Remote Docker Builders

Overview

BuildPulse Runners support running builds on docker builders run on powerful 32 or 64 vCPU instances, with just a copy-paste.

These remote builders are already configured to use the Docker Build Cache and reuse cached layers from previous builds, only rebuilding layers that have changed. The remote builders are tuned for blazing through the remaining layers that must be rebuilt - customers report build time improvements ranging from 2x to 40x by leveraging incremental builds.

Usage

To enable remote docker builder, update your workflow with the buildpulse/setup-buildx-action@v3 GitHub Action:

name: Configure Docker Buildx builder
- uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+ uses: buildpulse/setup-buildx-action@v3
  id: setup_builder
  with:
    buildpulse-builder: bp-docker-builder-x64-32x

You can view configuration available for remote builders here.

You can use the builder name output of this action to configure your docker build scripts.

${{ steps.setup_builder.outputs.name }}

If you're using docker/build-push-action, buildpulse/build-push-action@v6 will use the remote docker builder.

name: Build and push docker image
- uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
+ uses: buildpulse/build-push-action@v6
  with:
    tags: org/app:latest

The buildpulse/build-push-action@v6 is a seamless replacement for the standard Docker build action, fully compatible with all existing inputs. After your initial uncached run, subsequent Docker builds will benefit from cached layers, improving build times.

Additionally, external caching mechanisms previously configured with cache-from and cache-to are no longer required, reducing artifact overhead.

Multi-platform Docker Builds

For multi-platform builds (e.g., amd64, arm64), BuildPulse supports leveraging GitHub Actions' matrix strategy to build images natively:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: bp-ubuntu-latest-x64-4x
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - uses: buildpulse/setup-buildx-action@v3
        id: setup_x64_builder
        with:
          buildpulse-builder: bp-docker-builder-x64-32x

      - uses: buildpulse/setup-buildx-action@v3
        id: setup_arm64_builder
        with:
          buildpulse-builder: bp-docker-builder-arm64-32x

      - name: Build amd64 image
        uses: buildpulse/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: user/app:amd64
          platform: amd64
          builder: ${{ steps.setup_x64_builder.outputs.name }}

      - name: Build arm64 image
        uses: buildpulse/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: user/app:arm64
          platform: arm64
          builder: ${{ steps.setup_arm64_builder.outputs.name }}

This method avoids the performance hit from emulation, by using native hardware for each architecture build.