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Managing Containers

Sulla Desktop gives you two ways to manage containers:

  1. Dashboard management inside the app
  2. Command-line management (Docker, Lima, and kubectl)

Manage containers in the dashboard

From the Sulla Docker dashboard, you can:

  • View running and stopped containers
  • Start, stop, and restart containers
  • Inspect status and basic health
  • Check logs and active workloads

For most day-to-day operations, the dashboard is the fastest option.

Manage containers from the command line

If you prefer terminal workflows, use the built-in container tooling.

Docker commands

docker ps
docker ps -a
docker start <container_name>
docker stop <container_name>
docker restart <container_name>
docker logs -f <container_name>
docker exec -it <container_name> sh

Lima commands

limactl list
limactl shell <instance_name>
limactl stop <instance_name>
limactl start <instance_name>

kubectl commands (when Kubernetes is enabled)

kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods -A
kubectl get svc -A
kubectl describe pod <pod_name> -n <namespace>
kubectl logs <pod_name> -n <namespace>

AI-assisted container management

Your AI executive assistant can also help by:

  • Diagnosing container failures
  • Checking likely misconfigurations
  • Suggesting or applying fixes
  • Running iterative debug/test loops with you

Troubleshooting basics

If something fails, check in this order:

  1. Container is running
  2. Logs show expected startup behavior
  3. Ports are not conflicting
  4. Required environment variables are set
  5. Dependent services are available

Best practice

Use dashboard controls for quick visibility, and use CLI for deeper inspection and scripting.