How to Build Multi-Arch Docker Images

Growing adoption of ARM-based developer machines and cloud servers, including Apple Silicon and AWS Graviton instances, has made multi-architecture Docker images increasingly important, offering organizations such as Speedscale substantial compute-cost savings. Docker Buildx can build images for platforms such as linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 in parallel using an OCI image manifest that directs each platform to its appropriate image layers, but Buildx operates separately from Docker’s standard local image registry. Consequently, multi-platform builds generally must be pushed directly to a remote registry with the --push option, since manifest lists cannot be loaded into the local Docker image store and built images cannot later be pushed through the usual Docker commands. Builds may be slowed by CPU emulation when compiling for a non-native architecture, but languages such as Go can use cross-compilation by setting Docker-provided BUILDPLATFORM, TARGETOS, and TARGETARCH variables, avoiding emulated build images while retaining architecture-specific final base images. Some projects, particularly those using cgo or package-installation steps, may require cross-compilers or QEMU emulation support, and the next deployment challenge is operating Kubernetes clusters with mixed architectures while ensuring workloads remain compatible.

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