diff --git a/debian/vyos-1x.postinst b/debian/vyos-1x.postinst
index 141a9e8f9..dc8ada267 100644
--- a/debian/vyos-1x.postinst
+++ b/debian/vyos-1x.postinst
@@ -1,261 +1,264 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # Turn off Debian default for %sudo
 sed -i -e '/^%sudo/d' /etc/sudoers || true
 
 # Add minion user for salt-minion
 if ! grep -q '^minion' /etc/passwd; then
     adduser --quiet --firstuid 100 --system --disabled-login --ingroup vyattacfg \
         --gecos "salt minion user" --shell /bin/vbash minion
     adduser --quiet minion frrvty
     adduser --quiet minion sudo
     adduser --quiet minion adm
     adduser --quiet minion dip
     adduser --quiet minion disk
     adduser --quiet minion users
     adduser --quiet minion frr
 fi
 
 # OpenVPN should get its own user
 if ! grep -q '^openvpn' /etc/passwd; then
     adduser --quiet --firstuid 100 --system --group --shell /usr/sbin/nologin openvpn
 fi
 
 # We need to have a group for RADIUS service users to use it inside PAM rules
 if ! grep -q '^radius' /etc/group; then
     addgroup --firstgid 1000 --quiet radius
 fi
 
 # Remove TACACS user added by base package - we use our own UID range and group
 # assignments - see below
 if grep -q '^tacacs' /etc/passwd; then
     if [ $(id -u tacacs0) -ge 1000 ]; then
         level=0
         vyos_group=vyattaop
         while [ $level -lt 16 ]; do
             userdel tacacs${level} || true
             rm -rf /home/tacacs${level} || true
             level=$(( level+1 ))
         done 2>&1
     fi
 fi
 
 # Remove TACACS+ PAM default profile
 if [[ -e /usr/share/pam-configs/tacplus ]]; then
     rm /usr/share/pam-configs/tacplus
 fi
 
 # Add TACACS system users required for TACACS based system authentication
 if ! grep -q '^tacacs' /etc/passwd; then
     # Add the tacacs group and all 16 possible tacacs privilege-level users to
     # the password file, home directories, etc. The accounts are not enabled
     # for local login, since they are only used to provide uid/gid/homedir for
     # the mapped TACACS+ logins (and lookups against them). The tacacs15 user
     # is also added to the sudo group, and vyattacfg group rather than vyattaop
     # (used for tacacs0-14).
     level=0
     vyos_group=vyattaop
     while [ $level -lt 16 ]; do
         adduser --quiet --system --firstuid 900 --disabled-login --ingroup tacacs \
             --no-create-home --gecos "TACACS+ mapped user at privilege level ${level}" \
             --shell /bin/vbash tacacs${level}
         adduser --quiet tacacs${level} frrvty
         adduser --quiet tacacs${level} adm
         adduser --quiet tacacs${level} dip
         adduser --quiet tacacs${level} users
         if [ $level -lt 15 ]; then
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} vyattaop
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} operator
         else
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} vyattacfg
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} sudo
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} disk
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} frr
             adduser --quiet tacacs${level} _kea
         fi
         level=$(( level+1 ))
     done 2>&1 | grep -v "User tacacs${level} already exists"
 fi
 
 # Add RADIUS operator user for RADIUS authenticated users to map to
 if ! grep -q '^radius_user' /etc/passwd; then
     adduser --quiet --firstuid 1000 --disabled-login --ingroup radius \
         --no-create-home --gecos "RADIUS mapped user at privilege level operator" \
         --shell /sbin/radius_shell radius_user
     adduser --quiet radius_user frrvty
     adduser --quiet radius_user vyattaop
     adduser --quiet radius_user operator
     adduser --quiet radius_user adm
     adduser --quiet radius_user dip
     adduser --quiet radius_user users
 fi
 
 # Add RADIUS admin user for RADIUS authenticated users to map to
 if ! grep -q '^radius_priv_user' /etc/passwd; then
     adduser --quiet --firstuid 1000 --disabled-login --ingroup radius \
         --no-create-home --gecos "RADIUS mapped user at privilege level admin" \
         --shell /sbin/radius_shell radius_priv_user
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user frrvty
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user vyattacfg
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user sudo
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user adm
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user dip
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user disk
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user users
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user frr
     adduser --quiet radius_priv_user _kea
 fi
 
 # add hostsd group for vyos-hostsd
 if ! grep -q '^hostsd' /etc/group; then
     addgroup --quiet --system hostsd
 fi
 
 # Add _kea user for kea-dhcp{4,6}-server to vyattacfg
 # The user should exist via kea-common installed as transitive dependency
 if grep -q '^_kea' /etc/passwd; then
     adduser --quiet _kea vyattacfg
 fi
 
 # ensure the proxy user has a proper shell
 chsh -s /bin/sh proxy
 
 # Set file capabilities
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /sbin/ethtool
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /sbin/tc
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /bin/ip
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /sbin/xtables-legacy-multi
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /sbin/xtables-nft-multi
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /usr/sbin/conntrack
 setcap cap_net_admin=pe /usr/sbin/arp
 setcap cap_net_raw=pe /usr/bin/tcpdump
 setcap cap_net_admin,cap_sys_admin=pe /sbin/sysctl
 setcap cap_sys_module=pe /bin/kmod
 setcap cap_sys_time=pe /bin/date
 
 # create needed directories
 mkdir -p /var/log/user
 mkdir -p /var/core
 mkdir -p /opt/vyatta/etc/config/auth
 mkdir -p /opt/vyatta/etc/config/scripts
 mkdir -p /opt/vyatta/etc/config/user-data
 mkdir -p /opt/vyatta/etc/config/support
 chown -R root:vyattacfg /opt/vyatta/etc/config
 chmod -R 775 /opt/vyatta/etc/config
 mkdir -p /opt/vyatta/etc/logrotate
 mkdir -p /opt/vyatta/etc/netdevice.d
 
 touch /etc/environment
 
 if [ ! -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
   echo "source /etc/bash_completion.d/10vyatta-op" > /etc/bash_completion
   echo "source /etc/bash_completion.d/20vyatta-cfg" >> /etc/bash_completion
 fi
 
 sed -i 's/^set /builtin set /' /etc/bash_completion
 
 # Fix up PAM configuration for login so that invalid users are prompted
 # for password
 sed -i 's/requisite[ \t][ \t]*pam_securetty.so/required pam_securetty.so/' $rootfsdir/etc/pam.d/login
 
 # Change default shell for new accounts
 sed -i -e ':^DSHELL:s:/bin/bash:/bin/vbash:' /etc/adduser.conf
 
 # Do not allow users to change full name field (controlled by vyos-1x)
 sed -i -e 's/^CHFN_RESTRICT/#&/' /etc/login.defs
 
 # Only allow root to use passwd command
 if ! grep -q 'pam_succeed_if.so' /etc/pam.d/passwd ; then
     sed -i -e '/^@include/i \
 password    requisite pam_succeed_if.so user = root
 ' /etc/pam.d/passwd
 fi
 
 # remove unnecessary ddclient script in /etc/ppp/ip-up.d/
 # this logs unnecessary messages trying to start ddclient
 rm -f /etc/ppp/ip-up.d/ddclient
 
 # create /opt/vyatta/etc/config/scripts/vyos-preconfig-bootup.script
 PRECONFIG_SCRIPT=/opt/vyatta/etc/config/scripts/vyos-preconfig-bootup.script
 if [ ! -x $PRECONFIG_SCRIPT ]; then
     mkdir -p $(dirname $PRECONFIG_SCRIPT)
     touch $PRECONFIG_SCRIPT
     chmod 755 $PRECONFIG_SCRIPT
     cat <<EOF >>$PRECONFIG_SCRIPT
 #!/bin/sh
 # This script is executed at boot time before VyOS configuration is applied.
 # Any modifications required to work around unfixed bugs or use
 # services not available through the VyOS CLI system can be placed here.
 
 EOF
 fi
 
 # create /opt/vyatta/etc/config/scripts/vyos-postconfig-bootup.script
 POSTCONFIG_SCRIPT=/opt/vyatta/etc/config/scripts/vyos-postconfig-bootup.script
 if [ ! -x $POSTCONFIG_SCRIPT ]; then
     mkdir -p $(dirname $POSTCONFIG_SCRIPT)
     touch $POSTCONFIG_SCRIPT
     chmod 755 $POSTCONFIG_SCRIPT
     cat <<EOF >>$POSTCONFIG_SCRIPT
 #!/bin/sh
 # This script is executed at boot time after VyOS configuration is fully applied.
 # Any modifications required to work around unfixed bugs
 # or use services not available through the VyOS CLI system can be placed here.
 
 EOF
 fi
 
 # symlink destination is deleted during ISO assembly - this generates some noise
 # when the system boots: systemd-sysv-generator[1881]: stat() failed on
 # /etc/init.d/README, ignoring: No such file or directory. Thus we simply drop
 # the file.
 if [ -L /etc/init.d/README ]; then
     rm -f /etc/init.d/README
 fi
 
 # Remove unwanted daemon files from /etc
 # conntackd
 # pmacct
 # fastnetmon
 # ntp
 DELETE="/etc/logrotate.d/conntrackd.distrib /etc/init.d/conntrackd /etc/default/conntrackd
         /etc/default/pmacctd /etc/pmacct
         /etc/networks_list /etc/networks_whitelist /etc/fastnetmon.conf
         /etc/ntp.conf /etc/default/ssh /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf /etc/avahi/hosts
         /etc/powerdns /etc/default/pdns-recursor
         /etc/ppp/ip-up.d/0000usepeerdns /etc/ppp/ip-down.d/0000usepeerdns"
 for tmp in $DELETE; do
     if [ -e ${tmp} ]; then
         rm -rf ${tmp}
     fi
 done
 
 # Remove logrotate items controlled via CLI and VyOS defaults
 sed -i '/^\/var\/log\/messages$/d' /etc/logrotate.d/rsyslog
 sed -i '/^\/var\/log\/auth.log$/d' /etc/logrotate.d/rsyslog
 
 # Fix FRR pam.d "vtysh_pam" vtysh_pam: Failed in account validation T5110
 if test -f /etc/pam.d/frr; then
     if grep -q 'pam_rootok.so' /etc/pam.d/frr; then
         sed -i -re 's/rootok/permit/' /etc/pam.d/frr
     fi
 fi
 
 # Enable Cloud-init pre-configuration service
 systemctl enable vyos-config-cloud-init.service
 
+# Enable Podman API
+systemctl enable podman.service
+
 # Generate API GraphQL schema
 /usr/libexec/vyos/services/api/graphql/generate/generate_schema.py
 
 # Update XML cache
 python3 /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/vyos/xml_ref/update_cache.py
 
 # Generate hardlinks for systemd units for multi VRF support
 # as softlinks will fail in systemd:
 # symlink target name type "ssh.service" does not match source, rejecting.
 if [ ! -f /lib/systemd/system/ssh@.service ]; then
     ln /lib/systemd/system/ssh.service /lib/systemd/system/ssh@.service
 fi
 
 # T4287 - as we have a non-signed kernel use the upstream wireless reulatory database
 update-alternatives --set regulatory.db /lib/firmware/regulatory.db-upstream
diff --git a/smoketest/scripts/cli/test_container.py b/smoketest/scripts/cli/test_container.py
index 3dd97a175..5e33eba40 100755
--- a/smoketest/scripts/cli/test_container.py
+++ b/smoketest/scripts/cli/test_container.py
@@ -1,234 +1,252 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 #
 # Copyright (C) 2021-2024 VyOS maintainers and contributors
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or later as
 # published by the Free Software Foundation.
 #
 # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 import unittest
 import glob
 import json
 
 from base_vyostest_shim import VyOSUnitTestSHIM
 from ipaddress import ip_interface
 
 from vyos.configsession import ConfigSessionError
 from vyos.utils.process import cmd
 from vyos.utils.process import process_named_running
 
 base_path = ['container']
 cont_image = 'busybox:stable' # busybox is included in vyos-build
 PROCESS_NAME = 'conmon'
 PROCESS_PIDFILE = '/run/vyos-container-{0}.service.pid'
 
 busybox_image_path = '/usr/share/vyos/busybox-stable.tar'
 
 def cmd_to_json(command):
     c = cmd(command + ' --format=json')
     data = json.loads(c)[0]
     return data
 
 class TestContainer(VyOSUnitTestSHIM.TestCase):
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
         super(TestContainer, cls).setUpClass()
 
         # Load image for smoketest provided in vyos-build
         try:
             cmd(f'cat {busybox_image_path} | sudo podman load')
         except:
             cls.skipTest(cls, reason='busybox image not available')
 
         # ensure we can also run this test on a live system - so lets clean
         # out the current configuration :)
         cls.cli_delete(cls, base_path)
 
     @classmethod
     def tearDownClass(cls):
         super(TestContainer, cls).tearDownClass()
 
         # Cleanup podman image
         cmd(f'sudo podman image rm -f {cont_image}')
 
     def tearDown(self):
         self.cli_delete(base_path)
         self.cli_commit()
 
         # Ensure no container process remains
         self.assertIsNone(process_named_running(PROCESS_NAME))
 
         # Ensure systemd units are removed
         units = glob.glob('/run/systemd/system/vyos-container-*')
         self.assertEqual(units, [])
 
     def test_basic(self):
         cont_name = 'c1'
 
         self.cli_set(['interfaces', 'ethernet', 'eth0', 'address', '10.0.2.15/24'])
         self.cli_set(['protocols', 'static', 'route', '0.0.0.0/0', 'next-hop', '10.0.2.2'])
         self.cli_set(['system', 'name-server', '1.1.1.1'])
         self.cli_set(['system', 'name-server', '8.8.8.8'])
 
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'image', cont_image])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'allow-host-networks'])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'sysctl', 'parameter', 'kernel.msgmax', 'value', '4096'])
 
         # commit changes
         self.cli_commit()
 
         pid = 0
         with open(PROCESS_PIDFILE.format(cont_name), 'r') as f:
             pid = int(f.read())
 
         # Check for running process
         self.assertEqual(process_named_running(PROCESS_NAME), pid)
 
         # verify
         tmp = cmd(f'sudo podman exec -it {cont_name} sysctl kernel.msgmax')
         self.assertEqual(tmp, 'kernel.msgmax = 4096')
 
     def test_cpu_limit(self):
         cont_name = 'c2'
 
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'allow-host-networks'])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'image', cont_image])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'cpu-quota', '1.25'])
 
         self.cli_commit()
 
         pid = 0
         with open(PROCESS_PIDFILE.format(cont_name), 'r') as f:
             pid = int(f.read())
 
         # Check for running process
         self.assertEqual(process_named_running(PROCESS_NAME), pid)
 
     def test_ipv4_network(self):
         prefix = '192.0.2.0/24'
         base_name = 'ipv4'
         net_name = 'NET01'
 
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['network', net_name, 'prefix', prefix])
 
         for ii in range(1, 6):
             name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'image', cont_image])
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'network', net_name, 'address', str(ip_interface(prefix).ip + ii)])
 
         # verify() - first IP address of a prefix can not be used by a container
         with self.assertRaises(ConfigSessionError):
             self.cli_commit()
 
         tmp = f'{base_name}-1'
         self.cli_delete(base_path + ['name', tmp])
         self.cli_commit()
 
         n = cmd_to_json(f'sudo podman network inspect {net_name}')
         self.assertEqual(n['subnets'][0]['subnet'], prefix)
 
         # skipt first container, it was never created
         for ii in range(2, 6):
             name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
             c = cmd_to_json(f'sudo podman container inspect {name}')
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['Gateway']  , str(ip_interface(prefix).ip + 1))
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['IPAddress'], str(ip_interface(prefix).ip + ii))
 
     def test_ipv6_network(self):
         prefix = '2001:db8::/64'
         base_name = 'ipv6'
         net_name = 'NET02'
 
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['network', net_name, 'prefix', prefix])
 
         for ii in range(1, 6):
             name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'image', cont_image])
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'network', net_name, 'address', str(ip_interface(prefix).ip + ii)])
 
         # verify() - first IP address of a prefix can not be used by a container
         with self.assertRaises(ConfigSessionError):
             self.cli_commit()
 
         tmp = f'{base_name}-1'
         self.cli_delete(base_path + ['name', tmp])
         self.cli_commit()
 
         n = cmd_to_json(f'sudo podman network inspect {net_name}')
         self.assertEqual(n['subnets'][0]['subnet'], prefix)
 
         # skipt first container, it was never created
         for ii in range(2, 6):
             name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
             c = cmd_to_json(f'sudo podman container inspect {name}')
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['IPv6Gateway']      , str(ip_interface(prefix).ip + 1))
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['GlobalIPv6Address'], str(ip_interface(prefix).ip + ii))
 
     def test_dual_stack_network(self):
         prefix4 = '192.0.2.0/24'
         prefix6 = '2001:db8::/64'
         base_name = 'dual-stack'
         net_name = 'net-4-6'
 
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['network', net_name, 'prefix', prefix4])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['network', net_name, 'prefix', prefix6])
 
         for ii in range(1, 6):
             name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'image', cont_image])
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'network', net_name, 'address', str(ip_interface(prefix4).ip + ii)])
             self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'network', net_name, 'address', str(ip_interface(prefix6).ip + ii)])
 
         # verify() - first IP address of a prefix can not be used by a container
         with self.assertRaises(ConfigSessionError):
             self.cli_commit()
 
         tmp = f'{base_name}-1'
         self.cli_delete(base_path + ['name', tmp])
         self.cli_commit()
 
         n = cmd_to_json(f'sudo podman network inspect {net_name}')
         self.assertEqual(n['subnets'][0]['subnet'], prefix4)
         self.assertEqual(n['subnets'][1]['subnet'], prefix6)
 
         # skipt first container, it was never created
         for ii in range(2, 6):
             name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
             c = cmd_to_json(f'sudo podman container inspect {name}')
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['IPv6Gateway']      , str(ip_interface(prefix6).ip + 1))
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['GlobalIPv6Address'], str(ip_interface(prefix6).ip + ii))
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['Gateway']          , str(ip_interface(prefix4).ip + 1))
             self.assertEqual(c['NetworkSettings']['Networks'][net_name]['IPAddress']        , str(ip_interface(prefix4).ip + ii))
 
     def test_uid_gid(self):
         cont_name = 'uid-test'
         gid = '100'
         uid = '1001'
 
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'allow-host-networks'])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'image', cont_image])
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'gid', gid])
 
         # verify() - GID can only be set if UID is set
         with self.assertRaises(ConfigSessionError):
             self.cli_commit()
         self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', cont_name, 'uid', uid])
 
         self.cli_commit()
 
         # verify
         tmp = cmd(f'sudo podman exec -it {cont_name} id -u')
         self.assertEqual(tmp, uid)
         tmp = cmd(f'sudo podman exec -it {cont_name} id -g')
         self.assertEqual(tmp, gid)
 
+    def test_api_socket(self):
+        base_name = 'api-test'
+        container_list = range(1, 5)
+
+        for ii in container_list:
+            name = f'{base_name}-{ii}'
+            self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'image', cont_image])
+            self.cli_set(base_path + ['name', name, 'allow-host-networks'])
+
+        self.cli_commit()
+
+        # Query API about running containers
+        tmp = cmd("sudo curl --unix-socket /run/podman/podman.sock -H 'content-type: application/json' -sf http://localhost/containers/json")
+        tmp = json.loads(tmp)
+
+        # We expect the same amount of containers from the API that we started above
+        self.assertEqual(len(container_list), len(tmp))
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main(verbosity=2)
diff --git a/src/systemd/podman.service b/src/systemd/podman.service
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20a16304b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/systemd/podman.service
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Podman API Service
+Requires=podman.socket
+After=podman.socket
+Documentation=man:podman-system-service(1)
+StartLimitIntervalSec=0
+
+[Service]
+Delegate=true
+Type=exec
+KillMode=process
+Environment=LOGGING="--log-level=info"
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman $LOGGING system service
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target
diff --git a/src/systemd/podman.socket b/src/systemd/podman.socket
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..397058ee4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/systemd/podman.socket
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Podman API Socket
+Documentation=man:podman-system-service(1)
+
+[Socket]
+ListenStream=%t/podman/podman.sock
+SocketMode=0660
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=sockets.target