DevOps Advanced

BuildKit — Modern Docker Build Engine¶

BuildKitDockerCI/CDContainerization 6 min read

BuildKit as next-gen build engine. Parallel builds, cache mount, secret mount and multi-platform builds.

What is BuildKit¶

BuildKit is modern build engine replacing legacy Docker builder. Offers parallel layer processing, better caching and safer secret handling.

export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
docker build .

# Or via docker buildx
docker buildx create --name mybuilder --use
docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t app:latest .

Cache Mounts¶

Cache mount enables persistent caching of build dependencies between builds.

# Go modules cache
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/go/pkg/mod \
    --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build \
    go build -o /app .

# npm cache
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.npm \
    npm ci

# pip cache
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip \
    pip install -r requirements.txt

Secret Mounts¶

Secure passing of secrets to build phase — never written to image layer.

# Dockerfile
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=npmrc,target=/root/.npmrc \
    npm ci

# Build command
docker buildx build --secret id=npmrc,src=.npmrc .

Multi-platform Builds¶

docker buildx build \
  --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
  --push \
  -t registry.example.com/app:latest .

# Emulation via QEMU
docker run --privileged --rm \
  tonistiigi/binfmt --install all

Summary¶

BuildKit is mandatory upgrade from legacy Docker builder. Cache mounts, secret mounts and multi-platform builds solve real CI/CD pipeline problems.

Need Help with Implementation?¶

Our team has experience designing and implementing modern architectures. We’re happy to help.

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