# ImageSpec with ECR

In this section we explain how to set up and use AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR) to build and deploy task container images using `ImageSpec`.

## Set up the image repository

Unlike GitHub Container Registry, ECR does not allow you to simply push an arbitrarily named image to the registry. Instead, you must first create a repository in the ECR instance and then push the image to that repository.

> [!NOTE] Registry, repository, and image
> In ECR terminology the **registry** is the top-level storage service. The registry holds a collection of **repositories**.
> Each repository corresponds to a named image and holds all versions of that image.
>
> When you push an image to a registry, you are actually pushing it to a repository within that registry.
> Strictly speaking, the term *image* refers to a specific *image version* within that repository.

This means that you have to decide on the name of your image and create a repository by that name first, before registering your workflow. We will assume the following:

* The ECR instance you will be using has the base URL `123456789012.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com`.

* Your image will be called `simple-example-image`.

In the AWS console, go to **Amazon ECR > Repositories** and find the correct ECR registry

Under **Create a Repository**, click **Get Started**:

![](https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/flyte/user-guide/_static/images/user-guide/core-concepts/tasks/task-software-environment/imagespec-with-ecr/create-repository-1.png)

On the **Create repository** page:

* Select **Private** for the repository visibility, assuming you want to make it private. You can, alternatively, select **Public**, but in most cases, the main reason for using ECR is to keep your images private.

* Enter the name of the repository:

![](https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/flyte/user-guide/_static/images/user-guide/core-concepts/tasks/task-software-environment/imagespec-with-ecr/create-repository-2.png)

and then scroll down to click **Create repository**:

![](https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/flyte/user-guide/_static/images/user-guide/core-concepts/tasks/task-software-environment/imagespec-with-ecr/create-repository-3.png)

Your repository is now created.

## Authenticate to the registry

You will need to set up your local Docker client to authenticate with ECR. This is needed for `pyflyte` to be able to push the image built according to the `ImageSpec` to ECR.

To do this, you will need to [install the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html), use it to run the `aws ecr get-login-password` command to get the appropriate password, then perform a `docker login` with that password.

See [Private registry authentication](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECR/latest/userguide/registry_auth.html) for details.

## Register your workflow to Flyte

You can register tasks with `ImageSpec` declarations that reference this repository.

For example, to use the example repository shown here, we would alter the Python code in the [previous section](https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/flyte/user-guide/core-concepts/tasks/task-software-environment/image-spec-with-ecr/page.md), to have the following `ImageSpec` declaration:

```python
image_spec = union.ImageSpec(
    registry="123456789012.dkr.ecr.us-eas-1.amazonaws.com",
    name="simple-example-image",
    base_image="ghcr.io/flyteorg/flytekit:py3.11-latest",
    requirements="image-requirements.txt"
)
```

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**Source**: https://github.com/unionai/unionai-docs/blob/main/content/user-guide/core-concepts/tasks/task-software-environment/image-spec-with-ecr.md
**HTML**: https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/flyte/user-guide/core-concepts/tasks/task-software-environment/image-spec-with-ecr/