Can I bring an existing Compose file

Yes, unchanged. Ordinary interpolation like ${TAG} works exactly as it does locally. A few settings are refused for safety; see Compose files .

What happens to a container if I delete the computer

The container stops with the machine. Its backups are separate and survive, so you can restore it onto another computer.

Can two containers on one computer see each other's data

Only if you connect them yourself in the Compose file. Volumes and secrets are per container.

Containers

A container runs your service on one of your computers. You give it an image or a Compose file, idapt starts it, and you get logs, ports, backups and a URL.

Why not just install it on the computer

Because a computer is a runtime, not a home. Anything you install on the host is gone the next time the machine is rebuilt, and nothing tracks it. A container declares what it needs, so idapt can back it up, move it to another computer, and tell you what it holds.

The short version of the persistence contract:

What	Survives
Files in a declared volume	Yes
Files written elsewhere in the container	No, gone when it is recreated
`apt install` on the host	No
The image	Yes, it is stored with each backup

A container is an isolation boundary for resources and namespaces, not a security boundary between people who do not trust each other. Everything on one computer belongs to one workspace.

Create one

Open Containers and click New container
Pick a source: an image, a Dockerfile, or a Compose file
Choose the computer to run it on, give it a name, and click Create

The container appears in the list with a status dot. Green is running, amber means something is in flight or unhealthy, red needs you.

Rebuild, restart, restore

Three verbs that sound similar and do very different things:

Verb	What it does	Your data
Restart	Stops and starts the same container	Kept
Rebuild	Re-pulls or rebuilds the image, recreates the container	Kept
Restore	Replaces volume data with a backup's copy	Replaced

Rebuild is how you take a security update without losing state.

Restore is not reversible without another backup. It asks you to type the container's name first.

What runs on the host instead

Containers cover most work, but not all of it. Use the computer directly for:

managing the container runtime itself
anything that needs systemd, kernel modules, or sysctl
Docker-in-Docker workloads
computer use and local inference on a paired personal machine
exploratory work where you just want a Linux box

From an agent or the CLI

Command	What it does
`idapt container list`	List a workspace's containers.
`idapt container get`	Get one container.
`idapt container create`	Create a container from an image.
`idapt container compose-up`	Create a container from a Compose document.
`idapt container run`	Build from a Dockerfile and run it.
`idapt container update`	Rename or re-describe a container.
`idapt container delete`	Delete a container.
`idapt container up`	Start a container.
`idapt container down`	Stop a container.
`idapt container restart`	Restart a container.
`idapt container rebuild`	Rebuild or re-pull the image, keeping volumes.
`idapt container compose-get`	Get the container's Compose document.
`idapt container compose-set`	Replace the container's Compose document.
`idapt container logs`	Read a container's logs.
`idapt container exec`	Run a command inside a container.
`idapt container ports`	List a container's ports.
`idapt container port-open`	Expose a container port at a URL.
`idapt container port-close`	Stop exposing a container port.
`idapt container backup`	Back up a container's volumes and image.
`idapt container restore`	Restore a container from a backup.
`idapt container backups`	List a container's backups.
`idapt container migrate`	Move a container to another computer.
`idapt container events`	A container's activity feed.
`idapt container runtime`	Docker runtime status on a computer.

FAQs

Compose files

Bring your own Compose file, and fix the few settings idapt refuses.

Give a container a secret

Bind a credential by name so the value never appears in a file, a backup, or a chat.

Backup and restore

What a backup captures, how long it is kept, and the difference between restore and rebuild.

Reaching a container

Expose a container port to yourself, your workspace, or the public, and know what changes when it moves.

Up next

Compose files

Bring your own Compose file, and fix the few settings idapt refuses.

Was this helpful?

A container runs your service on one of your computers. You give it an image or a Compose file, idapt starts it, and you get logs, ports, backups and a URL.

Why not just install it on the computer

The short version of the persistence contract:

What	Survives
Files in a declared volume	Yes
Files written elsewhere in the container	No, gone when it is recreated
`apt install` on the host	No
The image	Yes, it is stored with each backup

A container is an isolation boundary for resources and namespaces, not a security boundary between people who do not trust each other. Everything on one computer belongs to one workspace.

Create one

Open Containers and click New container
Pick a source: an image, a Dockerfile, or a Compose file
Choose the computer to run it on, give it a name, and click Create

The container appears in the list with a status dot. Green is running, amber means something is in flight or unhealthy, red needs you.

Rebuild, restart, restore

Three verbs that sound similar and do very different things:

Verb	What it does	Your data
Restart	Stops and starts the same container	Kept
Rebuild	Re-pulls or rebuilds the image, recreates the container	Kept
Restore	Replaces volume data with a backup's copy	Replaced

Rebuild is how you take a security update without losing state.

Restore is not reversible without another backup. It asks you to type the container's name first.

What runs on the host instead

Containers cover most work, but not all of it. Use the computer directly for:

managing the container runtime itself
anything that needs systemd, kernel modules, or sysctl
Docker-in-Docker workloads
computer use and local inference on a paired personal machine
exploratory work where you just want a Linux box

From an agent or the CLI

Command	What it does
`idapt container list`	List a workspace's containers.
`idapt container get`	Get one container.
`idapt container create`	Create a container from an image.
`idapt container compose-up`	Create a container from a Compose document.
`idapt container run`	Build from a Dockerfile and run it.
`idapt container update`	Rename or re-describe a container.
`idapt container delete`	Delete a container.
`idapt container up`	Start a container.
`idapt container down`	Stop a container.
`idapt container restart`	Restart a container.
`idapt container rebuild`	Rebuild or re-pull the image, keeping volumes.
`idapt container compose-get`	Get the container's Compose document.
`idapt container compose-set`	Replace the container's Compose document.
`idapt container logs`	Read a container's logs.
`idapt container exec`	Run a command inside a container.
`idapt container ports`	List a container's ports.
`idapt container port-open`	Expose a container port at a URL.
`idapt container port-close`	Stop exposing a container port.
`idapt container backup`	Back up a container's volumes and image.
`idapt container restore`	Restore a container from a backup.
`idapt container backups`	List a container's backups.
`idapt container migrate`	Move a container to another computer.
`idapt container events`	A container's activity feed.
`idapt container runtime`	Docker runtime status on a computer.

FAQs

Compose files

Bring your own Compose file, and fix the few settings idapt refuses.

Give a container a secret

Bind a credential by name so the value never appears in a file, a backup, or a chat.

Backup and restore

What a backup captures, how long it is kept, and the difference between restore and rebuild.

Reaching a container

Expose a container port to yourself, your workspace, or the public, and know what changes when it moves.

Up next

Compose files

Bring your own Compose file, and fix the few settings idapt refuses.

Was this helpful?