# Podman

[Podman](https://podman.io/) is a daemonless container manager that can run containers as root or in rootless mode. Podman commands are fully compatible with Docker, so you can replace one with the other: `alias docker=podman`.

The core Podman runtime environment can only run on Linux operating systems. However, you can use a [remote client](https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/main/docs/tutorials/mac_win_client.md) for other operating systems to manage containers on the machine running Podman. This topic describes how IntelliJ IDEA can act as a remote client for Podman.

Procedure: Enable the Docker plugin

This functionality relies on the [Docker](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7724-docker)  plugin, which  is bundled and enabled in IntelliJ IDEA   by default. If the relevant features are not available, make sure that you did not disable the plugin.

> **Note:**
> The Docker plugin is available by default only in IntelliJ IDEA  with the Ultimate subscription. For IntelliJ IDEA, you need to install the Docker plugin as described in [Plugins](managing-plugins.html).

1. Press `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Windows), `⌘ Comma` (macOS), `⌘ Comma` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ Comma` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (XWin), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (GNOME), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (KDE), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Emacs), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Sublime Text), `⌘ Comma` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (NetBeans), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Visual Studio), `⌘ Comma` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Eclipse), `⌘ Comma` (Eclipse (macOS)) to open settings and then select `Plugins`.

2. Open the Installed tab, find the Docker plugin, and select the checkbox next to the plugin name.

Procedure: Run Podman

Starting from Podman version 3.2.0, you can use the [podman machine](https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-machine.1.html) set of commands to run a virtual machine with Podman.

1. [Install Podman](https://podman.io/docs/installation).

2. Complete the following step based on your OS:

Windows, macOS:

Initialize a new virtual machine:

```SHELL
podman machine init --rootful=true
```

For more information, see [podman machine
init](https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-machine-init.1.html).

Next, start the Podman virtual machine:

```SHELL
podman machine start
```

For more information, see [podman machine start](https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-machine-start.1.html).

Linux:

No virtual machine is needed. Use Podman directly after the installation.

If successful, the output will contain a URL of the Podman API and the `DOCKER_HOST` variable with a value that you can use for [connecting to Podman from IntelliJ IDEA](#connect) or any other Docker client. For example:

```PLAINTEXT
unix:///var/folders/3p/qnvz_wss4g32qcwxcmvsk70c0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default-api.sock
```

Procedure: Connect to Podman from IntelliJ IDEA

For information about running Podman, see [Run Podman](#run).

1. Press `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Windows), `⌘ Comma` (macOS), `⌘ Comma` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ Comma` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (XWin), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (GNOME), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (KDE), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Emacs), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Sublime Text), `⌘ Comma` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (NetBeans), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Visual Studio), `⌘ Comma` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Eclipse), `⌘ Comma` (Eclipse (macOS)) to open settings and then select `Build, Execution, Deployment | Docker`.

2. Click ![The Add button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.add.svg) to add a Docker configuration.

3. Select Podman and then select the name of the [Podman machine](https://podman-desktop.io/docs/podman/creating-a-podman-machine) in the Podman connection list.

If everything is correct, you should see Connection successful at the bottom of the page.

For more information, refer to [Docker connection settings](settings-docker.html).

Procedure: Troubleshoot Podman Linux connection error

If the connection to Podman could not be established, IntelliJ IDEA shows an error indicating that the Podman executable was found, but the connection to the Podman socket failed.

You can refer to [Podman documentation](https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-system-service.1.html) for more details and use the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

Rootless Podman:

Configure the `systemd` socket to start automatically after a reboot and run as the specified user:

```BASH
systemctl --user enable podman.socket
loginctl enable-linger <USER>
```

Rootfull Podman:

Start the `systemd` socket for the service as root:

```BASH
sudo systemctl start podman.socket
```

Configure the socket to be automatically started after the reboot:

```BASH
sudo systemctl enable podman.socket
```

> **Note:**
> To run Dev Containers with Podman, set the `service_timeout=0` field in the `containers.conf` file.
>
>
>
> * This field is mentioned in the [Podman System Service](https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-system-service.1.html) documentation under the `--time`, `-t` option description.
>
> * See the [complete specification](https://github.com/containers/common/blob/main/docs/containers.conf.5.md) of the `containers.conf` configuration file.