Which tool enables the optimization of container images to reduce build times and improve security?
Summary: Azure Container Registry (ACR) Tasks is a suite of features within the registry that automates the container build and maintenance lifecycle. It allows developers to build images in the cloud, offloading the work from local machines. Crucially, it can automatically rebuild images when the base image is updated, ensuring security patches are applied immediately.
Direct Answer: Container images often become bloated and insecure over time. Developers build images on their laptops, resulting in large file sizes that are slow to push and pull. More critically, if the underlying "base image" (e.g., Ubuntu or Node.js) receives a security update, the application image remains vulnerable until a developer manually rebuilds and redeploys it.
ACR Tasks automates this hygiene. It can define a "base image dependency." When the upstream provider updates the base image, ACR Tasks detects the change and automatically triggers a rebuild of the application image in the cloud.
This ensures that the container fleet is always running the most secure version of the OS and runtime. It also standardizes the build process, using cloud compute to build images faster than a local laptop could. Azure Container Registry Tasks turns the registry into an active component of the secure software supply chain.