---
description: How to start containers automatically
keywords: containers, restart, policies, automation, administration
title: Start containers automatically
weight: 10
aliases:
  - /engine/articles/host_integration/
  - /engine/admin/host_integration/
  - /engine/admin/start-containers-automatically/
  - /config/containers/start-containers-automatically/
---

Docker provides [restart policies](/manuals/engine/containers/run.md#restart-policies---restart)
to control whether your containers start automatically when they exit, or when
Docker restarts. Restart policies start linked containers in the correct order.
Docker recommends that you use restart policies, and avoid using process
managers to start containers.

Restart policies are different from the `--live-restore` flag of the `dockerd`
command. Using `--live-restore` lets you to keep your containers running during
a Docker upgrade, though networking and user input are interrupted.

## Use a restart policy

To configure the restart policy for a container, use the `--restart` flag
when using the `docker run` command. The value of the `--restart` flag can be
any of the following:

| Flag                       | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| :------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `no`                       | Don't automatically restart the container. (Default)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| `on-failure[:max-retries]` | Restart the container if it exits due to an error, which manifests as a non-zero exit code. Optionally, limit the number of times the Docker daemon attempts to restart the container using the `:max-retries` option. The `on-failure` policy only prompts a restart if the container exits with a failure. It doesn't restart the container if the daemon restarts. |
| `always`                   | Always restart the container if it stops. If it's manually stopped, it's restarted only when Docker daemon restarts or the container itself is manually restarted. (See the second bullet listed in [restart policy details](#restart-policy-details))                                                                                                                |
| `unless-stopped`           | Similar to `always`, except that when the container is stopped (manually or otherwise), it isn't restarted even after Docker daemon restarts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |

The following command starts a Redis container and configures it to always
restart, unless the container is explicitly stopped, or the daemon restarts.

```console
$ docker run -d --restart unless-stopped redis
```

The following command changes the restart policy for an already running