nixos-container Command Examples

Starts NixOS containers using Linux containers. More information: https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/#ch-containers.

• List running containers:

sudo nixos-container list

• Create a NixOS container with a specific configuration file:

sudo nixos-container create {{container_name}} --config-file {{nix_config_file_path}}

• Start, stop, terminate, or destroy a specific container:

sudo nixos-container {{start|stop|terminate|destroy|status}} {{container_name}}

• Run a command in a running container:

sudo nixos-container run {{container_name}} -- {{command}} {{command_arguments}}

• Update a container configuration:

sudo $EDITOR /var/lib/container/{{container_name}}/etc/nixos/configuration.nix && sudo nixos-container update {{container_name}}

• Enter an interactive shell session on an already-running container:

sudo nixos-container root-login {{container_name}}