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FAQ

General

Why c9s?

c9s (pronounced "sinks") brings the k9s experience to Apple Containers. It provides a fast, keyboard-driven TUI for managing containers, images, volumes, networks, and more—all without leaving your terminal.

Does c9s work without the Apple Containers CLI?

Yes! Use c9s --demo-data to explore the interface with populated sample data, even if you don't have the container runtime installed.

Can I use my k9s skin?

Yes! c9s supports k9s skin format. Import your k9s skin with:

c9s import-skin ~/.config/k9s/skins/my-skin.yaml

See Skins for more details.

Does c9s support remote container hosts?

c9s uses the Apple Containers CLI under the hood, so if your CLI is configured to connect to a remote host, c9s will use that connection automatically.

Usage

How do I delete multiple containers at once?

  1. Press Space to mark containers
  2. Press Shift+D to delete all marked containers
  3. Confirm the deletion

This batch operation pattern works across all screens (containers, images, volumes, etc.).

How do I view logs from multiple containers?

  1. Mark containers with Space
  2. Press l to open the multi-source log viewer
  3. Logs from all marked containers stream in parallel with color-coded prefixes

Can I detach from a running build or pull?

Yes! When a build or pull is running:

  1. Press Ctrl+Z to detach
  2. The job continues in the background
  3. Switch to :jobs to see all background jobs
  4. Press Enter on a job to re-attach

How do I sort a list?

On any sortable screen (containers, images, volumes, networks, jobs):

  1. Press s to open the sort modal
  2. Select the column to sort by
  3. Choose ascending or descending order

Alternatively, click on column headers with your mouse.

Troubleshooting

c9s shows "container CLI not found"

Ensure the Apple Containers CLI is installed and in your PATH. You can test with:

which container
container version

c9s crashes on startup

Check the error logs:

cat ~/.local/state/c9s/errors/*.log

Or launch c9s and press :errors to view the errors screen.

Logs aren't streaming

Try increasing the refresh interval in ~/.config/c9s/config.yaml:

ui:
  refresh_interval: 2s

Mouse isn't working

Ensure your terminal supports mouse events. Most modern terminals (iTerm2, Alacritty, Wezterm, etc.) support this by default.

Development

How do I build from source?

git clone https://github.com/torosent/c9s.git
cd c9s
make build

The binary will be in bin/c9s.

How do I run tests?

make test

Or with race detection and coverage:

make ci

How do I contribute?

See Contributing for guidelines on filing issues, submitting PRs, and setting up your development environment.