Documentation
📘 Commands
cleanup

cleanup

rfswift cleanup

Clean up containers and images to free disk space.

Synopsis 

rfswift cleanup <subcommand> [OPTIONS]

The cleanup command removes old or unused containers and images based on age filters. It provides three subcommands to target specific resource types or clean everything at once.

Subcommands

Subcommand Description
all Remove both old containers and images
containers Remove old containers only
images Remove old images only

Common Options

These options are available on all subcommands (all, containers, images):

Flag Description Default Example
--older-than Remove items older than duration "" --older-than 7d
--force Don’t ask for confirmation false --force
--dry-run Show what would be deleted without actually deleting false --dry-run

The --older-than flag accepts durations such as 24h, 7d, 1m, and 1y.

Subcommand-Specific Options

containers

Flag Description Default Example
--stopped Only remove stopped containers false --stopped

images

Flag Description Default Example
--dangling Only remove dangling (untagged) images false --dangling
--prune-children Also remove dependent child images false --prune-children

Examples

Basic Usage

Clean both containers and images:

rfswift cleanup all

Preview what would be deleted:

rfswift cleanup all --dry-run

Full cleanup without prompts:

rfswift cleanup all --force

Remove containers only:

rfswift cleanup containers

Remove images only:

rfswift cleanup images

Filtering by Age

Remove containers older than 7 days:

rfswift cleanup containers --older-than 7d

Remove images older than 1 month:

rfswift cleanup images --older-than 1m

Remove all resources older than 24 hours:

rfswift cleanup all --older-than 24h --force

Real-World Scenarios

Weekly maintenance:

# Remove stopped containers older than a week
rfswift cleanup containers --stopped --older-than 7d --force

# Remove dangling images
rfswift cleanup images --dangling --force

Before major operations:

# Free space before pulling large images
rfswift cleanup all --force

# Then pull new images
rfswift images pull -i penthertz/rfswift_noble:sdr_full

Emergency disk space recovery:

# Aggressive cleanup when disk is full
rfswift cleanup all --force

# Check space recovered
df -h

Selective image cleanup:

# Remove only dangling images and their children
rfswift cleanup images --dangling --prune-children --force

Safe preview before cleanup:

# See what would be removed without deleting anything
rfswift cleanup all --dry-run

# If the list looks right, run for real
rfswift cleanup all --force

Cleanup Strategies

Conservative Strategy

Remove only stopped containers and dangling images:

rfswift cleanup containers --stopped --force
rfswift cleanup images --dangling --force

Good for:

  • Production systems
  • Careful disk management
  • Preserving development environments

Balanced Strategy

Remove older unused resources:

rfswift cleanup all --older-than 7d --force

Good for:

  • Regular maintenance
  • Development systems
  • General cleanup

Aggressive Strategy

Remove everything unused:

rfswift cleanup all --force

Good for:

  • Emergency space recovery
  • Fresh start scenarios
  • CI/CD systems

Troubleshooting

Cleanup Not Freeing Space

Problem: Ran cleanup but disk usage still high

Solutions:

# Check what's using space
docker system df -v

# Try more aggressive cleanup
docker system prune -a -f --volumes

# Check for large log files
find /var/lib/docker -name "*.log" -size +100M

# Check other disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/docker/*

# May need to clean Docker logs
truncate -s 0 /var/lib/docker/containers/*/*-json.log

Permission Denied

Problem: Cleanup fails with permission errors

Solutions:

# Use sudo
sudo rfswift cleanup all --force

# Or add user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Then retry
rfswift cleanup all --force

Important Container Removed

Problem: Accidentally removed needed container

Solutions:

# Check backups
ls ~/docker-backups/

# Restore from export
rfswift import container -i backup.tar.gz -n restored_container

# Recreate from image if no backup
rfswift run -i penthertz/rfswift_noble:sdr_full -n recreated_container

# Lesson: Always export important containers before cleanup
rfswift export container -c important -o backup.tar.gz

Related Commands

  • last - List containers before cleanup
  • remove - Remove specific containers
  • delete - Remove specific images
  • images - Check images before cleanup
🧹
Regular Maintenance: Schedule regular cleanup with rfswift cleanup all --older-than 7d --force to prevent disk space issues. Daily or weekly cleanup keeps your system healthy!
Use Dry Run First: Before running a large cleanup, use --dry-run to preview what will be deleted. This helps avoid accidentally removing resources you still need.
Targeted Cleanup: Use the containers and images subcommands with their specific flags (--stopped, --dangling, --prune-children) for precise control over what gets removed.
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