Getting Started

This guide will help you get up and running with ConTree SDK. By the end of this guide, you’ll understand how to create clients, work with images, and run your first commands.

Configuration

ConTree SDK uses environment variables for configuration:

• CONTREE_TOKEN: Your authentication token

• CONTREE_BASE_URL: Your ConTree instance URL

export CONTREE_TOKEN="your_token_here"
export CONTREE_BASE_URL="https://your-instance.of.contree"

Alternatively, you can pass token and base_url directly when creating a client.

Creating a Client

The first step is to create a ConTree client. You can choose between async and sync versions depending on your application needs.

Here’s how to create a client and verify the connection by listing available images:

Async

# Get client
client = Contree()

# Get images (to verify that connection works)
await client.images()

See Contree for all client options.

Sync

# Get client
client = ContreeSync()

# Get images (to verify that connection works)
client.images()

See ContreeSync for all client options.

Working with Images

Images are the foundation of ConTree. The simplest way to reference an image is by tag using images.use(), which creates an image object without making an API call:

Async

image = await contree.images.use("ubuntu:latest")
result = await image.run(shell="echo hello")

Sync

image = contree.images.use("ubuntu:latest")
result = image.run(shell="echo hello").wait()

To resolve a tag or UUID upfront via an API call, use images.use(strict=True). To import from an external registry (or return an existing image if already imported), use images.oci().

See Working with Images for a full overview of available methods, examples, and what you can pass as a reference.

Running Commands

Once you have an image, you can run commands inside it. Each command execution creates a new version of the image with your changes.

Basic Command Execution

You can run various shell commands and handle their output:

Async

image = client.images.use("busybox:latest")
print(f"Using {image=}")

result = await image.run(shell="echo 'Hello World'")
print(f"Simple echo: {result.stdout=}, {result.stderr=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = await image.run(shell="pwd")
print(f"Current directory: {result.stdout=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = await image.run(shell="ls -la")
print(f"Directory listing: {result.stdout=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = await image.run(shell="cat -", stdin="Hello from stdin\n")
print(f"Cat with stdin: {result.stdout=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = await image.run(shell="echo 'Error message' >&2; exit 1")
print(f"Error command: {result.stdout=}, {result.stderr=}, {result.exit_code=}")

See run() for all command execution options.

Sync

image = client.images.use("busybox:latest")
print(f"Using {image=}")

result = image.run(shell="echo 'Hello World'").wait()
print(f"Simple echo: {result.stdout=}, {result.stderr=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = image.run(shell="pwd").wait()
print(f"Current directory: {result.stdout=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = image.run(shell="ls -la").wait()
print(f"Directory listing: {result.stdout=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = image.run(shell="cat -", stdin="Hello from stdin\n").wait()
print(f"Cat with stdin: {result.stdout=}, {result.exit_code=}")

result = image.run(shell="echo 'Error message' >&2; exit 1").wait()
print(f"Error command: {result.stdout=}, {result.stderr=}, {result.exit_code=}")

See run() for all command execution options.

Understanding the Results

When you run a command, you get back a result object that contains:

• stdout: Standard output from the command

• stderr: Standard error from the command

• exit_code: The exit code (0 for success, non-zero for errors)

• uuid: The UUID of the new image version created by this command