Manage Pods

Learn how to create, start, stop, and terminate Pods using the web interface and the command-line interface (CLI).

Before you begin

If you want to manage Pods using the RunPod CLI, you'll need to install runpodctl, and set your API key in the configuration.

Run the following command, replacing $RUNPOD_API_KEY with your API key:

runpodctl config --apiKey $RUNPOD_API_KEY

Create a Pod

Web

To create a Pod using the web interface:

1. Open the Pods page in the RunPod console and click the Deploy button.
2. (Optional) Specify a Network Volume if you need to share data between multiple Pods, or to save data for later use.
3. Select GPU or CPU using the buttons in the top-left corner of the window, and follow the configuration steps below.

GPU configuration:

1. Select a graphics card (e.g., A40, RTX 4090, H100 SXM).
2. Give your Pod a name using the Pod Name field.
3. (Optional) Choose a Pod Template such as RunPod Pytorch 2.1 or RunPod Stable Diffusion.
4. Specify your GPU count if you need multiple GPUs.
5. Click Deploy On-Demand to deploy and start your Pod.

CPU configuration:

1. Select a CPU type (e.g., CPU3/CPU5, Compute Optimized, General Purpose, Memory-Optimized).
2. Specify the number of CPUs and quantity of RAM for your Pod by selecting an Instance Configuration.
3. Give your Pod a name using the Pod Name field.
4. Click Deploy On-Demand to deploy and start your Pod.

Command line

To create a Pod using the CLI, use the runpodctl create pods command:

runpodctl create pods \
  --name hello-world \
  --gpuType "NVIDIA A40" \
  --imageName "runpod/pytorch:3.10-2.0.0-117" \
  --containerDiskSize 10 \
  --volumeSize 100 \
  --args "bash -c 'mkdir /testdir1 && /start.sh'"

Custom templates

RunPod supports custom Pod templates that let you define your environment using a Dockerfile.

With custom templates, you can:

• Install specific dependencies and packages.
• Configure your development environment.
• Create portable Docker images that work consistently across deployments.
• Share environments with team members for collaborative work.

Stop a Pod

warning

You will be charged for idle Pods even if they are stopped. If you don't need to retain your Pod environment, you should terminate it completely.

Web

1. Open the Pods page.
2. Find the Pod you want to stop and expand it.
3. Click the Stop button (square icon).
4. Confirm by clicking the Stop Pod button.

Command line

To stop a Pod, enter the following command.

runpodctl stop pod $RUNPOD_POD_ID

Stop a Pod after a period of time

You can also stop a Pod after a specified period of time. The examples below show how to use the CLI and the web terminal to schedule a Pod to stop after 2 hours of runtime.

Command line

Use the following command to stop a Pod after 2 hours:

sleep 2h; runpodctl stop pod $RUNPOD_POD_ID &

This command uses sleep to wait for 2 hours before executing the runpodctl stop pod command to stop the Pod. The & at the end runs the command in the background, allowing you to continue using the SSH session.

Web terminal

To stop a Pod after 2 hours using the web terminal, enter:

nohup bash -c "sleep 2h; runpodctl stop pod $RUNPOD_POD_ID" &

nohup ensures the process continues running if you close the web terminal window.

Start a Pod

Pods start as soon as they are created, but you can resume a Pod that has been stopped.

Web

1. Open the Pods page.
2. Find the Pod you want to start and expand it.
3. Click the Start button (play icon).

Command line

To start a single Pod, enter the command runpodctl start pod. You can pass the environment variable RUNPOD_POD_ID to identify each Pod.

runpodctl start pod $RUNPOD_POD_ID

Terminate a Pod

danger

Terminating a Pod permanently deletes all data outside your network volume. Be sure you've saved any data you want to access again.

Web

1. Open the Pods page.
2. Find the Pod you want to terminate and expand it.
3. Stop the Pod if it's running.
4. Click the Terminate button (trash icon).
5. Confirm by clicking the Yes button.

Command line

To remove a single Pod, enter the following command.

runpodctl remove pod $RUNPOD_POD_ID

You can also remove Pods in bulk. For example, the following command terminates up to 40 Pods with the name my-bulk-task.

runpodctl remove pods my-bulk-task --podCount 40

List Pods

You can find a list of all your Pods on the Pods page of the web interface.

If you're using the CLI, use the following command to list your Pods:

runpodctl get pod