Just a couple days ago, GitLab released GitLab Container Registry which works hand in hand with GitLab CI, as part of GitLab 8.8. GitLab Container Registry is a private, secure registry for Docker images. Built on open source software, GitLab Container Registry isn't just a standalone registry, but fully integrated with GitLab, giving you a single integrated experience to easily use your images for GitLab CI, create images specific for tags or branches, and much more. And, it's available for free, out of the box with GitLab 8.8—so, just upgrade to the latest version, and it's yours!

Works With Docker

Images are the primary component of a Docker-based workflow and contain everything needed to run an application. Often they are automatically created as part of CI and as such are updated whenever code changes. So, the purpose of a container registry is to store these images shared between developers and machines.

GitLab Container Registry is actually the first Docker registry that is fully integrated with Git repository management. Using it, developers can maintain their own private, company images or temporary images used only in testing. There's no need to worry about adding in another service or using a public registry.

Easy Integration

As stated before, GitLab Container Registry is fully integrated with GitLab allowing developers to easily code, test, and deploy Docker container images using GitLab CI or other Docker-compatible tooling.

Projects include a new tab, Container Registry, which lists all images related to the project. These image repositories can be turned on or off per-project. From there, a developer can easily upload and download images with GitLab CI without the need for any additional software.

Simplified Workflows

GitLab suggests some ways to take advantage of the built-in container registry to simplify development and deployment workflows:

• Docker image storage and distribution
• branch- and tag-specific images
• testing against images
• base image inheritance
• automated deployments of your applications to the cloud

Wrapping Up

With GitLab Container Registry, testing and deploying Docker containers is easier than ever. It's out now with the latest version, so just upgrade and it's yours. Learn how to enable it on your GitLab instance by checking out the administration documentation. For more information about how to get set up, check here.