The following options are understood:

--no-ask-password

Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.

Added in version 226.

--scope

Create a transient .scope unit instead of the default transient .service unit (see above).

Added in version 206.

--unit=, -u

Use this unit name instead of an automatically generated one.

Added in version 206.

--property=, -p

Sets a property on the scope or service unit that is created. This option takes an assignment in the same format as systemctl(1)s set-property command.

Added in version 211.

--description=

Provide a description for the service, scope, path, socket, or timer unit. If not specified, the command itself will be used as a description. See Description= in systemd.unit(5).

Added in version 206.

--slice=

Make the new .service or .scope unit part of the specified slice, instead of system.slice (when running in --system mode) or the root slice (when running in --user mode).

Added in version 206.

--slice-inherit

Make the new .service or .scope unit part of the inherited slice. This option can be combined with --slice=.

An inherited slice is located within systemd-run slice. Example: if systemd-run slice is foo.slice, and the --slice= argument is bar, the unit will be placed under the foo-bar.slice.

Added in version 246.

--expand-environment=BOOL

Expand environment variables in command arguments. If enabled, environment variables specified as "${VARIABLE}" will be expanded in the same way as in commands specified via ExecStart= in units. With --scope, this expansion is performed by systemd-run itself, and in other cases by the service manager that spawns the command. Note that this is similar to, but not the same as variable expansion in bash(1) and other shells.

The default is to enable this option in all cases, except for --scope where it is disabled by default, for backward compatibility reasons. Note that this will be changed in a future release, where it will be switched to enabled by default as well.

See systemd.service(5) for a description of variable expansion. Disabling variable expansion is useful if the specified command includes or may include a "$" sign.

Added in version 254.

-r, --remain-after-exit

After the service process has terminated, keep the service around until it is explicitly stopped. This is useful to collect runtime information about the service after it finished running. Also see RemainAfterExit= in systemd.service(5).

Added in version 207.

--send-sighup

When terminating the scope or service unit, send a SIGHUP immediately after SIGTERM. This is useful to indicate to shells and shell-like processes that the connection has been severed. Also see SendSIGHUP= in systemd.kill(5).

Added in version 207.

--service-type=

Sets the service type. Also see Type= in systemd.service(5). This option has no effect in conjunction with --scope. Defaults to simple.

Added in version 211.

--uid=, --gid=

Runs the service process under the specified UNIX user and group. Also see User= and Group= in systemd.exec(5).

Added in version 211.

--nice=

Runs the service process with the specified nice level. Also see Nice= in systemd.exec(5).

Added in version 211.

--working-directory=

Runs the service process with the specified working directory. Also see WorkingDirectory= in systemd.exec(5).

Added in version 240.

--same-dir, -d

Similar to --working-directory=, but uses the current working directory of the caller for the service to execute.

Added in version 240.

-E NAME[=VALUE], --setenv=NAME[=VALUE]

Runs the service process with the specified environment variable set. This parameter may be used more than once to set multiple variables. When "=" and VALUE are omitted, the value of the variable with the same name in the program environment will be used.

Also see Environment= in systemd.exec(5).

Added in version 211.

--pty, -t

When invoking the command, the transient service connects its standard input, output and error to the terminal systemd-run is invoked on, via a pseudo TTY device. This allows running programs that expect interactive user input/output as services, such as interactive command shells.

Note that machinectl(1)s shell command is usually a better alternative for requesting a new, interactive login session on the local host or a local container.

See below for details on how this switch combines with --pipe.

Added in version 219.

--pipe, -P

If specified, standard input, output, and error of the transient service are inherited from the systemd-run command itself. This allows systemd-run to be used within shell pipelines. Note that this mode is not suitable for interactive command shells and similar, as the service process will not become a TTY controller when invoked on a terminal. Use --pty instead in that case.

When both --pipe and --pty are used in combination the more appropriate option is automatically determined and used. Specifically, when invoked with standard input, output and error connected to a TTY --pty is used, and otherwise --pipe.

When this option is used the original file descriptors systemd-run receives are passed to the service processes as-is. If the service runs with different privileges than systemd-run, this means the service might not be able to re-open the passed file descriptors, due to normal file descriptor access restrictions. If the invoked process is a shell script that uses the echo "hello" >/dev/stderr construct for writing messages to stderr, this might cause problems, as this only works if stderr can be re-opened. To mitigate this use the construct echo "hello" >&2 instead, which is mostly equivalent and avoids this pitfall.

Added in version 235.

--shell, -S

A shortcut for "--pty --same-dir --wait --collect --service-type=exec $SHELL", i.e. requests an interactive shell in the current working directory, running in service context, accessible with a single switch.

Added in version 240.

--quiet, -q

Suppresses additional informational output while running. This is particularly useful in combination with --pty when it will suppress the initial message explaining how to terminate the TTY connection.

Added in version 219.

--on-active=, --on-boot=, --on-startup=, --on-unit-active=, --on-unit-inactive=

Defines a monotonic timer relative to different starting points for starting the specified command. See OnActiveSec=, OnBootSec=, OnStartupSec=, OnUnitActiveSec= and OnUnitInactiveSec= in systemd.timer(5) for details. These options are shortcuts for --timer-property= with the relevant properties. These options may not be combined with --scope or --pty.

Added in version 218.

--on-calendar=

Defines a calendar timer for starting the specified command. See OnCalendar= in systemd.timer(5). This option is a shortcut for --timer-property=OnCalendar=. This option may not be combined with --scope or --pty.

Added in version 218.

--on-clock-change, --on-timezone-change

Defines a trigger based on system clock jumps or timezone changes for starting the specified command. See OnClockChange= and OnTimezoneChange= in systemd.timer(5). These options are shortcuts for --timer-property=OnClockChange=yes and --timer-property=OnTimezoneChange=yes. These options may not be combined with --scope or --pty.

Added in version 242.

--path-property=, --socket-property=, --timer-property=

Sets a property on the path, socket, or timer unit that is created. This option is similar to --property=, but applies to the transient path, socket, or timer unit rather than the transient service unit created. This option takes an assignment in the same format as systemctl(1)s set-property command. These options may not be combined with --scope or --pty.

Added in version 218.

--no-block

Do not synchronously wait for the unit start operation to finish. If this option is not specified, the start request for the transient unit will be verified, enqueued and systemd-run will wait until the units start-up is completed. By passing this argument, it is only verified and enqueued. This option may not be combined with --wait.

Added in version 220.

--wait

Synchronously wait for the transient service to terminate. If this option is specified, the start request for the transient unit is verified, enqueued, and waited for. Subsequently the invoked unit is monitored, and it is waited until it is deactivated again (most likely because the specified command completed). On exit, terse information about the units runtime is shown, including total runtime (as well as CPU usage, if --property=CPUAccounting=1 was set) and the exit code and status of the main process. This output may be suppressed with --quiet. This option may not be combined with --no-block, --scope or the various path, socket, or timer options.

Added in version 232.

-G, --collect

Unload the transient unit after it completed, even if it failed. Normally, without this option, all units that ran and failed are kept in memory until the user explicitly resets their failure state with systemctl reset-failed or an equivalent command. On the other hand, units that ran successfully are unloaded immediately. If this option is turned on the "garbage collection" of units is more aggressive, and unloads units regardless if they exited successfully or failed. This option is a shortcut for --property=CollectMode=inactive-or-failed, see the explanation for CollectMode= in systemd.unit(5) for further information.

Added in version 236.

--user

Talk to the service manager of the calling user, rather than the service manager of the system.

--system

Talk to the service manager of the system. This is the implied default.

-H, --host=

Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username and hostname separated by "@", to connect to. The hostname may optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening on, separated by ":", and then a container name, separated by "/", which connects directly to a specific container on the specified host. This will use SSH to talk to the remote machine manager instance. Container names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST. Put IPv6 addresses in brackets.

-M, --machine=

Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to connect to, optionally prefixed by a user name to connect as and a separating "@" character. If the special string ".host" is used in place of the container name, a connection to the local system is made (which is useful to connect to a specific users user bus: "--user --machine=lennart@.host"). If the "@" syntax is not used, the connection is made as root user. If the "@" syntax is used either the left hand side or the right hand side may be omitted (but not both) in which case the local user name and ".host" are implied.

-h, --help

Print a short help text and exit.

--version

Print a short version string and exit.

All command line arguments after the first non-option argument become part of the command line of the launched process.

On success, 0 is returned. If systemd-run failed to start the service, a non-zero return value will be returned. If systemd-run waits for the service to terminate, the return value will be propagated from the service. 0 will be returned on success, including all the cases where systemd considers a service to have exited cleanly, see the discussion of SuccessExitStatus= in systemd.service(5).