Chainguard OS on

Overview of Chainguard OS

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 08:49:31 +0000

Chainguard OS provides a more secure operating system that powers all Chainguard container images, built specifically to address modern supply chain security challenges. Unlike traditional Linux distributions designed for general-purpose computing, Chainguard OS focuses exclusively on container workloads, enabling faster security updates and significantly reduced attack surface.

Chainguard OS adheres to four key principles:

Continuous Integration and Delivery
Nano Updates and Rebuilds
Minimal, Hardened, Immutable Artifacts
Delta Minimization

On this page, we’ll discuss each of these components and how Chainguard OS differs from the operating system status quo.

Chainguard OS Packages

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:48:23 +0000

Note: Chainguard OS Packages is in beta. Contact your Chainguard account team to enable it for your organization.

Chainguard OS Packages expands the packages available to your private APK repository by giving you access to the full set of 30,000 enterprise-grade, zero-CVE packages built as part of Chainguard OS and Wolfi. It also includes a small set of Chainguard base images, for example, chainguard-base.

Chainguard OS Packages is designed for larger customers who already build their own images from packages using tools like Bazel, Dockerfiles, and rules_apko, and want to use a wider set of packages from Chainguard. Because you are creating custom builds, you are responsible for the image builds, the build tooling, validation, and compatibility. You still benefit from the fact that Chainguard builds the packages in the Chainguard Factory with complete SBOMs and our standard enterprise-grade, zero-CVE process.

Chainguard OS FAQs

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 08:49:31 +0000

This FAQ addresses common questions about Chainguard OS, the security-focused operating system that powers Chainguard’s production container images and enterprise features.

What is Chainguard OS?

Chainguard OS is a minimal, hardened Linux-based operating system designed for secure, containerized software delivery. Built in-house by Chainguard, it serves as the foundation for Chainguard’s container products and emphasizes continuous integration, immutable artifacts, and alignment with upstream software.