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Manage Container Lifecycle

Start, stop, restart, pause, resume, and delete containers; perform bulk actions on Compose services.

Prerequisites

  • Docker is running
  • At least one container exists (running or stopped)

Scenario 1: Stop and Restart a Container

  1. Click Containers in the sidebar
  2. Find the container in the list — running containers show a green badge
  3. Click the ... (overflow menu) on the container row
  4. Click Stop — the container transitions to a red "Exited" badge
  5. To restart, open the overflow menu again and click Start
  6. To force restart a running container, click Restart — this stops and starts in one action

Scenario 2: Pause and Resume a Container

  1. Find a running container in the list
  2. Click the pause icon on the container row — the badge changes to yellow "Paused"
  3. The container's processes are frozen in memory but not stopped
  4. Click the play icon on the paused container to resume

Scenario 3: Delete a Container

  1. Click the ... (overflow menu) on the container row
  2. Click Delete
  3. A confirmation dialog appears: "Delete container [name]? This action cannot be undone."
  4. Click Delete to confirm
  5. The container is removed from the list

Scenario 4: Bulk Actions on Compose Services

  1. Click Compose in the sidebar
  2. Select a running project
  3. Use the toolbar buttons at the top:
    • Stop All — stops all services in the project
    • Start All — starts all services
    • Restart All — restarts all services
    • Remove All — stops and removes all containers, networks, and volumes

What You'll See

  • Container status badges update in real-time:
    • Green = Running
    • Red = Exited / Stopped
    • Yellow = Paused
    • Gray = Created (not started)
  • The Dashboard counters update to reflect current running/stopped/paused counts
  • Compose project status shows aggregate state (all running, partially running, all stopped)

Tips

  • Stopped containers still occupy disk space for their writable layer — delete containers you no longer need
  • Pausing is useful when you want to temporarily free CPU without losing container state
  • Containers with restart policy unless-stopped or always will auto-restart when Docker restarts, unless you explicitly stopped them
  • Bulk Compose actions operate on all services in the project — you can also start/stop individual services by right-clicking them in the service list

Related Tutorials

Run Your First Docker Container

Create new containers with port mappings and volumes.

Inspect and Monitor a Container

Monitor CPU, memory, and network usage in real time.