[eriksjolund]

Sometimes it's possible to not use the Podman API at all. Convert the compose file to quadlet files with the command-line tool podlet and start the container with "systemctl --user start myapp.service". Due to the fork/exec architecture of podman, the container can then be started without using the Podman API.

[bonzini]

Yes, either quadlet or handwritten podman CLI in .service files is the way to go. I don't like using generate-systemd because it hides the actual configuration of the container, I see no point in being stateful...