Command-Line Options

systemd-docker provides a few simple but powerful flags to control its behavior. These options let you fine-tune how it integrates with systemd and the container.

Basic Usage

systemd-docker [flags] -- [docker flags]

Everything before -- configures systemd-docker itself. Everything after -- is passed directly to docker run.

Available Flags

• -c, --cgroups
  Takes ownership of one or more cgroups.
  You can specify multiple, or use all to grab all available cgroups.
  Useful when fine-tuning resource control with systemd.
• -e, --env
  Passes the environment variables from the systemd service environment into the container.
  Without this, the container starts with a clean env.
• -h, --help
  Displays the help message.
• -l, --logs
  Pipes the container logs to stdout, so they show up in journalctl.
  Defaults to true, which is usually what you want.
• -n, --notify
  Enables systemd notify integration.
  Lets the container send READY=1 or similar signals to tell systemd when it’s fully started.
• -p, --pid-file
  Writes the container’s PID to a file.
  This is useful for monitoring or integrating with other tooling.
• -v, --version
  Shows the version of systemd-docker.