d9s

A k9s-inspired TUI for Docker and Podman, built with Textual and the Docker SDK for Python.

Note: This tool was built almost entirely using Claude Code (Anthropic's AI coding assistant, max mode). The human provided direction, tested the UI, and reported bugs — Claude wrote the code.

Runtime support

d9s auto-detects both Docker and Podman. If both are running, resources from both runtimes are shown side by side — the RT column in every table shows docker (blue) or podman (magenta) for each resource.

Detection order:

1. DOCKER_HOST environment variable (if set)
2. Docker daemon (default socket)
3. Podman socket (/run/user/$UID/podman/podman.sock, /run/podman/podman.sock)

No configuration needed — if a runtime is available, d9s finds it automatically.

Operations (shell, logs, delete, compose up/down, prune) are routed to the correct runtime for each resource. System prune runs on all active runtimes (without sudo for Podman).

Install

uv tool install .   # installs d9s globally in an isolated env
d9s

To uninstall:

uv tool uninstall d9s

Alternative:

pipx install .         # same concept, without uv
pip install -e .       # editable install inside an active venv

Views

A navigation bar at the top of every screen shows all views. Press 1–5 to switch directly between them from anywhere — no need to go back to the main screen first.

The header shows the active runtimes (e.g. Context: docker + podman) and engine versions (e.g. Engine: Docker 29.4.0 + Podman 4.9.3).

1 — Containers (default)

The main view. Shows all containers from all runtimes with RT, ID, name, image, state, ports, age, and compose project path (read from the com.docker.compose.project.working_dir label — shows - for non-compose containers).

• Workspace cycling (a): toggle between running (default), all, and exited containers. Shown in the crumb bar.
• Auto-refresh every 5 s with in-place table diffs that preserve cursor position. Toggle with A (shows [pause] when off).
• Filter (/): type to filter by container name. Enter to apply, Esc to clear.
• Command mode (:): type commands with tab autocompletion.

2 — Images

Images from all runtimes with RT, ID, repository, tag, size, and creation date. Inspect details (tags, digests, architecture, layers, labels), delete individual images, or prune all dangling ones.

3 — Volumes

Volumes from all runtimes with RT, name, driver, and mountpoint. Inspect details (driver, mountpoint, options, labels), delete individual volumes, or prune all unused ones.

4 — Networks

Networks from all runtimes with RT, ID, name, driver, scope, subnet, and connected container count. Inspect details (IPAM config, connected containers, labels), delete individual networks, or prune unused ones.

5 — Compose

Lists all Compose projects detected from container labels across all runtimes. Shows RT, project name, working directory, service count, and running/stopped counts.

Inspect shows the full compose config per service: image/build context, ports, volumes, environment variables, dependencies, restart policy, and networks.

If you do a compose down, containers are removed and the project disappears from this view. Use :up / :upd / :upp or W from the Containers view to bring them back.

Describe (container inspect)

Detailed view for a single container: name, ID, image, state, PID, restart policy, resource limits, command, entrypoint, ports, networks, mounts, labels, and environment variables.

Press y to toggle raw JSON — the full inspect output from the container runtime API.

Inspect (images / volumes / networks / compose)

Detailed view for non-container resources. Shows resource-specific fields in a human-readable format. Press y to toggle raw JSON.

Keybindings

Global (all views)

Key	Action
1	Go to Containers
2	Go to Images
3	Go to Volumes
4	Go to Networks
5	Go to Compose
esc / q	Back (from sub-views to Containers)
ctrl+c	Quit

Containers

Key	Action
arrows	Navigate rows
enter / d	Describe container (inspect)
l	Stream logs (live, follows output)
s	Shell into container (exec -it)
S	Live stats (CPU, memory, network I/O, block I/O, PIDs)
ctrl+d	Remove container — rm -f (x toggles volume removal in confirm dialog)
ctrl+k	Kill container (SIGKILL)
w	Compose down (x toggles -v for volume removal)
W	Compose up (restart after down)
P	System prune — prune --all on all runtimes (prompts for password, x toggles --force)
t	Stop container (SIGTERM)
u	Start stopped container
r	Restart container
R	Refresh
a	Cycle workspace: running / all / exited
A	Toggle auto-refresh
/	Filter by name
:	Command mode
?	Help screen (/ to search, vim-style)

Command mode

Press : to open. Tab cycles through matching commands and path completions.

Command	Action
:img / :images	Switch to Images
:vol / :volumes	Switch to Volumes
:net / :networks	Switch to Networks
:com / :compose	Switch to Compose
:up	Fuzzy file finder — scans for compose files, type to filter, Enter to select and compose up -d
:up <path>	Compose up from a specific file or directory (auto-detect runtime, tab path completion)
:upd	Same as :up but forces Docker as the runtime
:upd <path>	Same as :up <path> but forces Docker
:upp	Same as :up but forces Podman as the runtime
:upp <path>	Same as :up <path> but forces Podman
:prune	System prune (same as P)
:q!	Force quit

Images / Volumes / Networks

Key	Action
enter / i	Inspect selected resource
d	Delete selected
p	Prune unused / dangling
R	Refresh

Compose

Key	Action
enter / i	Inspect compose config
u	compose up -d
w	compose down
r	compose restart
R	Refresh
l	Logs (first running service)

Describe / Inspect

Key	Action
y	Toggle human-readable view / raw JSON
esc / q	Back

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Docker daemon and/or Podman socket active
• textual >= 8.0
• docker >= 7.0

Optional: pyyaml for parsed compose config inspection (falls back to raw output without it).