Skip to main content

atmos devcontainer start

Use this command to start a devcontainer. If the container doesn't exist, it will be created. If it exists but is stopped, it will be started.

atmos devcontainer start --help

Usage

atmos devcontainer start <name> [flags]

Arguments

name
Name of the devcontainer to start (from atmos.yaml configuration)

Flags

--instance string
Instance name for this devcontainer (default: default). Use this to run multiple instances of the same devcontainer configuration.
--attach
Attach to the container after starting it. This immediately opens an interactive shell in the container.

Examples

# Start a devcontainer
atmos devcontainer start geodesic

# Start and immediately attach
atmos devcontainer start geodesic --attach

# Start a specific instance
atmos devcontainer start terraform --instance project-a

# Start with custom runtime (via environment variable)
export ATMOS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME=podman
atmos devcontainer start geodesic

Behavior

  1. Container doesn't exist: Creates a new container with the configured image, mounts, ports, and environment variables, then starts it
  2. Container exists but stopped: Starts the existing container
  3. Container already running: Reports that the container is already running

The container name follows the pattern: atmos-devcontainer-<name>-<instance>

See Also