# rpk container start > For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [streaming-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming-full.txt) --- title: rpk container start latest-operator-version: v26.1.4 # EOL = End-of-Life (support lifecycle status) page-is-nearing-eol: "false" page-is-past-eol: "true" page-eol-date: December 22, 2024 latest-console-tag: v3.7.3 latest-connect-version: 4.93.0 docname: rpk/rpk-container/rpk-container-start page-component-name: streaming page-version: "23.3" page-component-version: "23.3" page-component-title: Streaming page-relative-src-path: rpk/rpk-container/rpk-container-start.adoc page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/docs/edit/v/23.3/modules/reference/pages/rpk/rpk-container/rpk-container-start.adoc page-git-created-date: "2023-05-17" page-git-modified-date: "2024-04-04" support-status: past end-of-life --- Start a local container cluster. ## [](#usage)Usage ```bash rpk container start [flags] ``` ## [](#example)Example If you’re following [QuickStart - Deploy Redpanda to Docker with Three Nodes](https://docs.redpanda.com/streaming/23.3/get-started/quick-start/#tabs-1-three-brokers), you can run `rpk container start -n 3` to start your containers: ```bash $ rpk container start -n 3 Starting cluster Waiting for the cluster to be ready... Cluster started! NODE-ID STATUS KAFKA-ADDRESS ADMIN-ADDRESS PROXY-ADDRESS 0 running 127.0.0.1:45841 127.0.0.1:40705 127.0.0.1:36875 1 running 127.0.0.1:42467 127.0.0.1:38959 127.0.0.1:37665 2 running 127.0.0.1:44941 127.0.0.1:46047 127.0.0.1:45783 You can use rpk to interact with this cluster. E.g: rpk cluster info --brokers 127.0.0.1:45841,127.0.0.1:42467,127.0.0.1:44941 You may also set an environment variable with the comma-separated list of broker addresses: export REDPANDA_BROKERS="127.0.0.1:45841,127.0.0.1:42467,127.0.0.1:44941" rpk cluster info ``` ## [](#flags)Flags | Value | Type | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | -h, --help | - | Help for start. | | --image | string | An arbitrary container image to use (default redpandadata/redpanda:v23.3.1). | | --no-profile | - | If true, rpk will not create an rpk profile after creating a cluster. | | --pull | - | Force pull the container image used. | | -n, --nodes | - | uint The number of brokers to start (default 1). | | --retries | - | uint The amount of times to check for the cluster before considering it unstable and exiting. (default 10). | | --config | string | Redpanda or rpk config file; default search paths are /var/lib/redpanda/.config/rpk/rpk.yaml, $PWD/redpanda.yaml, and /etc/redpanda/redpanda.yaml. | | -X, --config-opt | stringArray | Override rpk configuration settings. See rpk -X or execute rpk -X help for inline detail or rpk -X list for terser detail. | | --profile | string | Profile to use. See rpk profile for more details. | | -v, --verbose | - | Enable verbose logging. |