# atmos devcontainer remove

Use this command to permanently remove a devcontainer. This stops the container if it's running and deletes it.

## Usage

```shell
atmos devcontainer remove <name> [flags]
```

## Arguments

- **`name`** — Name of the devcontainer to remove

## Flags

- **`--instance string`** — Instance name for this devcontainer (default: `default`)
- **`--force` / `-f`** — Force removal even if the container is running

## Examples

```shell
# Remove a devcontainer
atmos devcontainer remove geodesic

# Force remove a running devcontainer
atmos devcontainer remove geodesic --force

# Remove a specific instance
atmos devcontainer remove terraform --instance project-a
```

## Behavior

- Stops the container if it's running (or immediately if `--force` is used)
- Removes the container and its associated data
- Does not remove the container image (use `docker rmi` or `podman rmi` separately if needed)
- Does not remove named volumes (use `docker volume rm` or `podman volume rm` separately if needed)

## Try it out

### devcontainer

Copy the example into a new directory and make it your own:

```shell
atmos init examples/devcontainer
cd devcontainer
```

Requires a running Podman runtime (the example selects Podman) and network access for the image. The final commands clean up the local container.

```shell
atmos devcontainer start geodesic
atmos devcontainer remove geodesic
```

- [Installation guide](/install)
- [Explore the example](/examples/devcontainer)
- [Initialization and repository settings](/cli/commands/init#examples-and-source-directories)

## See Also

- [`atmos devcontainer stop`](/cli/commands/devcontainer/stop)
- [`atmos devcontainer rebuild`](/cli/commands/devcontainer/rebuild)