Nerdctl Tool

Nerdctl Tool is a VS Code extension for inspecting containers managed by nerdctl without leaving the editor. It adds a dedicated Containers view that shows runtime status, ports, health, resource details, and quick access to container logs.

Features

• Container summary view in the Activity Bar
• Start, stop, and restart actions for runtime containers
• Compose-aware service discovery from compose.yaml, compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml, and docker-compose.yml
• Expandable container rows with image, uptime, CPU, memory, ports, restart count, health, volumes, and network details
• Port entries with detected listening PIDs when available
• Built-in logs panel for quick container log inspection
• Event Log view tracking container lifecycle events (create, start, pause, unpause, die, stop, destroy)
• Toast notifications for container failures

Requirements

• nerdctl must be installed and available on your PATH
• A workspace folder is recommended so the extension can discover compose files
• lsof is optional and is used to populate listening PIDs for exposed ports

Usage

Open the Nerdctl Tool view from the Activity Bar to access two panels:

Containers Panel: Shows all containers managed by nerdctl and services from compose files. The extension refreshes on startup and you can manually refresh the view with the title bar action.

Event Log Panel: Tracks container lifecycle events in real-time, including create, start, pause, unpause, die, stop, and destroy actions. Failed containers (die with non-zero exit code) trigger a toast notification. The log maintains a 24-hour history and can be cleared with the Clear Event Log action.

Select a container to open its logs. Use the available commands to:

• Refresh container state
• Select the Compose file used by the extension
• Start all services
• Stop all services
• Start a container
• Stop a container
• Restart a container
• Show container logs
• Clear event log

Use Select Compose File from the Containers view title menu to switch between Compose files. The selection is remembered for the current workspace.

Configuration

The following settings control which details are shown under each container:

• nerdctlTool.summary.showImage
• nerdctlTool.summary.showUptime
• nerdctlTool.summary.showCpu
• nerdctlTool.summary.showMemory
• nerdctlTool.summary.showPorts
• nerdctlTool.summary.showRestartCount
• nerdctlTool.summary.showHealth
• nerdctlTool.summary.showVolumes
• nerdctlTool.summary.showNetwork

Notes

• Compose-backed services with no running container are shown as No containers
• Runtime containers that are not matched to compose are marked separately in the tree

License

All Rights Reserved.