---
title: Running Gadgets
sidebar_position: 300
description: The run command allows to run a gadget.
---

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';

Once you have installed Inspektor Gadget either on
[Kubernetes](./install-kubernetes.md) or on the [local
host](./install-linux.md),  you can run Gadgets with the `run` command:

<Tabs groupId="env">
    <TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest
K8S.NAMESPACE    K8S.PODNAME      K8S.CONTAINERNA… COMM           PID      TID PCOMM        PPID ARGS     K8S.NODE E… TIMESTAMP         USER     LOGINUS… GROUP
default          mypod2           mypod2           ping        425494   425494 sh         343042 /bin/pi… minikube    2024-07-31T18:08… root     uid:429… root
default          mypod2           mypod2           wget        425719   425719 sh         343042 /bin/wg… minikube    2024-07-31T18:09… root     uid:429… root
^C

$ kubectl gadget run snapshot_process:latest -A
K8S.NAMESPACE            K8S.PODNAME              K8S.CONTAINERNAME        COMM                    PID           TID           UID           GID         PPID K8S.NODE
kube-system              kube-control…er-minikube kube-controller-manager  kube-control…        336554        336554             0             0       336505 minikube
kube-system              kube-apiserver-minikube  kube-apiserver           kube-apiserv…        336561        336561             0             0       336532 minikube
kube-system              etcd-minikube            etcd                     etcd                 336644        336644             0             0       336577 minikube
kube-system              kube-scheduler-minikube  kube-scheduler           kube-schedul…        336737        336737             0             0       336713 minikube
kube-system              kube-proxy-vgp6m         kube-proxy               kube-proxy           337401        337401             0             0       337339 minikube
kube-system              coredns-7db6d8ff4d-xskcm coredns                  coredns              337598        337598         65532         65532       337566 minikube
kube-system              storage-provisioner      storage-provisioner      storage-prov…        338431        338431             0             0       338410 minikube
gadget                   gadget-ptnct             gadget                   gadgettracer…        341345        341345             0             0       341324 minikube
default                  mypod2                   mypod2                   sh                   343042        343042             0             0       343021 minikube
^C
```
    </TabItem>

    <TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest
RUNTIME.CONTAINERNA… COMM                PID         TID PCOMM            PPID ARGS       ER… TIMESTAMP              USER       LOGINUSER  GROUP
mycontainer          sh               439180      439180 container…     439157 /bin/sh        2024-07-31T13:20:49.9… root       uid:42949… root
mycontainer          ping             439211      439211 sh             439180 /bin/ping…     2024-07-31T13:20:53.7… root       uid:42949… root
mycontainer          wget             439219      439219 sh             439180 /bin/wget…     2024-07-31T13:20:56.3… root       uid:42949… root
^C

$ sudo ig run snapshot_process:latest
RUNTIME.CONTAINERNAME               COMM                             PID                 TID                UID                GID               PPID
registry                            registry                        3320                3320                  0                  0               3301
mycontainer                         sh                            439180              439180                  0                  0             439157
^C
```
    </TabItem>
</Tabs>

The `run` command runs a gadget from an OCI image. The `run` command will use
the following defaults to refer an OCI image:
- `ghcr.io` as the registry
- `inspektor-gadget/gadget` as the repository prefix
- `latest` as the tag

You can find a growing collection of Gadgets on [Artifact
HUB](https://artifacthub.io/packages/search?kind=22). This includes both in-tree
Gadgets (hosted in this git repository in the
[/gadgets](https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/tree/main/gadgets)
directory and third-party Gadgets).

## Event Filtering

Inspektor Gadget supports filtering the events that are gathered by a Gadget.
It's useful to (1) reduce the performance overhead of the tracing and (2) remove
the noise to focus on relevant information.

The filtering is supported in two different ways:

### In Kernel Filtering

<Tabs groupId="env">
    <TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

Inspektor Gadget supports to efficiently filter events directly on eBPF for some
common fields:

 * `--node string`, show only data from pods running in that node
 * `-n string`, `--namespace string`, show data from pods in that namespace
 * `-A`, `--all-namespaces`, show data from pods in all namespaces
 * `-p string`, `--podname string`, show only data from pods with that name
 * `-c string`, `--containername string`, show only data from containers with that name
 * `-l string`, `--selector string`: show only data that matches the given
   label or selector. Only `=` is currently supported (e.g. `key1=value1,key2=value2`).

We can use one or more of these parameters to choose which pods or
containers will be inspected by our gadgets. For example:

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest -n demo -l app=myapp
```

Runs the `trace_exec` gadget filtering events generated by for all pods in the
`demo` namespace that have the `app=myapp` label.
    </TabItem>

    <TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

Inspektor Gadget supports to efficiently filter events directly on eBPF.
However, `ig` doesn't support yet filtering by Kubernetes fields like
`namespace`, `podname`, `containername` and `selector` using this mechanism. You
can still use the `--filter` flag to filter by those fields in [user
space](#filtering-in-user-space).

The current supported fields to filter in kernel are:

 * `-c string`, `--containername string`, show only data from containers with
   that name. Notice that this container name is the one set by the runtime, and
   it may be different from the one set by Kubernetes depending on the runtime.

For example, the following command will show only data from the container named
`mycontainer`:

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest -c mycontainer
```

    </TabItem>
</Tabs>

### Filtering in User Space

The `--filter` flag allows you to filter events based on specific field values provided by the gadget. This is particularly useful for narrowing down the output to entries that meet certain criteria.

The filter syntax supports the following operations:

```bash
- `field==value`: Matches if the content of `field` equals exactly `value`.
- `field!=value`: Matches if the content of `field` does not equal exactly `value`.
- `field>=value`: Matches if the content of `field` is greater than or equal to `value`.
- `field>value`: Matches if the content of `field` is greater than `value`.
- `field<=value`: Matches if the content of `field` is less than or equal to `value`.
- `field<value`: Matches if the content of `field` is less than `value`.
- `field~value`: Matches if the content of `field` matches the regular expression `value`. See [RE2 Syntax](https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax) for more details.
```

:::info

It's recommended to wrap the **entire** filter expression with single quotes when using filters containing special characters to avoid unexpected behavior:

```bash
--filter 'proc.comm~^ba.*$'
```

:::

#### Examples

**Equal filter**: To filter events where the `comm` field equals `cat`, use:

```bash
--filter 'proc.comm==cat'
```

This filters for events related to the `cat` command.

**Not equal filter**: To filter out events where the `uid` is not 0 (root user), use:

```bash
--filter 'proc.creds.uid!=0'
```

**Regular expression filter**: To match a regular expression in a specific column, use:

```bash
--filter 'proc.comm~^c.*'
```

This filters for commands starting with the letter "c".

**Multiple filters**: You can combine multiple filters to narrow down results further. For example, to find processes executed by the root user (`uid==0`) where the command is `cat`, use:

```bash
--filter 'proc.comm==cat,proc.creds.uid==0'
```

Also, you can use backslash (`\`) to escape comma in the filter values.

## Output Format

The `-o` or `--output` flag lets us decide the output format. The default
`columns` output shows some of the information gathered, arranged in text
columns on the console.

This can be overridden with:
- `json`
- `jsonpretty`
- `yaml`
- `columns`

### JSON Output

Passing `-o json` will print all the information gathered in JSON format.
Each entry is printed on a single line, so the output can be easily parsed line by line.

<Tabs groupId="env">
    <TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_tcp:latest -A -o json
{"comm":"wget","dst":{"addr":"1.1.1.1","port":80,"proto":6,"version":4},"gid":0,"k8s":{"containerName":"mypod2","hostnetwork":false,"namespace":"default","node":"minikube","podName":"mypod2"},"mntns_id":4026536533,"netns_id":4026535383,"pid":446916,"runtime":{"containerId":"53225e24386f30ac68a58cd57c1689590875e4904f9449d0c19835f68da0c0b6","containerImageDigest":"","containerImageName":"","containerName":"","runtimeName":""},"src":{"addr":"10.244.0.8","port":41464,"proto":6,"version":4},"tid":446916,"timestamp":"2024-07-31T18:38:31.977700392Z","timestamp_raw":1722451111977700392,"type":"connect","type_raw":0,"uid":0}
```

    </TabItem>

    <TabItem value="ig" label="ig">
```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_tcp:latest -o json
{"comm":"wget","dst":{"addr":"1.1.1.1","port":80,"proto":6,"version":4},"gid":0,"k8s":{"containerName":"","hostnetwork":false,"namespace":"","node":"","podName":""},"mntns_id":4026535102,"netns_id":4026535106,"pid":447673,"runtime":{"containerId":"88df7f962685e0452e130937696a0686a3fb21466dbd4ba7b5e46574876756f6","containerImageDigest":"sha256:5eef5ed34e1e1ff0a4ae850395cbf665c4de6b4b83a32a0bc7bcb998e24e7bbb","containerImageName":"docker.io/library/busybox:latest","containerName":"mycontainer","runtimeName":"docker"},"src":{"addr":"172.17.0.3","port":45942,"proto":6,"version":4},"tid":447673,"timestamp":"2024-07-31T13:39:16.455283441-05:00","timestamp_raw":1722451156455283441,"type":"connect","type_raw":0,"uid":0}
```
    </TabItem>
</Tabs>

### JSON Pretty Output

Passing `-o jsonpretty` will print all the information gathered in JSON format but with indentation making it easier to read.

<Tabs groupId="env">
<TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_tcp:latest -o jsonpretty
{
  "comm": "wget",
  "dst": {
    "addr": "1.1.1.1",
    "port": 80,
    "proto": 6,
    "version": 4
  },
  "gid": 0,
  "k8s": {
    "containerName": "mypod2",
    "hostnetwork": false,
    "namespace": "default",
    "node": "minikube",
    "podName": "mypod2"
  },
  "mntns_id": 4026536533,
  "netns_id": 4026535383,
  "pid": 450698,
  "runtime": {
    "containerId": "53225e24386f30ac68a58cd57c1689590875e4904f9449d0c19835f68da0c0b6",
    "containerImageDigest": "",
    "containerImageName": "",
    "containerName": "",
    "runtimeName": ""
  },
  "src": {
    "addr": "10.244.0.8",
    "port": 51080,
    "proto": 6,
    "version": 4
  },
  "tid": 450698,
  "timestamp": "2024-07-31T18:42:09.094958020Z",
  "timestamp_raw": 1722451329094958020,
  "type": "connect",
  "type_raw": 0,
  "uid": 0
}
```

</TabItem>

<TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_tcp:latest -o jsonpretty
{
  "comm": "wget",
  "dst": {
    "addr": "1.1.1.1",
    "port": 80,
    "proto": 6,
    "version": 4
  },
  "gid": 0,
  "k8s": {
    "containerName": "",
    "hostnetwork": false,
    "namespace": "",
    "node": "",
    "podName": ""
  },
  "mntns_id": 4026535102,
  "netns_id": 4026535106,
  "pid": 449647,
  "runtime": {
    "containerId": "88df7f962685e0452e130937696a0686a3fb21466dbd4ba7b5e46574876756f6",
    "containerImageDigest": "sha256:5eef5ed34e1e1ff0a4ae850395cbf665c4de6b4b83a32a0bc7bcb998e24e7bbb",
    "containerImageName": "docker.io/library/busybox:latest",
    "containerName": "mycontainer",
    "runtimeName": "docker"
  },
  "src": {
    "addr": "172.17.0.3",
    "port": 57210,
    "proto": 6,
    "version": 4
  },
  "tid": 449647,
  "timestamp": "2024-07-31T13:41:09.379465891-05:00",
  "timestamp_raw": 1722451269379465891,
  "type": "connect",
  "type_raw": 0,
  "uid": 0
}
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

### YAML Output

Passing `-o yaml` will print all the information gathered in YAML format.
Each entry is preceded by the end of directives markers (`---`).

<Tabs groupId="env">
<TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_tcp:latest -o yaml
---
comm: wget
dst:
  addr: 1.1.1.1
  port: 80
  proto: 6
  version: 4
gid: 0
k8s:
  containerName: mypod2
  hostnetwork: false
  namespace: default
  node: minikube
  podName: mypod2
mntns_id: 4026536533
netns_id: 4026535383
pid: 452381
runtime:
  containerId: 53225e24386f30ac68a58cd57c1689590875e4904f9449d0c19835f68da0c0b6
  containerImageDigest: ""
  containerImageName: ""
  containerName: ""
  runtimeName: ""
src:
  addr: 10.244.0.8
  port: 55282
  proto: 6
  version: 4
tid: 452381
timestamp: "2024-07-31T18:43:51.457963290Z"
timestamp_raw: 1722451431457963290
type: connect
type_raw: 0
uid: 0
---
```
    </TabItem>

    <TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_tcp:latest -o yaml
---
comm: wget
dst:
  addr: 1.1.1.1
  port: 80
  proto: 6
  version: 4
gid: 0
k8s:
  containerName: ""
  hostnetwork: false
  namespace: ""
  node: ""
  podName: ""
mntns_id: 4026535102
netns_id: 4026535106
pid: 455094
runtime:
  containerId: 88df7f962685e0452e130937696a0686a3fb21466dbd4ba7b5e46574876756f6
  containerImageDigest: sha256:5eef5ed34e1e1ff0a4ae850395cbf665c4de6b4b83a32a0bc7bcb998e24e7bbb
  containerImageName: docker.io/library/busybox:latest
  containerName: mycontainer
  runtimeName: docker
src:
  addr: 172.17.0.3
  port: 37088
  proto: 6
  version: 4
tid: 455094
timestamp: "2024-07-31T13:46:27.686093841-05:00"
timestamp_raw: 1722451587686093841
type: connect
type_raw: 0
uid: 0
---
```

    </TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Selecting Specific Fields

The `--fields` flag allows to choose which columns to
print. You can use `run [gadget] -h` to see which columns are available:

<Tabs groupId="env">
<TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest -h
...
  --fields string               Available data sources / fields
                                  "exec" (data source):
                                    args
                                    args_count
                                    args_size
                                    comm
                                      Process name
                                    cwd
                                      The current working directory of the process (require --paths flag)
                                    error
                                    error_raw
                                    gid
                                      Group ID
                                    group
                                    k8s.containerName
                                    k8s.hostnetwork
                                    k8s.namespace
                                    k8s.node
                                    k8s.podName
                                    loginuid
                                    loginuser
                                    mntns_id
                                      Mount namespace inode id
                                    pcomm
                                      The process name of the parent process
                                    pid
                                      Process ID
                                    ppid
                                    pupper_layer
                                      Whether the executable's parent in the process hierarchy is in the upper layer of the overlay filesystem. Only initialized when the execution succeeded.
                                    runtime.containerId
                                    runtime.containerImageDigest
                                    runtime.containerImageName
                                    runtime.containerName
                                    runtime.runtimeName
                                    sessionid
                                    tid
                                      Thread ID
                                    timestamp
                                    timestamp_raw
                                    uid
                                      User ID
                                    upper_layer
                                      Whether the executable is in the upper layer of the overlay filesystem
                                    user
```

</TabItem>

<TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest -h
...
  --fields string                  Available data sources / fields
                                         "exec" (data source):
                                           args
                                           args_count
                                           args_size
                                           comm
                                             Process name
                                           cwd
                                             The current working directory of the process (require --paths flag)
                                           error
                                           error_raw
                                           gid
                                             Group ID
                                           group
                                           k8s.containerName
                                           k8s.hostnetwork
                                           k8s.namespace
                                           k8s.node
                                           k8s.podName
                                           loginuid
                                           loginuser
                                           mntns_id
                                             Mount namespace inode id
                                           pcomm
                                             The process name of the parent process
                                           pid
                                             Process ID
                                           ppid
...
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

For example, we can only show the containername, comm, pid and ppid of new
executed processes:

<Tabs groupId="env">
<TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest --fields=k8s.containername,comm,pid,ppid
K8S.CONTAINERNAME                COMM              PID              PPID
mypod2                           wget           478644            44638
```

</TabItem>

<TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest --fields=runtime.containername,comm,pid,ppid
RUNTIME.CONTAINERNAME            COMM              PID              PPID
mycontainer                      wget           477678            44591
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

It's possible to hide and show some fields by prefixing them with +/-, for instance

<Tabs groupId="env">
<TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest --fields=-error,-timestamp
COMM  PID  TID  PCOMM  PPID  ARGS  K8S.NODE  K8S.NAMESPACE  K8S.PODNAME  K8S.CONTAINERNAME  USER  LOGINUSER  GROUP

$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest --fields=+uid,+pid
COMM  PID  TID  PCOMM  PPID  ARGS  K8S.NODE  K8S.NAMESPACE  K8S.PODNAME  K8S.CONTAINERNAME  ERROR  USER  LOGINUSER  GROUP  UID
```

</TabItem>

<TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest --fields=-error,-timestamp
RUNTIME.CONTAINERNAME  COMM  PID  TID  PCOMM  PPID  ARGS  USER  LOGINUSER  GROUP

$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest --fields=+uid,+pid
RUNTIME.CONTAINERNAME  COMM  TID  PCOMM  PPID  ARGS  TIMESTAMP  USER  LOGINUSER  GROUP  UID  PID
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Run for a specific amount of time

Many gadgets will run forever, printing the gathered output until we press
Ctrl-C to stop them. If we want to run a gadget only for a window of time,
we can use the `--timeout int` flag, passing the number of seconds during which
we want to run the gadget.

<Tabs groupId="env">
<TabItem value="kubectl-gadget" label="kubectl gadget">

```bash
$ kubectl gadget run trace_exec:latest --timeout 5
K8S.NAMESPACE  K8S.PODNAME    K8S.CONTAINER… COMM        PID     TID PCOMM      PPID ARGS    K8S.NO… E… TIMESTAMP       USER   LOGIN… GROUP
default        mypod2         mypod2         wget     509661  509661 sh       446383 /bin/w… miniku…    2024-07-31T19:… root   uid:4… root
default        mypod2         mypod2         wget     509732  509732 sh       446383 /bin/w… miniku…    2024-07-31T19:… root   uid:4… root
```

</TabItem>

<TabItem value="ig" label="ig">

```bash
$ sudo ig run trace_exec:latest --timeout 5
RUNTIME.CONTAINERN… COMM              PID        TID PCOMM            PPID ARGS      ER… TIMESTAMP             USER      LOGINUSER GROUP
mycontainer         wget           510384     510384 sh             445912 /bin/wge…     2024-07-31T14:33:43.… root      uid:4294… root
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>
