crictl

CRI-compatible container runtime CLI

TLDR

List containers

$ crictl ps

List all containers including stopped

$ crictl ps -a

List images

$ crictl images

Pull image

$ crictl pull [image:tag]

Run pod from config

$ crictl runp [pod.json]

Create container

$ crictl create [pod-id] [container.json] [pod.json]

Start container

$ crictl start [container-id]

Execute command in container

$ crictl exec -it [container-id] [/bin/sh]

View container logs

$ crictl logs [container-id]

Remove container

$ crictl rm [container-id]

Stop and remove pod

$ crictl stopp [pod-id] && crictl rmp [pod-id]

SYNOPSIS

crictl [globaloptions] command [options] [arguments_]

crictl is a command-line interface for CRI-compatible container runtimes. CRI (Container Runtime Interface) is the plugin interface that enables Kubernetes to work with different container runtimes. crictl provides debugging and inspection tools for Kubernetes nodes, interacting directly with containerd, CRI-O, or other CRI-compliant runtimes.Unlike docker or podman which are designed for general container management, crictl is specifically built for Kubernetes troubleshooting. It exposes the CRI API operations, allowing cluster administrators to inspect pod sandboxes, containers, and images as they exist in the CRI runtime layer, helping diagnose issues with pod scheduling, container creation, and image pulling.

PARAMETERS

-r, --runtime-endpoint endpoint

CRI runtime endpoint (e.g., unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock).

-i, --image-endpoint endpoint

CRI image endpoint.

--timeout duration

Connection timeout in seconds (default: 2).

--config path

Location of the client config file (default: /etc/crictl.yaml).

-D, --debug

Enable debug output.

CONFIGURATION

~/.crictl.yaml or /etc/crictl.yaml

$ runtime-endpoint: unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock
image-endpoint: unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock
timeout: 10
debug: false

COMMANDS

List containers

pods

List pods

images

List images

pull

Pull image

run

Run a new container

exec

Execute command in container

logs

View container logs

attach

Attach to container

start/stop

Start/stop container

Remove container

rmi

Remove image

runp/stopp/rmp

Run/stop/remove pod

inspect

Inspect container

inspecti

Inspect image

inspectp

Inspect pod

stats

Container resource usage

info

Runtime info

INSTALL

sudo dnf install cri-tools

sudo pacman -S crictl

sudo apk add cri-tools

sudo zypper install cri-tools

brew install cri-tools

nix profile install nixpkgs#cri-tools

CAVEATS

Must run with appropriate privileges (typically root). Command syntax differs from docker CLI. Primarily for debugging Kubernetes nodes, not general container management. Command-line flags take precedence over environment variables, which take precedence over the config file.

HISTORY

crictl is part of the cri-tools project maintained by Kubernetes SIGs. It was created to provide a standard debugging and troubleshooting tool for CRI-compatible container runtimes, replacing runtime-specific CLIs for Kubernetes node inspection.