googlecontainertools/kaniko

★ 15,766GoAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 4/5Setup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((kaniko))
    Inputs
      Dockerfile
      Build context
      Registry credentials
    Outputs
      OCI image
      Pushed image
      Cached layers
    Use Cases
      Build images inside K8s
      Run image builds in CI
      Push to ECR or GCR
    Tech Stack
      Go
      Containers
      Kubernetes

mindmap root((kaniko)) Inputs Dockerfile Build context Registry credentials Outputs OCI image Pushed image Cached layers Use Cases Build images inside K8s Run image builds in CI Push to ECR or GCR Tech Stack Go Containers Kubernetes

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Build container images inside a Kubernetes pod without a Docker daemon

USE CASE 2

Run image builds from GitLab CI or GitHub Actions on a K8s runner

USE CASE 3

Push freshly built images to ECR, GCR, ACR, or Docker Hub

USE CASE 4

Reuse cached layers across pipeline runs to speed up builds

Tech stack

GoContainersKubernetes

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

Project is archived and meant to run as a container inside a Kubernetes cluster with registry credentials mounted.

In plain English

Kaniko is a tool that builds container images (self-contained software packages that include everything an app needs to run) from a Dockerfile, but without requiring Docker to be installed or running on the host machine. A Dockerfile is a text recipe that describes how to package your application. The problem it solves is specific to Kubernetes clusters (a system for running many containers together at scale): standard Kubernetes environments do not allow running a Docker daemon for security reasons, making it impossible to build new images from within the cluster. Kaniko sidesteps this by executing each step of the Dockerfile entirely in user space, no privileged access or Docker daemon required. You would use kaniko when you need to build and push container images as part of an automated pipeline running inside Kubernetes, such as a CI/CD workflow (a system that automatically tests and deploys code). It supports pushing the finished image to Docker Hub, Amazon ECR, Google Container Registry, Azure Container Registry, and other registries. It also supports layer caching to speed up repeated builds. Kaniko is written in Go and is meant to run as a container image itself. Note: as of the archival date stated in the README, this project is no longer actively developed or maintained.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Write a Kubernetes Job manifest that runs kaniko to build a Dockerfile and push to GCR

Prompt 2

Set up a GitLab CI pipeline that uses kaniko to build and push my image with layer caching

Prompt 3

Compare kaniko, buildah, and img for building images inside Kubernetes without privileged mode

Prompt 4

Migrate away from archived kaniko to a maintained alternative like buildkit-rootless

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