Provided by: singularity-container_4.1.1+ds2-1ubuntu0.3_amd64 
NAME
singularity-instance-start - Start a named instance of the given container image
SYNOPSIS
singularity instance start [start options...] [startscript args...]
DESCRIPTION
The instance start command allows you to create a new named instance from an
existing container image that will begin running in the background. If a
startscript is defined in the container metadata the commands in that script
will be executed with the instance start command as well. You can optionally
pass arguments to startscript
singularity instance start accepts the following container formats
*.sif Singularity Image Format (SIF). Native to Singularity 3.0+
*.sqsh SquashFS format. Native to Singularity 2.4+
*.img ext3 format. Native to Singularity versions < 2.4.
directory/ sandbox format. Directory containing a valid root file
system and optionally Singularity meta-data.
instance://* A local running instance of a container. (See the instance
command group.)
library://* A SIF container hosted on a Library
(default https://cloud.sylabs.io/library)
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
--add-caps="" a comma separated capability list to add
--allow-setuid[=false] allow setuid binaries in container (root only)
--app="" set an application to run inside a container
--apply-cgroups="" apply cgroups from file for container processes (root only)
--authfile="" Docker-style authentication file to use for writing/reading OCI registry credentials
-B, --bind=[] 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=0 Block IO relative weight in range 10-1000, 0 to disable
--blkio-weight-device=[] Device specific block IO relative weight
--boot[=false] execute /sbin/init to boot container (root only)
-e, --cleanenv[=false] clean environment before running container
--compat[=false] apply settings for increased OCI/Docker compatibility. Infers --containall, --no-
init, --no-umask, --no-eval, --writable-tmpfs.
-c, --contain[=false] use minimal /dev and empty other directories (e.g. /tmp and $HOME) instead of
sharing filesystems from your host
-C, --containall[=false] contain not only file systems, but also PID, IPC, and environment
--cpu-shares=-1 CPU shares for container
--cpus="" Number of CPUs available to container
--cpuset-cpus="" List of host CPUs available to container
--cpuset-mems="" List of host memory nodes available to container
--disable-cache[=false] dont use cache, and dont create cache
--dns="" list of DNS server separated by commas to add in resolv.conf
--docker-host="" specify a custom Docker daemon host
--docker-login[=false] login to a Docker Repository interactively
--drop-caps="" a comma separated capability list to drop
--env=[] pass environment variable to contained process
--env-file="" pass environment variables from file to contained process
-f, --fakeroot[=false] run container in new user namespace as uid 0
--fusemount=[] A FUSE filesystem mount specification of the form ': ' - where is 'container' or
'host', specifying where the mount will be performed ('container-daemon' or 'host-daemon' will run the
FUSE process detached). is the path to the FUSE executable, plus options for the mount. 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[=false] help for start
-H, --home="/home/buildd" 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.
--hostname="" set container hostname. Infers --uts.
-i, --ipc[=false] run container in a new IPC namespace
--keep-layers[=false] Keep layers when creating an OCI-SIF. Do not squash to a single layer.
--keep-privs[=false] let root user keep privileges in container (root only)
--memory="" Memory limit in bytes
--memory-reservation="" Memory soft limit in bytes
--memory-swap="" Swap limit, use -1 for unlimited swap
--mount=[] a mount specification e.g. 'type=bind,source=/opt,destination=/hostopt'.
-n, --net[=false] run container in a new network namespace (sets up a bridge network interface by
default)
--network="bridge" specify desired network type separated by commas, each network will bring up a
dedicated interface inside container
--network-args=[] specify network arguments to pass to CNI plugins
--no-compat=false ⟨--oci mode⟩ do not apply settings for increased OCI/Docker compatibility. Emulate
native runtime defaults without --contain etc.
--no-eval[=false] do not shell evaluate env vars or OCI container CMD/ENTRYPOINT/ARGS
--no-home[=false] do NOT mount users home directory if /home is not the current working directory
--no-https[=false] use http instead of https for docker:// oras:// and library:///... URIs
--no-init[=false] do NOT start shim process with --pid
--no-mount=[] disable one or more 'mount xxx' options set in singularity.conf, specify absolute
destination path to disable a bind path entry, or 'bind-paths' to disable all bind path entries.
--no-oci[=false] Launch container with native runtime
--no-privs[=false] drop all privileges in container (root only in non-OCI mode)
--no-setgroups[=false] disable setgroups when entering --fakeroot user namespace
--no-tmp-sandbox[=false] Prohibits unpacking of images into temporary sandbox dirs
--no-umask[=false] do not propagate umask to the container, set default 0022 umask
--nv[=false] enable Nvidia support
--nvccli[=false] use nvidia-container-cli for GPU setup (experimental)
--oci[=false] Launch container with OCI runtime (experimental)
--oom-kill-disable[=false] Disable OOM killer
-o, --overlay=[] use an overlayFS image for persistent data storage or as read-only layer of
container
--passphrase[=false] prompt for an encryption passphrase
--pem-path="" enter an path to a PEM formatted RSA key for an encrypted container
--pid-file="" write instance PID to the file with the given name
--pids-limit=0 Limit number of container PIDs, use -1 for unlimited
--rocm[=false] enable experimental Rocm support
-S, --scratch=[] include a scratch directory within the container that is linked to a temporary dir
(use -W to force location)
--security=[] enable security features (SELinux, Apparmor, Seccomp)
--tmp-sandbox[=false] Forces unpacking of images into temporary sandbox dirs when a kernel or FUSE
mount would otherwise be used.
-u, --userns[=false] run container in a new user namespace, allowing Singularity to run completely
unprivileged on recent kernels. This disables some features of Singularity, for example it only works
with sandbox images.
--uts[=false] run container in a new UTS namespace
-W, --workdir="" working directory to be used for /tmp and /var/tmp (if -c/--contain was also used)
-w, --writable[=false] by default all Singularity containers are available as read only. This option
makes the file system accessible as read/write.
--writable-tmpfs[=false] makes the file system accessible as read-write with non persistent data
(with overlay support only)
EXAMPLE
$ singularity instance start /tmp/my-sql.sif mysql
$ singularity shell instance://mysql
Singularity my-sql.sif> pwd
/home/mibauer/mysql
Singularity my-sql.sif> ps
PID TTY TIME CMD
1 pts/0 00:00:00 sinit
2 pts/0 00:00:00 bash
3 pts/0 00:00:00 ps
Singularity my-sql.sif>
$ singularity instance stop /tmp/my-sql.sif mysql
Stopping /tmp/my-sql.sif mysql
SEE ALSO
singularity-instance(1)
HISTORY
21-Jul-2025 Auto generated by spf13/cobra
Auto generated by spf13/cobra Jul 2025 singularity(1)