RouterOS Container Subsystem

Overview

RouterOS 7.x includes a container subsystem (/container) that runs OCI-compatible container images directly on MikroTik hardware. It is NOT Docker — it's MikroTik's own implementation with significant differences.

Requirements:

• RouterOS 7.x with container extra package installed
• Device-mode must be enabled (requires physical access for initial setup)
• Sufficient storage (external USB disk recommended, 100+ MB/s, 10K+ random IOPS)
• ARM, ARM64, or x86 architecture (MIPS not supported for containers)

Device-Mode — Physical Access Required

Container support is gated behind device-mode, which requires physical confirmation (reset button press or power cycle) to enable:

# Enable container mode
/system/device-mode/update mode=advanced container=yes