README.md
March 5, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
About
GitHub Action to set up Docker Buildx.
This action will create and boot a builder that can be used in the following
steps of your workflow if you're using Buildx or the build-push action.
By default, the docker-container driver
will be used to be able to build multi-platform images and export cache using
a BuildKit container.

Usage
name: ci
on:
push:
jobs:
buildx:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
-
# Add support for more platforms with QEMU (optional)
# https://github.com/docker/setup-qemu-action
name: Set up QEMU
uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v4
-
name: Set up Docker Buildx
uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v4
Configuring your builder
- Version pinning: Pin to a specific Buildx or BuildKit version
- BuildKit container logs: Enable BuildKit container logs for debugging purposes
- BuildKit Daemon configuration
- Registry mirror: Configure a registry mirror for your builds
- Max parallelism: Configure the maximum parallelism for your builds
- Append additional nodes to the builder: Create additional nodes for your builder
- Authentication for remote builders
- SSH authentication: Authenticate to a remote builder using SSH
- TLS authentication: Authenticate to a remote builder using TLS
- Standalone mode: Use Buildx as a standalone binary (without the Docker CLI)
- Isolated builders: Create isolated builders for your builds
Customizing
inputs
The following inputs can be used as step.with keys:
Listtype is a newline-delimited stringdriver-opts: | image=moby/buildkit:master network=host
CSVtype must be a comma-delimited stringplatforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
version | String | Buildx version. (eg. v0.3.0, latest, https://github.com/docker/buildx.git#master) | |
name | String | Name of the builder. If not specified, one will be generated or if it already exists, it will be used instead of creating a new one | |
driver | String | docker-container | Sets the builder driver to be used |
driver-opts | List | List of additional driver-specific options (eg. image=moby/buildkit:master) | |
buildkitd-flags | String | BuildKit daemon flags | |
buildkitd-config * | String | BuildKit daemon config file | |
buildkitd-config-inline * | String | Same as buildkitd-config but inline | |
use | Bool | true | Switch to this builder instance |
endpoint | String | Optional address for docker socket or context from docker context ls | |
platforms | List/CSV | Fixed platforms for current node. If not empty, values take priority over the detected ones | |
append | YAML | Append additional nodes to the builder | |
keep-state | Bool | false | Keep BuildKit state on cleanup. This is only useful on persistent self-hosted runners |
cache-binary | Bool | true | Cache buildx binary to GitHub Actions cache backend |
cleanup | Bool | true | Cleanup temp files and remove builder at the end of a job |
Important
If you set the buildkitd-flags input, the default flags (--allow-insecure-entitlement security.insecure --allow-insecure-entitlement network.host)
will be reset. If you want to retain the default behavior, make sure to
include these flags in your custom buildkitd-flags value.
Note
buildkitd-config and buildkitd-config-inline are mutually exclusive.
outputs
The following outputs are available:
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
name | String | Builder name |
driver | String | Builder driver |
platforms | String | Builder node platforms (preferred and/or available) |
nodes | JSON | Builder nodes metadata |
environment variables
The following official docker environment variables are supported:
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
DOCKER_CONFIG | String | ~/.docker | The location of your client configuration files |
Notes
nodes output
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
name | String | Node name |
endpoint | String | Node endpoint |
driver-opts | List | Options for the driver |
status | String | Node status |
buildkitd-flags | String | Flags for buildkitd daemon |
buildkit | String | BuildKit version |
platforms | String | Platforms available |
Example:
[
{
"name": "builder-8fa135e1-9bce-4a29-9368-46a09a1d750d0",
"endpoint": "unix:///var/run/docker.sock",
"status": "running",
"buildkitd-flags": "--allow-insecure-entitlement security.insecure --allow-insecure-entitlement network.host",
"buildkit": "v0.27.1",
"platforms": "linux/amd64,linux/amd64/v2,linux/amd64/v3,linux/386"
}
]
Contributing
Want to contribute? Awesome! You can find information about contributing to this project in the CONTRIBUTING.md