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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Podman Has a Free API — Daemonless Container Management Compatible with Docker

#docker #containers #api #devops

Podman is a daemonless container engine that's fully compatible with Docker CLI. It runs containers as rootless by default, provides a Docker-compatible REST API, and can generate systemd units for container management.

Free, open source, by Red Hat. Drop-in replacement for Docker.

Why Use Podman?

  • Daemonless — no background process, containers run as child processes
  • Rootless by default — enhanced security, no root required
  • Docker-compatible — same CLI commands, same API, same images
  • Pod support — group containers into pods (like Kubernetes)
  • Systemd integration — auto-generate systemd services for containers
  • REST API — full Docker-compatible API

Quick Setup

1. Install 

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install podman

# macOS
brew install podman
podman machine init && podman machine start

# Verify
podman --version
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2. Enable REST API 

# Start API service (rootless)
podman system service --time=0 unix:///tmp/podman.sock &

# Or TCP
podman system service --time=0 tcp:0.0.0.0:8080 &
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3. List Containers via API 

# Via Unix socket
curl -s --unix-socket /tmp/podman.sock http://d/v4.0.0/libpod/containers/json | jq '.[] | {id: .Id[:12], name: .Names[0], state: .State, image: .Image}'

# Docker-compatible endpoint
curl -s --unix-socket /tmp/podman.sock http://d/v4.0.0/containers/json | jq
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4. Run Containers via API 

# Create a container
curl -s --unix-socket /tmp/podman.sock -X POST http://d/v4.0.0/libpod/containers/create \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "image": "docker.io/library/nginx:latest",
    "name": "my-nginx",
    "portmappings": [{"container_port": 80, "host_port": 8080}]
  }' | jq '.Id'

# Start the container
curl -s --unix-socket /tmp/podman.sock -X POST http://d/v4.0.0/libpod/containers/my-nginx/start
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5. Pods (Like Kubernetes) 

# Create a pod
podman pod create --name my-app-pod -p 8080:80

# Add containers to pod
podman run -d --pod my-app-pod --name web nginx
podman run -d --pod my-app-pod --name api python:3.11-slim python3 -m http.server 8000

# List pods
podman pod list

# Generate Kubernetes YAML from pod!
podman generate kube my-app-pod > pod.yaml
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6. Generate systemd Service 

# Auto-create systemd service file
podman generate systemd --new --name my-nginx > ~/.config/systemd/user/my-nginx.service
systemctl --user enable --now my-nginx
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Python Example 

import requests_unixsocket
import json

session = requests_unixsocket.Session()
SOCK = "http+unix://%2Ftmp%2Fpodman.sock"

# List containers
containers = session.get(f"{SOCK}/v4.0.0/libpod/containers/json").json()
for c in containers:
    print(f"Container: {c['Names'][0]} | State: {c['State']} | Image: {c['Image'][:40]}")

# List images
images = session.get(f"{SOCK}/v4.0.0/libpod/images/json").json()
for img in images:
    names = img.get('Names', ['unnamed'])
    print(f"Image: {names[0]} | Size: {img['Size']/(1024*1024):.0f}MB")

# List pods
pods = session.get(f"{SOCK}/v4.0.0/libpod/pods/json").json()
for p in pods:
    print(f"Pod: {p['Name']} | Status: {p['Status']} | Containers: {len(p['Containers'])}")
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Key Endpoints

Endpoint Description
/libpod/containers/json List containers
/libpod/containers/create Create container
/libpod/containers/{id}/start Start container
/libpod/containers/{id}/stop Stop container
/libpod/containers/{id}/logs Get logs
/libpod/images/json List images
/libpod/pods/json List pods
/libpod/pods/create Create pod
/libpod/info System info

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