Publish Docker images to Amazon ECR

Docker Login

Before interacting with AWS, ensure that Docker is running and log in to your account (Docker Hub):

docker login -u <your_username>

AWS CLI Installation and Configuration

To manage AWS resources from your terminal, you need the official Command Line Interface.

Go to https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html and install the AWS CLI.

Run the following command to confirm it was installed correctly:

aws --version

Permissions configuration (IAM)

To push images to ECR, you need a user with the appropriate permissions. Go to the AWS Console, navigate to IAM > Users, and create a user with the following policy:

• AmazonECS_FullAccess
• AmazonEC2ContainerRegistryPowerUser

Then, generate an Access Key (under Security Credentials) for CLI access.

Link AWS with your terminal

Run the configuration command and paste your credentials when prompted:

aws configure

• AWS Access Key ID: [Your ID]
• AWS Secret Access Key: [Your secret]
• Default region name: (e.g., us-east-1)
• Default output format: (You can leave this blank by pressing Enter)

Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)

Amazon ECR is a fully managed Docker container registry provided by AWS that makes it easy to store, manage, and deploy container images. It is the AWS ecosystem's private equivalent to Docker Hub.

Create a repository

You can create it via the web console by searching for ECR > Repositories > Create repository.

Pushing the image to Amazon ECR

Authenticate Docker with AWS

You must authorize Docker to communicate with your private AWS repository. The following command generates a temporary password and passes it automatically to Docker:

aws ecr get-login-password --region <region_name> | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin <aws_account_id>.dkr.ecr.<region_name>.amazonaws.com/<repo_name>

You can find your repository URI in the ECR console. It looks similar to: 168353917959.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/repo

Build the image

Use your project's Dockerfile to generate the image. It is essential that the image name (tag) matches your AWS repository URI.

docker build -t <repository_uri>:<tag> .

Push the image

Finally, upload the image to the AWS cloud:

docker push <repository_uri>:<tag>

Example:

docker build -t 168523927153.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/repo:latest .
docker push 168523927153.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/repo:latest

Final verification

Once the upload process is complete, you will be able to see the list of available images within your repository in the AWS Console.