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public/docs/registry-and-build.md
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thesabear c10ff81d47 docs: add orchestration, registry, dashy, cron, and content pipeline write-ups
Completes the orchestration/registry/content batch - Kestra's
check-pause-approve-apply pattern, the self-hosted build pipeline,
the SOC dashboard's 14-source aggregation, the cron heatmap, and the
in-progress content pipeline, all in the diagram+callout+table style.
2026-08-22 07:36:47 +03:00

2.9 KiB

📦 Self-Hosted Registry & Build Pipeline

Note

Docker images are built and hosted in-fleet rather than pulled from Docker Hub/ghcr directly — for every stack opted into this pattern, at runtime.

Registry The Git server's own built-in container registry — no separate registry service to run
Trigger Weekly schedule, not push-triggered
Rollout All 5 Docker hosts converted; the largest has 36 of 41 stacks on this pattern

The cheap-check-first build decision

flowchart TD
    Start["Weekly trigger"] --> Check["Cheap digest check<br/>metadata only, no pull"]
    Check --> Match{"Upstream digest ==<br/>fleet registry digest?"}
    Match -->|yes| Nothing["Nothing runs<br/>no pull, no build, no push"]
    Match -->|no| Pull["Pull base images"]
    Pull --> Build["docker compose build --no-cache"]
    Build --> Compare["Compare pre/post image IDs"]
    Compare --> Push["Push what actually changed"]
    Push --> Redeploy["Redeploy via shared<br/>health-check/rollback path"]

Tip

Most stacks use a minimal wrapper Dockerfile around the upstream image rather than a full clone-and-build-from-source setup — simpler, builds near-instantly, can't break from upstream build tooling, while still achieving the real goal: an in-fleet registry with no direct Docker Hub/ghcr dependency at runtime. A handful of multi-build-image stacks skip the cheap check entirely, since a single "upstream digest" comparison doesn't make sense when there's more than one real upstream involved.

Deliberate holdouts

Not every stack is on this pattern, and that's a decision, not an oversight:

Stack type Why it's held out
Complex multi-service upstream builds Not worth replicating a build process someone else already maintains well
A docker-socket-proxy style stack Simple enough that a custom build adds no value
One database service still on latest Deliberately not pinned to this pattern
One stack with pre-existing custom Dockerfiles Left as-is beyond adding image references — its own DB/cache still float on upstream tags directly

Trigger discipline

Warning

This is schedule-triggered, not push-triggered. Editing a stack's own Dockerfile doesn't by itself trigger a rebuild — it waits for the next weekly sweep to find the upstream base image has actually changed, or for someone to force a manual run. A deliberate tradeoff: simpler mental model, avoids a rebuild storm on every unrelated commit, at the cost of same-day propagation for an urgent base-image CVE fix.

Housekeeping

Unused local images get pruned automatically at the end of every build pass — for build-and-push-only stacks, the registry is the source of truth, not whatever happens to be sitting on local disk.


Related stacks: stacks/platform/gitea/, stacks/platform/kestra/