Chainguard Images is a GitHub repository focused on providing minimal, secure, and reproducible container images for a variety of software. It addresses the growing concerns around supply chain security in software development by offering images built with a strong emphasis on reducing attack surface and ensuring transparency. The core philosophy revolves around "less is more," meaning images contain only the absolutely necessary components to run a specific application, minimizing potential vulnerabilities. This contrasts with many base images that are bloated with unnecessary packages and tools.

The repository doesn't host a single monolithic image collection. Instead, it's structured as a collection of Dockerfiles and build scripts designed to *create* images. These Dockerfiles are meticulously crafted, often starting from scratch (using `FROM scratch`) or extremely minimal base images like distroless, Alpine Linux, or even BusyBox. A key feature is the use of multi-stage builds, which allows for compiling code and including only the runtime dependencies in the final image, discarding build tools and intermediate artifacts. This significantly reduces image size and the potential for vulnerabilities introduced during the build process.

A significant portion of the repository is dedicated to images for common runtime environments and tools. You'll find images for languages like Go, Python, Node.js, Ruby, and Java, as well as essential system tools like `curl`, `wget`, `git`, and databases like PostgreSQL and Redis. However, these aren't just standard images; they are specifically hardened and minimized. For example, the Go images are built to avoid glibc, reducing dependency issues and potential vulnerabilities. The Python images are designed to be slim and secure, often utilizing virtual environments to isolate dependencies.

Chainguard Images goes beyond simply