container-manager-lifecycle

name	container-manager-lifecycle
skill_type	skill
description	Docker/Podman container and image lifecycle on local or remote hosts via the container-manager-mcp MCP server — list/inspect/stop/remove/exec containers, read logs, trace which container owns a port, pull/prune images, and run docker-compose stacks. Use when the agent must operate standalone (non-swarm) container workloads on a single engine. Do NOT use for Swarm cluster services/nodes (use container-manager-swarm) or for pushing inventory into the knowledge graph (use container-manager-kg-ingestion).
license	MIT
tags	["container-manager-mcp","docker","podman","containers","compose","mcp"]
metadata	{"author":"Genius","version":"0.1.0"}

Container Lifecycle (Docker / Podman)

Domain-typed control of single-host container workloads through the container-manager-mcp server. Prefer these cm_* tools over raw docker/podman shell — they carry the host-targeting, port-tracing, and destructive-confirmation conventions and return typed records.

When to use

• List, inspect, or read logs from containers on the LOCAL socket or a remote host.
• Stop / remove / prune containers, or exec a command inside one.
• Find which container is publishing a given host port.
• Pull, list, or prune images; bring a docker-compose file up/down.

When NOT to use

• Swarm cluster services, replicas, or nodes → container-manager-swarm.
• Snapshotting inventory into the knowledge graph → container-manager-kg-ingestion.
• Kubernetes workloads → container-manager-kubernetes-operations (the full cm_k8s_* surface), not these tools.
• Podman pods, checkpoint/restore, or Kubernetes-YAML interop → container-manager-podman-operations.

Prerequisites & environment

Connect via the mcp-client skill against the container-manager-mcp MCP server. A reachable Docker/Podman engine is required (local socket or a remote host over SSH).

Variable	Required	Notes
CONTAINER_MANAGER_TYPE	optional	docker or podman; auto-detected if unset
CONTAINER_MANAGER_HOST	optional	Default remote host alias (else LOCAL socket)

Remote hosts resolve from the tunnel-manager inventory — call cm_list_hosts to see aliases. Omit host to target the LOCAL Docker socket. MCP_TOOL_MODE (condensed|verbose|both) selects the condensed action-based tools (used below).

Tools & actions

Condensed tool	Actions
cm_container_operations	list_containers, get_container_logs, stop_container, remove_container, prune_containers, exec_in_container
cm_image_operations	list_images, pull_image, remove_image, prune_images
cm_compose_operations	up, down, ps, logs
trace_port_namespace	(single-purpose) locate the container owning a host port
cm_list_hosts	enumerate remote host aliases

Key parameters

• host — remote alias (omit for LOCAL). Same meaning across every cm_* tool.
• container_id — id or name; required for logs/stop/remove/exec.
• command — for exec_in_container.
• all_containers — include stopped containers in list_containers.
• tail — log-line count for get_container_logs (default "50").
• compose_file — path to the compose file for cm_compose_operations.
• force — required to remove a running container / force prune.

Recipes

List all containers (including stopped) on a remote host:

cm_container_operations action=list_containers all_containers=true host=<alias>

Tail 200 log lines from a container:

cm_container_operations action=get_container_logs container_id=<id|name> tail="200"

Find which container owns host port 8080:

trace_port_namespace port=8080 host=<alias>

Bring a compose stack up / read its services:

cm_compose_operations action=up compose_file=/srv/stack/docker-compose.yml
cm_compose_operations action=ps compose_file=/srv/stack/docker-compose.yml

Gotchas

• Swarm reads (list_nodes/list_services) live on cm_swarm_operations and must target a swarm manager; the container tools here operate the plain engine.
• remove_container on a running container needs force=true; stop it first when you can.
• host targets a remote engine over SSH via the tunnel-manager inventory — an unknown alias fails resolution; call cm_list_hosts first.
• tail is a string ("50"), not an int.
• prune_* actions are destructive and unbounded — confirm intent before running.

Related

• container-manager-swarm — cluster services / nodes / scaling.
• container-manager-kubernetes-operations — the full Kubernetes tool surface (workloads/config/networking/storage/RBAC/cluster/governance/observability).
• container-manager-podman-operations — Podman-specific pods, checkpoint/ restore, and kube-yaml interop.
• container-manager-config-walkthrough — first-time setup / choosing CONTAINER_MANAGER_TYPE before using this skill.
• container-manager-kg-ingestion — push this inventory into the knowledge graph as typed :Container / :ContainerImage nodes.