Provided by: apptainer_1.4.0-6_amd64 
NAME
apptainer-shell - Run a shell within a container
SYNOPSIS
apptainer shell [shell options...]
DESCRIPTION
apptainer shell supports the following formats:
*.sif Singularity Image Format (SIF). Native to Singularity
(3.0+) and Apptainer (v1.0.0+)
*.sqsh SquashFS format. Native to Singularity 2.4+
*.img ext3 format. Native to Singularity versions < 2.4.
directory/ sandbox format. Directory containing a valid root file
system and optionally Apptainer meta-data.
instance://* A local running instance of a container. (See the instance
command group.)
library://* A SIF container hosted on a Library (no default)
docker://* A Docker/OCI container hosted on Docker Hub or another
OCI registry.
shub://* A container hosted on Singularity Hub.
oras://* A SIF container hosted on an OCI registry that supports
the OCI Registry As Storage (ORAS) specification.
OPTIONS
--add-caps="" a comma separated capability list to add
--allow-setuid[=false] allow setuid binaries in container (root only)
--app="" set an application to run inside a container
--apply-cgroups="" apply cgroups from file for container processes (root only)
--authfile="" Docker-style authentication file to use for writing/reading OCI registry credentials
-B, --bind=[] a user-bind path specification. spec has the format src[:dest[:opts]], where src and
dest are outside and inside paths. If dest is not given, it is set equal to src. Mount options ('opts')
may be specified as 'ro' (read-only) or 'rw' (read/write, which is the default). Multiple bind paths can
be given by a comma separated list.
--blkio-weight=0 Block IO relative weight in range 10-1000, 0 to disable
--blkio-weight-device=[] Device specific block IO relative weight
-e, --cleanenv[=false] clean environment before running container
--compat[=false] apply settings for increased OCI/Docker compatibility. Infers --containall, --no-
init, --no-umask, --no-eval, --writable-tmpfs.
-c, --contain[=false] use minimal /dev and empty other directories (e.g. /tmp and $HOME) instead of
sharing filesystems from your host
-C, --containall[=false] contain not only file systems, but also PID, IPC, and environment
--cpu-shares=-1 CPU shares for container
--cpus="" Number of CPUs available to container
--cpuset-cpus="" List of host CPUs available to container
--cpuset-mems="" List of host memory nodes available to container
--cwd="" initial working directory for payload process inside the container (synonym for --pwd)
--disable-cache[=false] do not use or create cache
--dns="" list of DNS server separated by commas to add in resolv.conf
--docker-host="" specify a custom Docker daemon host
--docker-login[=false] login to a Docker Repository interactively
--drop-caps="" a comma separated capability list to drop
--env=[] pass environment variable to contained process
--env-file=[] pass environment variables from file to contained process
-f, --fakeroot[=false] run container with the appearance of running as root
--fusemount=[] A FUSE filesystem mount specification of the form ': ' - where is 'container' or
'host', specifying where the mount will be performed ('container-daemon' or 'host-daemon' will run the
FUSE process detached). is the path to the FUSE executable, plus options for the mount. is the location
in the container to which the FUSE mount will be attached. E.g. 'container:sshfs 10.0.0.1:/ /sshfs'.
Implies --pid.
-h, --help[=false] help for shell
-H, --home="/home/buildd" a home directory specification. spec can either be a src path or src:dest
pair. src is the source path of the home directory outside the container and dest overrides the home
directory within the container.
--hostname="" set container hostname
-i, --ipc[=false] run container in a new IPC namespace
--keep-privs[=false] let root user keep privileges in container (root only)
--memory="" Memory limit in bytes
--memory-reservation="" Memory soft limit in bytes
--memory-swap="" Swap limit, use -1 for unlimited swap
--mount=[] a mount specification e.g. 'type=bind,source=/opt,destination=/hostopt'.
-n, --net[=false] run container in a new network namespace (sets up a bridge network interface by
default)
--netns-path="" join the network namespace at the specified path (as root, or if permitted in
apptainer.conf)
--network="" specify desired network type separated by commas, each network will bring up a
dedicated interface inside container
--network-args=[] specify network arguments to pass to CNI plugins
--no-eval[=false] do not shell evaluate env vars or OCI container CMD/ENTRYPOINT/ARGS
--no-home[=false] do NOT mount users home directory if /home is not the current working directory
--no-https[=false] use http instead of https for docker:// oras:// and library:///... URIs
--no-init[=false] do NOT start shim process with --pid
--no-mount=[] disable one or more 'mount xxx' options set in apptainer.conf and/or specify absolute
destination path to disable a bind path entry, or 'bind-paths' to disable all bind path entries.
--no-pid[=false] do not run container in a new PID namespace
--no-privs[=false] drop all privileges from root user in container)
--no-umask[=false] do not propagate umask to the container, set default 0022 umask
--nv[=false] enable Nvidia support
--nvccli[=false] use nvidia-container-cli for GPU setup (experimental)
--oom-kill-disable[=false] Disable OOM killer
-o, --overlay=[] use an overlayFS image for persistent data storage or as read-only layer of
container
--passphrase[=false] prompt for an encryption passphrase
--pem-path="" enter an path to a PEM formatted RSA key for an encrypted container
-p, --pid[=false] run container in a new PID namespace
--pids-limit=0 Limit number of container PIDs, use -1 for unlimited
--rocm[=false] enable experimental Rocm support
-S, --scratch=[] include a scratch directory within the container that is linked to a temporary dir
(use -W to force location)
--security=[] enable security features (SELinux, Apparmor, Seccomp)
--sharens[=false] share the namespace and image with other containers launched from the same parent
process
-s, --shell="" path to program to use for interactive shell
--unsquash[=false] Convert SIF file to temporary sandbox before running
-u, --userns[=false] run container in a new user namespace
--uts[=false] run container in a new UTS namespace
-W, --workdir="" working directory to be used for /tmp, /var/tmp and $HOME (if -c/--contain was also
used)
-w, --writable[=false] by default all Apptainer containers are available as read only. This option
makes the file system accessible as read/write.
--writable-tmpfs[=false] makes the file system accessible as read-write with non persistent data
(with overlay support only)
EXAMPLE
$ apptainer shell /tmp/Debian.sif
Apptainer/Debian.sif> pwd
/home/gmk/test
Apptainer/Debian.sif> exit
$ apptainer shell -C /tmp/Debian.sif
Apptainer/Debian.sif> pwd
/home/gmk
Apptainer/Debian.sif> ls -l
total 0
Apptainer/Debian.sif> exit
$ sudo apptainer shell -w /tmp/Debian.sif
$ sudo apptainer shell --writable /tmp/Debian.sif
$ apptainer shell instance://my_instance
$ apptainer shell instance://my_instance
Apptainer: Invoking an interactive shell within container...
Apptainer container:~> ps -ef
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
ubuntu 1 0 0 20:00 ? 00:00:00 /usr/local/bin/apptainer/bin/appinit
ubuntu 2 0 0 20:01 pts/8 00:00:00 /bin/bash --norc
ubuntu 3 2 0 20:02 pts/8 00:00:00 ps -ef
SEE ALSO
apptainer(1)
HISTORY
21-Jul-2025 Auto generated by spf13/cobra
Auto generated by spf13/cobra Jul 2025 apptainer(1)