apptainer(1)

🦋 apptainer(1) — the apptainer instance list glow-up 🌸

ok so real talk, bestie: this page is from the apptainer(1) manual, and it's all about listing your container instances. it's short, it's sweet, and it's gonna be your new fave. let's go 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

apptainer-instance-list — literally just lists every running and named Apptainer instance. that's it. that's the whole job. iconic behavior tbh 👑

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

apptainer instance list [list options...] []

ngl bestie, yes — there's a lil optional empty argument at the end ([]). don't ask, just vibe with it 😭

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

kay so, the instance list command is your little window into what's happening in the background — it lets you view the Apptainer container instances that are currently running in the background. main character energy: you get to see them, they don't get to see you 🫶

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🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

• -a, --all[=false] — display all instances, including the --sharens instances. the "no instance left behind" option fr fr 💜
• -h, --help[=false] — help for list. your lil safety net when you forget everything ✨
• -j, --json[=false] — print structured json instead of a list. for the data girlies 🍓
• -l, --logs[=false] — display the location of the stdout and sterr log files for instances. (yes, sterr — that's verbatim how it's written, do not come for me 🙈)
• -u, --user="" — if running as root, list instances from "". default is the empty string, cute and mysterious 🎀

heads up lowkey: -u is the "am I root rn" flex. it's specifically for when you're running as root and you wanna peek at another user's instances.

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🔥 EXAMPLE 🔥

a whole lil demo, and honestly? slay. everything below is exactly as written, character for character 💀

$ apptainer instance list
INSTANCE NAME      PID       IMAGE
test               11963     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/test.sif
test2              11964     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/test.sif
lolcow             11965     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/lolcow.sif

$ apptainer instance list 'test*'
INSTANCE NAME      PID       IMAGE
test               11963     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/test.sif
test2              11964     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/test.sif

$ sudo apptainer instance list -u mibauer
INSTANCE NAME      PID       IMAGE
test               11963     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/test.sif
test2              16219     /home/mibauer/apptainer/sinstance/test.sif

see how you can slap a glob in there like 'test*'? the way that just works. and the sudo ... -u mibauer one? that's the root-only era. periodt 👑

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• apptainer-instance(1) — go read the big sibling page, iykyk 🦋

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⭐ HISTORY ⭐

22-Oct-2026 — Auto generated by spf13/cobra. not me being a whole autogenerated baddie 😭

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okay bestie, that's the whole page 💖 every flag, every default, every weird lil "", all present and accounted for. go forth and list your instances. you're doing amazing sweetie 🧚

<a rainbow>Auto generated by spf13/cobra · Oct 2026 · apptainer(1) 🌸 — mwah, that's the sign-off, and yes the date is giving retro-future vibes 💅