init container
A specialized container in a Kubernetes pod that runs to completion before application containers start, used to perform initialization tasks like downloading files or configuring the environment.
Init containers are a Kubernetes feature that allows you to run one or more containers before your main application containers begin. They execute sequentially and must complete successfully before the pod's primary containers are launched.
Init containers are commonly used for setup tasks such as downloading configuration files, waiting for services to become available, or initializing data volumes. For example, an init container might download a required library or wait for a database to be ready before the main application container starts.
Each init container must exit with a zero status code to be considered successful. If an init container fails, Kubernetes will restart the entire pod according to the restart policy, ensuring dependencies are properly established before application containers run.