RUN-SINGULARITY.APPTAINER(1)

📦
version 1.4.5 · 3 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

👑 RUN-SINGULARITY.APPTAINER — the manual page for run, but cute 💖

okay so. you found the man page for run-singularity.apptainer (yes that's the manual name, it lives in section 1 of the User Commands manuals, we're being fancy today ✨). this is the glow-up version. all the facts stayed, the vibe is just, immaculate now. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

run-singularity.apptainer — launch a Singularity container with a runscript 🎀

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Run the user-defined default command within a container. that's it, that's the whole thing, and yet there are like sixty options. main character energy fr fr. 💅

✨ Usage ✨

apptainer run [run options...] <container> [args...]

💫 Description 💫

okay so here's the tea 🍓: this command launches an Apptainer container and executes a runscript if one is defined for that container. the runscript is a metadata file chilling inside the container, and it's full of shell commands. if that file is present (and executable, that part matters bestie) then this command will run that file inside the container automatically, no extra steps. everything you put after the container name gets passed straight through to the runscript. literally just handed over. 🫴

apptainer run says yes to all of these container formats:

  • *.sif — Singularity Image Format (SIF). native to Singularity (3.0+) and Apptainer (v1.0.0+). the moment, the icon. ⭐
  • *.sqsh — SquashFS format. native to Singularity 2.4+
  • *.img — ext3 format. native to Singularity versions < 2.4. vintage, honestly.
  • directory/ — sandbox format. a directory containing a valid root file system and optionally Apptainer meta-data. it's giving "just a folder but make it a whole OS". 🗂️
  • 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 ⭐

here's the big one. buckle up, we're going through literally all of them. no skips, no cuts. 🎀

  • --add-caps string — a comma separated capability list to add
  • --allow-setuid — allow setuid binaries in container (root only) 👑
  • --app string — set an application to run inside a container
  • --apply-cgroups string — apply cgroups from file for container processes (root only)
  • --authfile string — Docker-style authentication file to use for writing/reading OCI registry credentials
  • -B, --bind stringArray — 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 int — Block IO relative weight in range 10-1000, 0 to disable
  • --blkio-weight-device strings — Device specific block IO relative weight
  • -e, --cleanenv — clean environment before running container. fresh start, no inherited mess 🧼
  • --compat — apply settings for increased OCI/Docker compatibility. infers --containall, --no-init, --no-umask, --no-eval, --writable-tmpfs.
  • -c, --contain — use minimal /dev and empty other directories (e.g. /tmp and $HOME) instead of sharing filesystems from your host
  • -C, --containall — contain not only file systems, but also PID, IPC, and environment
  • --cpu-shares int — CPU shares for container (default -1)
  • --cpus string — Number of CPUs available to container
  • --cpuset-cpus string — List of host CPUs available to container
  • --cpuset-mems string — List of host memory nodes available to container
  • --cwd string — initial working directory for payload process inside the container (synonym for --pwd)
  • --disable-cache — do not use or create cache
  • --dns string — list of DNS server separated by commas to add in resolv.conf
  • --docker-host string — specify a custom Docker daemon host
  • --docker-login — login to a Docker Repository interactively
  • --drop-caps string — a comma separated capability list to drop
  • --env stringToString — pass environment variable to contained process (default [])
  • --env-file strings — pass environment variables from file to contained process
  • -f, --fakeroot — run container with the appearance of running as root 🎭 (the illusion! the fantasy!)
  • --fusemount strings — A FUSE filesystem mount specification of the form '<type>:<fuse command> <mountpoint>' — where <type> is 'container' or 'host', specifying where the mount will be performed ('container-daemon' or 'host-daemon' will run the FUSE process detached). <fuse command> is the path to the FUSE executable, plus options for the mount. <mountpoint> 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 — help for run 🙋
  • -H, --home string — 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. (default "/home/buildd") 🏠
  • --hostname string — set container hostname
  • -i, --ipc — run container in a new IPC namespace
  • --keep-privs — let root user keep privileges in container (root only)
  • --memory string — Memory limit in bytes
  • --memory-reservation string — Memory soft limit in bytes
  • --memory-swap string — Swap limit, use -1 for unlimited swap
  • --mount stringArray — a mount specification e.g. 'type=bind,source=/opt,destination=/hostopt'.
  • -n, --net — run container in a new network namespace (sets up a bridge network interface by default) 🕸️
  • --netns-path string — join the network namespace at the specified path (as root, or if permitted in apptainer.conf)
  • --network string — specify desired network type separated by commas, each network will bring up a dedicated interface inside container
  • --network-args strings — specify network arguments to pass to CNI plugins
  • --no-eval — do not shell evaluate env vars or OCI container CMD/ENTRYPOINT/ARGS
  • --no-home — do NOT mount users home directory if /home is not the current working directory
  • --no-https — use http instead of https for docker:// oras:// and library://<hostname>/... URIs 🔓
  • --no-init — do NOT start shim process with --pid
  • --no-mount strings — 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 — do not run container in a new PID namespace
  • --no-privs — drop all privileges from root user in container)
  • --no-umask — do not propagate umask to the container, set default 0022 umask
  • --nv — enable Nvidia support
  • --nvccli — use nvidia-container-cli for GPU setup (experimental) 🧪
  • --oom-kill-disable — Disable OOM killer
  • -o, --overlay strings — use an overlayFS image for persistent data storage or as read-only layer of container
  • --passphrase — prompt for an encryption passphrase 🔐
  • --pem-path string — enter an path to a PEM formatted RSA key for an encrypted container
  • -p, --pid — run container in a new PID namespace
  • --pids-limit int — Limit number of container PIDs, use -1 for unlimited
  • --rocm — enable experimental Rocm support
  • --runscript-timeout string — set the timeout duration for runscript (default 1m) ⏰ the runscript does NOT get forever, bestie
  • -S, --scratch strings — include a scratch directory within the container that is linked to a temporary dir (use -W to force location)
  • --security strings — enable security features (SELinux, Apparmor, Seccomp)
  • --sharens — share the namespace and image with other containers launched from the same parent process
  • --unsquash — Convert SIF file to temporary sandbox before running
  • -u, --userns — run container in a new user namespace
  • --uts — run container in a new UTS namespace
  • -W, --workdir string — working directory to be used for /tmp, /var/tmp and $HOME (if -c/--contain was also used)
  • -w, --writable — by default all Apptainer containers are available as read only. this option makes the file system accessible as read/write. ⚠️ with great power etc etc
  • --writable-tmpfs — makes the file system accessible as read-write with non persistent data (with overlay support only)

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

the goods. the receipts. 🧾

# Here we see that the runscript prints "Hello world: "
$ apptainer exec /tmp/debian.sif cat /apptainer
#!/bin/sh
echo "Hello world: "

# It runs with our inputs when we run the image
$ apptainer run /tmp/debian.sif one two three
Hello world: one two three

# Note that this does the same thing
$ ./tmp/debian.sif one two three

For additional help or support, please visit https://apptainer.org/help/ 🫶

and that's the whole page bestie, we ate and left no crumbs 💅✨ this was run-singularity.apptainer version 1.4.... (yes, it really says that, dots and all 🫠), dated August 2026, page RUN-SINGULARITY.APPTAINER(1). go run your containers, you're doing amazing. 🎀💖🦋

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