# Start containers automatically — Restarting foreground containers

> When you run a container in the foreground, stopping a container causes the attached CLI to exit as well, regardless of the restart policy of the container.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-docker-33c5544e76f64729d8c6>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.465602+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `docker`, `manuals`, `engine`, `containers`, `start`, `automatically`, `restarting`, `foreground`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/docker/docs/blob/3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244/content/manuals/engine/containers/start-containers-automatically.md>
- Source name: Docker Documentation
- Source revision: `3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244`
- Source license: `Apache-2.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

When you run a container in the foreground, stopping a container causes the attached CLI to exit as well, regardless of the restart policy of the container. This behavior is illustrated in the following example.

Create a Dockerfile that prints the numbers 1 to 5 and then exits.

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```dockerfile
   FROM busybox:latest
   COPY --chmod=755 &lt;&lt;"EOF" /start.sh
   echo "Starting..."
   for i in $(seq 1 5); do
     echo "$i"
     sleep 1
   done
   echo "Exiting..."
   exit 1
   EOF
   ENTRYPOINT /start.sh
```

Build an image from the Dockerfile.

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
   $ docker build -t startstop .
```

Run a container from the image, specifying always for its restart policy.

The container prints the numbers 1..5 to stdout, and then exits. This causes the attached CLI to exit as well.

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
   $ docker run --restart always startstop
   Starting...
   1
   2
   3
   4
   5
   Exiting...
   $
```

Running docker ps shows that is still running or restarting, thanks to the restart policy. The CLI session has already exited, however. It doesn't survive the initial container exit.

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
   $ docker ps
   CONTAINER ID   IMAGE       COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS         PORTS     NAMES
   081991b35afe   startstop   "/bin/sh -c /start.sh"   9 seconds ago   Up 4 seconds             gallant_easley
```

You can re-attach your terminal to the container between restarts, using the docker container attach command. It's detached again the next time the container exits.

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
   $ docker container attach 081991b35afe
   4
   5
   Exiting...
   $
```

Attribution: Adapted from Docker Documentation under Apache-2.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.