Skip to main content
Redhat Developers  Logo
  • Products

    Platforms

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      Red Hat Enterprise Linux Icon
    • Red Hat AI
      Red Hat AI
    • Red Hat OpenShift
      Openshift icon
    • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
      Ansible icon
    • View All Red Hat Products

    Featured

    • Red Hat build of OpenJDK
    • Red Hat Developer Hub
    • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform
    • Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces
    • Red Hat OpenShift Local
    • Red Hat Developer Sandbox

      Try Red Hat products and technologies without setup or configuration fees for 30 days with this shared Openshift and Kubernetes cluster.
    • Try at no cost
  • Technologies

    Featured

    • AI/ML
      AI/ML Icon
    • Linux
      Linux Icon
    • Kubernetes
      Cloud icon
    • Automation
      Automation Icon showing arrows moving in a circle around a gear
    • View All Technologies
    • Programming Languages & Frameworks

      • Java
      • Python
      • JavaScript
    • System Design & Architecture

      • Red Hat architecture and design patterns
      • Microservices
      • Event-Driven Architecture
      • Databases
    • Developer Productivity

      • Developer productivity
      • Developer Tools
      • GitOps
    • Automated Data Processing

      • AI/ML
      • Data Science
      • Apache Kafka on Kubernetes
    • Platform Engineering

      • DevOps
      • DevSecOps
      • Ansible automation for applications and services
    • Secure Development & Architectures

      • Security
      • Secure coding
  • Learn

    Featured

    • Kubernetes & Cloud Native
      Openshift icon
    • Linux
      Rhel icon
    • Automation
      Ansible cloud icon
    • AI/ML
      AI/ML Icon
    • View All Learning Resources

    E-Books

    • GitOps Cookbook
    • Podman in Action
    • Kubernetes Operators
    • The Path to GitOps
    • View All E-books

    Cheat Sheets

    • Linux Commands
    • Bash Commands
    • Git
    • systemd Commands
    • View All Cheat Sheets

    Documentation

    • Product Documentation
    • API Catalog
    • Legacy Documentation
  • Developer Sandbox

    Developer Sandbox

    • Access Red Hat’s products and technologies without setup or configuration, and start developing quicker than ever before with our new, no-cost sandbox environments.
    • Explore Developer Sandbox

    Featured Developer Sandbox activities

    • Get started with your Developer Sandbox
    • OpenShift virtualization and application modernization using the Developer Sandbox
    • Explore all Developer Sandbox activities

    Ready to start developing apps?

    • Try at no cost
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Videos

Shipwright: A framework for building container images on Kubernetes

June 17, 2021
Jason Hall
Related topics:
ContainersDevOpsKubernetes
Related products:
Red Hat OpenShift

Share:

    As the popularity of container orchestration systems like Kubernetes has exploded, we've seen two trends begin to emerge:

    • Developers are seeking a reliable, secure system to build container images.
    • Operators are looking for alternatives to managing and securing a separate build infrastructure.

    The container ecosystem explosion began with developers running docker build and docker push on their local machines. But increasingly, developers have discovered the benefits of building container images remotely in the cloud, such as better automation, supply chain security, visibility and observability, increased efficiency from caching, and more.

    With supply chain security becoming a hot topic in 2021, operators don't want to manage and secure a separate bespoke build infrastructure. In the past, this "build infrastructure" has sometimes been as simple as a shared computer running under a developer's desk. However, that build environment was difficult to manage, upgrade, and secure. Furthermore, often, it ran with very privileged access to production environments, making it a prime target for attackers.

    Instead, operators want to lean on the tools and experience they've gained to secure and observe their production environments running on Kubernetes. Moving container image builds into the cluster is a natural fit, but running docker build in a cluster can be very hard to secure properly.

    To meet this need, engineers from the Red Hat OpenShift build and IBM Cloud Code Engine teams developed Shipwright.

    Build container images with Shipwright

    Shipwright is a modern, flexible, secure framework for building container images on a Kubernetes cluster, using familiar Kubernetes-style APIs, and running workloads using Tekton.

    Shipwright lets you take advantage of an array of modern container build tools like Cloud Native Buildpacks, Kaniko, Buildah, Source-to-Image (S2I), BuildKit, and ko, and is flexible enough to quickly adapt to whatever new tools come along in the future.

    Shipwright already powers IBM Cloud Code Engine's build system and will form the basis for Red Hat OpenShift builds version 2, which is expected to be launched in technical preview later this year. Shipwright is being proposed as an incubating project under the Continuous Delivery Foundation, a Linux Foundation initiative that provides a neutral home for modern continuous delivery projects of all kinds.

    Learn more

    For more information about Shipwright, join us at cdCon on Wednesday, June 23, for Introduction to Shipwright, where I'll present an overview of the project, and on Thursday, June 24, for Project Shipwright in Depth, where Adam Kaplan and Enrique Encalada will go into more detail.

    Until then, you can find documentation at https://shipwright.io and find the code on GitHub. You can also check out the article Project Shipwright and the future of Red Hat OpenShift builds on Red Hat Developer.

    Last updated: September 19, 2023

    Related Posts

    • Project Shipwright and the future of Red Hat OpenShift builds

    Recent Posts

    • Run Qwen3-Next on vLLM with Red Hat AI: A step-by-step guide

    • How to implement observability with Python and Llama Stack

    • Deploy a lightweight AI model with AI Inference Server containerization

    • vLLM Semantic Router: Improving efficiency in AI reasoning

    • Declaratively assigning DNS records to virtual machines

    Red Hat Developers logo LinkedIn YouTube Twitter Facebook

    Products

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    • Red Hat OpenShift
    • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

    Build

    • Developer Sandbox
    • Developer Tools
    • Interactive Tutorials
    • API Catalog

    Quicklinks

    • Learning Resources
    • E-books
    • Cheat Sheets
    • Blog
    • Events
    • Newsletter

    Communicate

    • About us
    • Contact sales
    • Find a partner
    • Report a website issue
    • Site Status Dashboard
    • Report a security problem

    RED HAT DEVELOPER

    Build here. Go anywhere.

    We serve the builders. The problem solvers who create careers with code.

    Join us if you’re a developer, software engineer, web designer, front-end designer, UX designer, computer scientist, architect, tester, product manager, project manager or team lead.

    Sign me up

    Red Hat legal and privacy links

    • About Red Hat
    • Jobs
    • Events
    • Locations
    • Contact Red Hat
    • Red Hat Blog
    • Inclusion at Red Hat
    • Cool Stuff Store
    • Red Hat Summit
    © 2025 Red Hat

    Red Hat legal and privacy links

    • Privacy statement
    • Terms of use
    • All policies and guidelines
    • Digital accessibility

    Report a website issue