Podman is a production-grade, daemonless container engine that provides a CLI, a REST API (both Docker-compatible and libpod-specific), and a remote client. The codebase is organized around a dual-runtime architecture (local ABI and remote tunnel) that shares entity types and domain interfaces. It supports full container lifecycle management, pod management, image building (via Buildah), volume and secret management, Kubernetes YAML generation and application (play kube), and virtual machine management for macOS, Windows, and Linux via multiple providers (QEMU, AppleHV, Hyper-V, WSL, libkrun). Systemd integration is deep, including Quadlet for generating systemd unit files from container definitions. The codebase is cross-platform (Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows) with extensive build tags and platform-specific implementations. It includes a comprehensive test suite covering unit, integration, end-to-end (Ginkgo), Python API, and system (BATS) tests. The architecture is modular, with clear separation between CLI, API handlers, bindings, domain logic, and platform abstractions.

Buildah is a command-line tool for building OCI-compliant container images without requiring a daemon. It focuses on image creation tasks such as building from Dockerfiles/Containerfiles, managing working containers, committing images, and pushing/pulling to registries. The architecture is modular, separating CLI command handling (using Cobra), core build logic, storage abstraction, and utility packages. Key features include rootless operation, multi-platform support (Linux/FreeBSD), SBOM generation, and confidential workload encryption via SEV/SNP. The tool is designed for integration with container ecosystems like Podman and Kubernetes, emphasizing security and flexibility in image building workflows.