container builder stop, container builder delete — Control the BuildKit-based builder used for image builds.
• Network Management (macOS 26+): container network create, container network list, container network delete, container network prune, container network inspect — Create and administer user-defined container networks.
• Volume Management: container volume create, container volume list, container volume delete, container volume prune, container volume inspect — Allocate persistent storage that can be attached to containers.
• Registry Management: container registry login, container registry logout, container registry list — Store credentials and list configured registries.
• Container Machine Management: container machine create, container machine run, container machine list, container machine set, container machine logs, container machine delete — Manage the underlying lightweight VM that hosts containers on macOS.
• System Management: container system start, container system stop, container system status, container system version, container system logs, container system df, container system dns, container system kernel set, container system property list — Control the overall container service stack, view health, set kernel, and configure DNS domains.

Discovering Commands Locally Using Help Flags

The most immediate way to discover available commands for container management is through the built-in help system. The CLI provides consistent --help output across all command levels.

To view top-level command groups:

container --help

To drill into specific functional areas, append --help to any group command:

# Display all image-related subcommands

container image --help

# View detailed usage for the core run command

container run --help

The help output includes usage synopses, argument lists, and available flags. For example, container run exposes process options (-e/--env, -i/--interactive, -t/--tty), resource constraints (-c/--cpus, -m/--memory), and management flags (--name, --network, --publish, --rm). Global flags such as --debug (for diagnostic output) can be appended to any subcommand.

Accessing the Command Reference Documentation

For a comprehensive, browsable catalogue of every command, argument, and flag, refer to the Command Reference documentation located at docs/command-reference.md in the repository root.

This file serves as the source of truth for the CLI surface and is kept in sync with the implementation in Sources/…. The README.md provides a shortcut link to this reference.

You can view the reference directly from the repository:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apple/container/main/docs/command-reference.md | less

The reference includes availability notes that indicate version-specific features, such as Network Management commands that require macOS 26 or later.

Programmatic Command Discovery

You can extract command information programmatically to build custom tooling or documentation generators. The CLI returns structured text via standard output when invoked with --help, as defined in the executable target in Package.swift.

Here is a Swift example that captures the top-level command list:

import Foundation

let task = Process()
task.executableURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: "/usr/local/bin/container")
task.arguments = ["--help"]

let pipe = Pipe()
task.standardOutput = pipe
try task.run()
task.waitUntilExit()

let data = pipe.fileHandleForReading.readDataToEndOfFile()
if let output = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) {
    print("Available groups:\n\(output)")
}

Parsing this output allows you to maintain automated catalogues of available container management commands as the tool evolves.

Summary

• The Apple Container CLI provides a single container binary with nine functional command groups covering containers, images, networks, volumes, builders, registries, machines, and system operations.
• Run container --help to see top-level groups, or container <group> --help for specific subcommand details including flags and arguments.
• Consult docs/command-reference.md for the authoritative, complete list of commands, arguments, and version-specific availability notes.
• Global flags like --debug apply to all subcommands for troubleshooting.
• Programmatic discovery is possible by parsing the --help output from the binary defined in Package.swift.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the fastest way to see all available container commands?

Run container --help in your terminal. This displays the top-level command groups (Core, Image, System, etc.) and global flags without requiring internet access or documentation files.

Where is the definitive list of container commands documented?

The authoritative source is docs/command-reference.md in the Apple Container repository. This file contains every subcommand, its arguments, and availability notes, and is maintained in sync with the CLI implementation in Sources/….

Why are some commands like network management missing on my system?

Network Management commands require macOS 26 or later. The docs/command-reference.md file includes availability notes indicating which commands are gated behind specific macOS versions or other system requirements.

How do I get detailed help for a specific command like container run?

Append --help to the specific command: container run --help. This outputs the usage synopsis, available flags (such as -e for environment variables or --cpus for resource limits), and argument descriptions.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}