Quay

What Quay is

Project Quay is an open source registry for building, organizing, distributing, and deploying container images and OCI artifacts. Teams can use its web interface to manage private repositories and decide who can view or change content. It can run as a standalone component or as an Operator on OpenShift Container Platform, and it also supports Kubernetes deployments. Clair scans container images for known vulnerabilities and can suggest remediation. For distribution, Quay supports repository mirroring, multi-region replication with client failover, and disconnected environments. CI/CD and Git-compatible integrations, including GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, can support automated builds and deployments. Its OAuth 2 REST API can be used to manage the registry and automate tasks. Security capabilities include TLS, isolated builds, role-based organization and team access, and encryption of sensitive fields at rest and at runtime. The community distribution is free under an Apache 2 license. Deployments require image storage, a database, and Redis; local image storage is intended only for proof-of-concept or test installations.

Who it suits

Quay suits teams that need to manage container images and OCI artifacts across development or production deployments. It supports both smaller deployments and enterprise use, including Kubernetes and disconnected environments.

Limits

The free community distribution requires a database and reliable image storage. Local image storage is intended only for proof-of-concept or test installations because blob durability is not guaranteed.

Getting started

1. Visit the Project Quay website.
2. Choose the open source community distribution, priced at $0.
3. Prepare image storage, a database, and Redis for the deployment.
4. Deploy Quay as a standalone component or as an Operator on OpenShift Container Platform; Kubernetes deployments are supported.
5. Connect a supported storage option such as AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage.

Verdict

Project Quay combines registry management, scanning, automation, and distribution options in an open source package. Plan for the required database, Redis, and durable image storage when choosing a deployment.