Skip to content

Google Cloud Artifact Registry#

Google Cloud Artifact Registry is a fully-managed service for storing and managing container images, as well as other software artifacts like Maven, npm, and Python packages. It is designed to integrate seamlessly with GCP, providing enhanced security, authentication, and efficiency over external services like Docker Hub.

Why Use Artifact Registry Instead of Docker Hub?#

Feature Docker Hub Artifact Registry
Security Publicly accessible by default. Limited security features unless on paid tiers. Private by default, with IAM-based fine-grained access control and integration with GCP security features.
Authentication Separate login credentials required. Uses GCP-managed identities (IAM roles and service accounts).
Network Proximity External to GCP, introducing latency. Hosted within GCP, reducing latency and egress costs.
Cost Free tier has pull limits. Paid plans for more. Pay only for what you store and access.
Integration Limited GCP integration. Full integration with GCP services like Cloud Build, Compute Engine, and Kubernetes Engine.

Setting Up and Using Artifact Registry#

Ensure that you have completed How to Use GCP before starting this process.

Enabling the Artifact Registry API#

gcloud services enable artifactregistry.googleapis.com

Creating an Artifact Repository#

gcloud artifacts repositories create [REPOSITORY_NAME] \
    --repository-format=docker \
    --location=[REGION] \
    --description="Repository for storing Docker images"

Authenticating Docker with Artifact Registry#

Run the following command to configure Docker to authenticate with your Artifact Registry:

gcloud auth configure-docker [REGION]-docker.pkg.dev

Pushing Images to Artifact Registry#

  1. Tag your Docker image for Artifact Registry:

    docker tag [IMAGE_NAME] [REGION]-docker.pkg.dev/[PROJECT_ID]/[REPOSITORY_NAME]/[IMAGE_NAME]:[TAG]

  2. Push the image:

    docker push [REGION]-docker.pkg.dev/[PROJECT_ID]/[REPOSITORY_NAME]/[IMAGE_NAME]:[TAG]

Pulling Images from Artifact Registry#

docker pull [REGION]-docker.pkg.dev/[PROJECT_ID]/[REPOSITORY_NAME]/[IMAGE_NAME]:[TAG]