Does the Docker remote API have an equivalent for "docker run --rm ..."?

Question

I'd like to be able to easily clean up containers after they exit. Is this possible with the remote API? (Other than discovering the exit myself and removing with the DELETE/containers endpoint)

Answer 1

larsks answer is now outdated. Docker Remote API 1.25 shifted --rm functionality from client to server. There is an AutoRemove flag under HostConfig when creating a container that does exactly this.

Answer 2

The --rm option in the Docker client is entirely a client side option. This is, for example, why you can't combine -d with --rm -- because the client is only able to remove the container on exit if it stays attached to the container.

You could write a clean up script that would periodically run docker ps -f status=exited -q and clean up the result.

You could also achieve something more automated by monitoring the Docker API's /events endpoint and responding immediately to container exits, I guess.