Manage Pods

Learn how to start, stop, and manage Pods with RunPod, including creating and terminating Pods, and using the command line interface to manage your Pods.

Prerequisites

If you are using the RunPod CLI, you'll need to set your API key in the configuration.

runpodctl config --apiKey $RUNPOD_API_KEY

Replace $RUNPOD_API_KEY with your RunPod API key.

Once your API key is set, you can manage your infrastructure.

If you're not sure which Pod meets your needs, see Choose a Pod.

Create Pods

Web

1. Navigate to Pods and select + Deploy.
2. Choose between GPU and CPU.
3. Customize your an instance by setting up the following:
   1. (optional) Specify a Network volume.
   2. Select an instance type. For example, A40.
   3. (optional) Provide a template. For example, RunPod Pytorch.
   4. (GPU only) Specify your compute count.
4. Review your configuration and select Deploy On-Demand.

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'"

tip

RunPod supports custom templates that allow you to specify your own Dockerfile. By creating a Dockerfile, you can build a custom Docker image with your specific dependencies and configurations. This ensures that your applications are reliable and portable across different environments.

Charges occur after the Pod build is complete.

Stop a Pod

Web

1. Click the stop icon.
2. 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 specific time

You can also stop a Pod after a specific amount of time. For example, the following command sleeps for 2 hours, and then stops the Pod.

SSH

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.

warning

You are charged for storing idle Pods. If you do not need to store your Pod, be sure to terminate it next.

Start a Pod

You can resume a pod that has been stopped.

Web

1. Navigate to the Pods page.
2. Select your Pod you want to resume.
3. Select Start.

Your Pod will resume.

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. Select the hamburger menu at the bottom of the Pod you want to terminate.
2. Click Terminate Pod.
3. 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

If you're using the command line, enter the following command to list your pods.

runpodctl get pod