--- stage: Package group: Package info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers --- # GitLab Container Registry > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/4040) in GitLab 8.8. > - Docker Registry manifest `v1` support was added in GitLab 8.9 to support Docker > versions earlier than 1.10. > - Starting from GitLab 8.12, if you have 2FA enabled in your account, you need > to pass a [personal access token](../../profile/personal_access_tokens.md) instead of your password in order to > login to GitLab's Container Registry. > - Multiple level image names support was added in GitLab 9.1. > - The group level Container Registry was [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/23315) in GitLab 12.10. > - Searching by image repository name was [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/31322) in GitLab 13.0. NOTE: **Note:** This document is the user guide. To learn how to enable GitLab Container Registry across your GitLab instance, visit the [administrator documentation](../../../administration/packages/container_registry.md). With the Docker Container Registry integrated into GitLab, every project can have its own space to store its Docker images. You can read more about Docker Registry at . ![Container Registry repositories](img/container_registry_repositories_v13_1.png) ## Enable the Container Registry for your project CAUTION: **Warning:** The Container Registry follows the visibility settings of the project. If the project is public, so is the Container Registry. If you cannot find the **Packages & Registries > Container Registry** entry under your project's sidebar, it is not enabled in your GitLab instance. Ask your administrator to enable GitLab Container Registry following the [administration documentation](../../../administration/packages/container_registry.md). If you are using GitLab.com, this is enabled by default so you can start using the Registry immediately. Currently there is a soft (10GB) size restriction for Registry on GitLab.com, as part of the [repository size limit](../../project/repository/index.md). Once enabled for your GitLab instance, to enable Container Registry for your project: 1. Go to your project's **Settings > General** page. 1. Expand the **Visibility, project features, permissions** section and enable the **Container Registry** feature on your project. For new projects this might be enabled by default. For existing projects (prior GitLab 8.8), enable it explicitly. 1. Press **Save changes** for the changes to take effect. You should now be able to see the **Packages & Registries > Container Registry** link in the sidebar. ## Control Container Registry from within GitLab GitLab offers a simple Container Registry management panel. This management panel is available for both projects and groups. ### Control Container Registry for your project Navigate to your project's **{package}** **Packages & Registries > Container Registry**. ![Container Registry project repositories](img/container_registry_repositories_with_quickstart_v13_1.png) This view allows you to: - Show all the image repositories that belong to the project. - Filter image repositories by their name. - [Delete](#delete-images-from-within-gitlab) one or more image repository. - Navigate to the image repository details page. - Show a **Quick start** dropdown with the most common commands to log in, build and push - Show a banner if the optional [cleanup policy](#cleanup-policy) is enabled for this project. ### Control Container Registry for your group Navigate to your groups's **{package}** **Packages & Registries > Container Registry**. ![Container Registry group repositories](img/container_registry_group_repositories_v13_1.png) This view allows you to: - Show all the image repositories of the projects that belong to this group. - [Delete](#delete-images-from-within-gitlab) one or more image repositories. - Navigate to a specific image repository details page. ### Image Repository details page Clicking on the name of any image repository navigates to the details. ![Container Registry project repository details](img/container_registry_repository_details_v13.0.png) NOTE: **Note:** The following page has the same functionalities both in the **Group level container registry** and in the **Project level container registry**. This view: - Shows all the image repository details. - Shows all the tags of the image repository. - Allows you to quickly copy the tag path (by clicking on the clipboard button near the tag name). - Allows you to [delete one or more tags](#delete-images-from-within-gitlab). ## Use images from GitLab Container Registry To download and run a container from images hosted in GitLab Container Registry, use `docker run`: ```shell docker run [options] registry.example.com/group/project/image [arguments] ``` For more information on running Docker containers, visit the [Docker documentation](https://docs.docker.com/engine/userguide/intro/). ## Authenticating to the GitLab Container Registry If you visit the **Packages & Registries > Container Registry** link under your project's menu, you can see the explicit instructions to login to the Container Registry using your GitLab credentials. For example if the Registry's URL is `registry.example.com`, then you should be able to login with: ```shell docker login registry.example.com ``` NOTE: **Note:** If you have [2 Factor Authentication](../../profile/account/two_factor_authentication.md) enabled in your account, you need to pass a [personal access token](../../profile/personal_access_tokens.md) instead of your password in order to login to GitLab's Container Registry. Credentials must be provided for authorization to any non-public registry. Only project members can access private, GitLab-hosted registries. There are two ways to authenticate: - By using a [personal access token](../../profile/personal_access_tokens.md). - By using a [deploy token](../../project/deploy_tokens/index.md). The minimum scope needed for both of them is `read_registry`. Example of using a token: ```shell docker login registry.example.com -u -p ``` ## Build and push images from your local machine Building and publishing images should be a straightforward process. Just make sure that you are using the Registry URL with the namespace and project name that is hosted on GitLab: ```shell docker build -t registry.example.com/group/project/image . docker push registry.example.com/group/project/image ``` Your image is named after the following scheme: ```plaintext /// ``` GitLab supports up to three levels of image repository names. The following examples of image tags are valid: ```plaintext registry.example.com/group/project:some-tag registry.example.com/group/project/image:latest registry.example.com/group/project/my/image:rc1 ``` ## Build and push images using GitLab CI/CD While you can build and push your images from your local machine, take full advantage of the Container Registry by combining it with GitLab CI/CD. You can then create workflows and automate any processes that involve testing, building, and eventually deploying your project from the Docker image you created. Before diving into the details, some things you should be aware of: - You must [authenticate to the container registry](#authenticating-to-the-container-registry-with-gitlab-cicd) before running any commands. You can do this in the `before_script` if multiple jobs depend on it. - Using `docker build --pull` fetches any changes to base images before building in case your cache is stale. It takes slightly longer, but it means you don’t get stuck without security patches for base images. - Doing an explicit `docker pull` before each `docker run` fetches the latest image that was just built. This is especially important if you are using multiple Runners that cache images locally. Using the Git SHA in your image tag makes this less necessary since each job is unique and you shouldn't ever have a stale image. However, it's still possible to have a stale image if you re-build a given commit after a dependency has changed. - You don't want to build directly to `latest` tag in case there are multiple jobs happening simultaneously. ### Authenticating to the Container Registry with GitLab CI/CD There are three ways to authenticate to the Container Registry via [GitLab CI/CD](../../../ci/yaml/README.md): - **Using the special `CI_REGISTRY_USER` variable**: The user specified by this variable is created for you in order to push to the Registry connected to your project. Its password is automatically set with the `CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD` variable. This allows you to automate building and deploying your Docker images and has read/write access to the Registry. This is ephemeral, so it's only valid for one job. You can use the following example as-is: ```shell docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY ``` - **Using the GitLab Deploy Token**: You can create and use a [special deploy token](../../project/deploy_tokens/index.md#gitlab-deploy-token) with your projects. Once created, you can use the special environment variables, and GitLab CI/CD fills them in for you. You can use the following example as-is: ```shell docker login -u $CI_DEPLOY_USER -p $CI_DEPLOY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY ``` - **Using a personal access token**: You can create and use a [personal access token](../../profile/personal_access_tokens.md) in case your project is private: - For read (pull) access, the scope should be `read_registry`. - For write (push) access, the scope should be `write_registry`. Replace the `` and `` in the following example: ```shell docker login -u -p $CI_REGISTRY ``` ### Container Registry examples with GitLab CI/CD If you're using Docker-in-Docker on your Runners, this is how your `.gitlab-ci.yml` should look similar to this: ```yaml build: image: docker:19.03.12 stage: build services: - docker:19.03.12-dind script: - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY/group/project/image:latest . - docker push $CI_REGISTRY/group/project/image:latest ``` You can also make use of [other variables](../../../ci/variables/README.md) to avoid hard-coding: ```yaml build: image: docker:19.03.12 stage: build services: - docker:19.03.12-dind variables: IMAGE_TAG: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG script: - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY - docker build -t $IMAGE_TAG . - docker push $IMAGE_TAG ``` Here, `$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE` would be resolved to the address of the registry tied to this project. Since `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` resolves to the branch or tag name, and your branch name can contain forward slashes (for example, `feature/my-feature`), it is safer to use `$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG` as the image tag. This is due to that image tags cannot contain forward slashes. We also declare our own variable, `$IMAGE_TAG`, combining the two to save us some typing in the `script` section. Here's a more elaborate example that splits up the tasks into 4 pipeline stages, including two tests that run in parallel. The `build` is stored in the container registry and used by subsequent stages, downloading the image when needed. Changes to `master` also get tagged as `latest` and deployed using an application-specific deploy script: ```yaml image: docker:19.03.12 services: - docker:19.03.12-dind stages: - build - test - release - deploy variables: # Use TLS https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/docker/using_docker_build.html#tls-enabled DOCKER_HOST: tcp://docker:2376 DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: "/certs" CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG CONTAINER_RELEASE_IMAGE: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest before_script: - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY build: stage: build script: - docker build --pull -t $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE . - docker push $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE test1: stage: test script: - docker pull $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE - docker run $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE /script/to/run/tests test2: stage: test script: - docker pull $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE - docker run $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE /script/to/run/another/test release-image: stage: release script: - docker pull $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE - docker tag $CONTAINER_TEST_IMAGE $CONTAINER_RELEASE_IMAGE - docker push $CONTAINER_RELEASE_IMAGE only: - master deploy: stage: deploy script: - ./deploy.sh only: - master ``` NOTE: **Note:** This example explicitly calls `docker pull`. If you prefer to implicitly pull the built image using `image:`, and use either the [Docker](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html) or [Kubernetes](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/kubernetes.html) executor, make sure that [`pull_policy`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#how-pull-policies-work) is set to `always`. ### Using a Docker-in-Docker image from your Container Registry To use your own Docker images for Docker-in-Docker, follow these steps in addition to the steps in the [Docker-in-Docker](../../../ci/docker/using_docker_build.md#use-docker-in-docker-workflow-with-docker-executor) section: 1. Update the `image` and `service` to point to your registry. 1. Add a service [alias](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#servicesalias). Below is an example of what your `.gitlab-ci.yml` should look like: ```yaml build: image: $CI_REGISTRY/group/project/docker:19.03.12 services: - name: $CI_REGISTRY/group/project/docker:19.03.12-dind alias: docker stage: build script: - docker build -t my-docker-image . - docker run my-docker-image /script/to/run/tests ``` If you forget to set the service alias, the `docker:19.03.12` image is unable to find the `dind` service, and an error like the following is thrown: ```plaintext error during connect: Get http://docker:2376/v1.39/info: dial tcp: lookup docker on 192.168.0.1:53: no such host ``` ## Delete images You can delete images from your Container Registry in multiple ways. CAUTION: **Warning:** Deleting images is a destructive action and can't be undone. To restore a deleted image, you must rebuild and re-upload it. NOTE: **Note:** Administrators should review how to [garbage collect](../../../administration/packages/container_registry.md#container-registry-garbage-collection) the deleted images. ### Delete images from within GitLab To delete images from within GitLab: 1. Navigate to your project's or group's **{package}** **Packages & Registries > Container Registry**. 1. From the **Container Registry** page, you can select what you want to delete, by either: - Deleting the entire repository, and all the tags it contains, by clicking the red **{remove}** **Trash** icon. - Navigating to the repository, and deleting tags individually or in bulk by clicking the red **{remove}** **Trash** icon next to the tag you want to delete. 1. In the dialog box, click **Remove tag**. ![Container Registry tags](img/container_registry_repository_details_v13.0.png) ### Delete images using the API If you want to automate the process of deleting images, GitLab provides an API. For more information, see the following endpoints: - [Delete a Registry repository](../../../api/container_registry.md#delete-registry-repository) - [Delete an individual Registry repository tag](../../../api/container_registry.md#delete-a-registry-repository-tag) - [Delete Registry repository tags in bulk](../../../api/container_registry.md#delete-registry-repository-tags-in-bulk) ### Delete images using GitLab CI/CD CAUTION: **Warning:** GitLab CI/CD doesn't provide a built-in way to remove your images, but this example uses a third-party tool called [reg](https://github.com/genuinetools/reg) that talks to the GitLab Registry API. You are responsible for your own actions. For assistance with this tool, see [the issue queue for reg](https://github.com/genuinetools/reg/issues). The following example defines two stages: `build`, and `clean`. The `build_image` job builds the Docker image for the branch, and the `delete_image` job deletes it. The `reg` executable is downloaded and used to remove the image matching the `$CI_PROJECT_PATH:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG` [environment variable](../../../ci/variables/predefined_variables.md). To use this example, change the `IMAGE_TAG` variable to match your needs: ```yaml stages: - build - clean build_image: image: docker:19.03.12 stage: build services: - docker:19.03.12-dind variables: IMAGE_TAG: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG script: - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY - docker build -t $IMAGE_TAG . - docker push $IMAGE_TAG only: - branches except: - master delete_image: image: docker:19.03.12 stage: clean services: - docker:19.03.12-dind variables: IMAGE_TAG: $CI_PROJECT_PATH:$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG REG_SHA256: ade837fc5224acd8c34732bf54a94f579b47851cc6a7fd5899a98386b782e228 REG_VERSION: 0.16.1 before_script: - apk add --no-cache curl - curl --fail --show-error --location "https://github.com/genuinetools/reg/releases/download/v$REG_VERSION/reg-linux-amd64" --output /usr/local/bin/reg - echo "$REG_SHA256 /usr/local/bin/reg" | sha256sum -c - - chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/reg script: - /usr/local/bin/reg rm -d --auth-url $CI_REGISTRY -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $IMAGE_TAG only: - branches except: - master ``` TIP: **Tip:** You can download the latest `reg` release from [the releases page](https://github.com/genuinetools/reg/releases), then update the code example by changing the `REG_SHA256` and `REG_VERSION` variables defined in the `delete_image` job. ### Delete images by using a cleanup policy You can create a per-project [cleanup policy](#cleanup-policy) to ensure older tags and images are regularly removed from the Container Registry. ## Cleanup policy > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/15398) in GitLab 12.8. > - [Renamed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/218737) from "expiration policy" to "cleanup policy" in GitLab 13.2. The cleanup policy is a scheduled job you can use to remove tags from the Container Registry. For the project where it's defined, tags matching the regex pattern are removed. The underlying layers and images remain. To delete the underlying layers and images that aren't associated with any tags, administrators can use [garbage collection](../../../administration/packages/container_registry.md#removing-unused-layers-not-referenced-by-manifests) with the `-m` switch. ### Enable the cleanup policy Cleanup policies can be run on all projects, with these exceptions: - For GitLab.com, the project must have been created after 2020-02-22. Support for projects created earlier [is planned](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/196124). - For self-managed GitLab instances, the project must have been created in GitLab 12.8 or later. However, an administrator can enable the cleanup policy for all projects (even those created before 12.8) in [GitLab application settings](../../../api/settings.md#change-application-settings) by setting `container_expiration_policies_enable_historic_entries` to true. There are performance risks with enabling it for all projects, especially if you are using an [external registry](./index.md#use-with-external-container-registries). ### How the cleanup policy works The cleanup policy collects all tags in the Container Registry and excludes tags until only the tags to be deleted remain. The cleanup policy: 1. Collects all tags for a given repository in a list. 1. Excludes the tag named `latest` from the list. 1. Evaluates the `name_regex` (tags to expire), excluding non-matching names from the list. 1. Excludes any tags that do not have a manifest (not part of the options in the UI). 1. Orders the remaining tags by `created_date`. 1. Excludes from the list the N tags based on the `keep_n` value (Number of tags to retain). 1. Excludes from the list the tags more recent than the `older_than` value (Expiration interval). 1. Excludes from the list any tags matching the `name_regex_keep` value (tags to preserve). 1. Finally, the remaining tags in the list are deleted from the Container Registry. ### Create a cleanup policy You can create a cleanup policy in [the API](#use-the-cleanup-policy-api) or the UI. To create a cleanup policy in the UI: 1. For your project, go to **Settings > CI/CD**. 1. Expand the **Cleanup policy for tags** section. 1. Complete the fields. | Field | Description | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Cleanup policy** | Turn the policy on or off. | | **Expiration interval** | How long tags are exempt from being deleted. | | **Expiration schedule** | How often the policy should run. | | **Number of tags to retain** | How many tags to _always_ keep for each image. | | **Tags with names matching this regex pattern expire:** | The regex pattern that determines which tags to remove. For all tags, use `.*`. See other [regex pattern examples](#regex-pattern-examples). | | **Tags with names matching this regex pattern are preserved:** | The regex pattern that determines which tags to preserve. The `latest` tag is always preserved. For all tags, use `.*`. See other [regex pattern examples](#regex-pattern-examples). | 1. Click **Set cleanup policy**. Depending on the interval you chose, the policy is scheduled to run. NOTE: **Note:** If you edit the policy and click **Set cleanup policy** again, the interval is reset. ### Regex pattern examples Cleanup policies use regex patterns to determine which tags should be preserved or removed, both in the UI and the API. Here are examples of regex patterns you may want to use: - Match all tags: ```plaintext .* ``` - Match tags that start with `v`: ```plaintext v.+ ``` - Match tags that contain `master`: ```plaintext master ``` - Match tags that either start with `v`, contain `master`, or contain `release`: ```plaintext (?:v.+|master|release) ``` ### Use the cleanup policy API You can set, update, and disable the cleanup policies using the GitLab API. Examples: - Select all tags, keep at least 1 tag per image, clean up any tag older than 14 days, run once a month, preserve any images with the name `master` and the policy is enabled: ```shell curl --request PUT --header 'Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8' --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: " --data-binary '{"container_expiration_policy_attributes":{"cadence":"1month","enabled":true,"keep_n":1,"older_than":"14d","name_regex":"","name_regex_delete":".*","name_regex_keep":".*-master"}}' 'https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/2' ``` See the API documentation for further details: [Edit project](../../../api/projects.md#edit-project). ### Use with external container registries When using an [external container registry](./../../../administration/packages/container_registry.md#use-an-external-container-registry-with-gitlab-as-an-auth-endpoint), running a cleanup policy on a project may have some performance risks. If a project runs a policy to remove thousands of tags the GitLab background jobs may get backed up or fail completely. It is recommended you only enable container cleanup policies for projects that were created before GitLab 12.8 if you are confident the number of tags being cleaned up is minimal. ### Troubleshooting cleanup policies If you see the following message: "Something went wrong while updating the cleanup policy." Check the regex patterns to ensure they are valid. You can use [Rubular](https://rubular.com/) to check your regex. View some common [regex pattern examples](#regex-pattern-examples). ## Use the Container Registry to store Helm Charts With the launch of [Helm v3](https://helm.sh/docs/topics/registries/), you can use the Container Registry to store Helm Charts. However, due to the way metadata is passed and stored by Docker, it is not possible for GitLab to parse this data and meet performance standards. [This epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2313) updates the architecture of the Container Registry to support Helm Charts. You can read more about the above challenges [here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/38047#note_298842890). ## Limitations - Moving or renaming existing Container Registry repositories is not supported once you have pushed images, because the images are signed, and the signature includes the repository name. To move or rename a repository with a Container Registry, you must delete all existing images. - Prior to GitLab 12.10, any tags that use the same image ID as the `latest` tag are not deleted by the cleanup policy. ## Troubleshooting the GitLab Container Registry ### Docker connection error A Docker connection error can occur when there are special characters in either the group, project or branch name. Special characters can include: - Leading underscore - Trailing hyphen/dash To get around this, you can [change the group path](../../group/index.md#changing-a-groups-path), [change the project path](../../project/settings/index.md#renaming-a-repository) or change the branch name. ### Troubleshoot as a GitLab server admin Troubleshooting the GitLab Container Registry, most of the times, requires administrator access to the GitLab server. [Read how to troubleshoot the Container Registry](../../../administration/packages/container_registry.md#troubleshooting). ### Unable to change path or transfer a project If you try to change a project's path or transfer a project to a new namespace, you may receive one of the following errors: - "Project cannot be transferred, because tags are present in its container registry." - "Namespace cannot be moved because at least one project has tags in container registry." This issue occurs when the project has images in the Container Registry. You must delete or move these images before you can change the path or transfer the project. The following procedure uses these sample project names: - For the current project: `example.gitlab.com/org/build/sample_project/cr:v2.9.1` - For the new project: `example.gitlab.com/new_org/build/new_sample_project/cr:v2.9.1` Use your own URLs to complete the following steps: 1. Download the Docker images on your computer: ```shell docker login example.gitlab.com docker pull example.gitlab.com/org/build/sample_project/cr:v2.9.1 ``` 1. Rename the images to match the new project name: ```shell docker tag example.gitlab.com/org/build/sample_project/cr:v2.9.1 example.gitlab.com/new_org/build/new_sample_project/cr:v2.9.1 ``` 1. Delete the images in both projects by using the [UI](#delete-images) or [API](../../../api/packages.md#delete-a-project-package). There may be a delay while the images are queued and deleted. 1. Change the path or transfer the project by going to **Settings > General** and expanding **Advanced**. 1. Restore the images: ```shell docker push example.gitlab.com/new_org/build/new_sample_project/cr:v2.9.1 ``` Follow [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/18383) for details.