Cloud Renames Contribute
Deprecated → MigratedCompute, Security & InfraGoogle Cloud

Container Registry Artifact Registry

Legacy names Container Registry, Google Container Registry, Google Container Registry (GCR)

Universal artifact and container image repository for Docker, Helm, language packages, and OS packages.

Open in interactive timeline ↗All Google Cloud renamesHome

Naming timeline

  1. Container Registry

    · Initial Launch

    Launched as Google Container Registry (GCR) backed by Cloud Storage buckets.

  2. Artifact RegistryCurrent name

    · GA Release (GCR Deprecated May 15, 2023 · GCR Shut Down Mar 18, 2025)

    Launched as the multi-format successor to Container Registry, which was deprecated on May 15, 2023 and shut down on March 18, 2025.

What replaced Container Registry?

Container Registry has been superseded by Artifact Registry, with the latest change in April 2021 (GA Release (GCR Deprecated May 15, 2023 · GCR Shut Down Mar 18, 2025)). Earlier names covered by this entry also include Google Container Registry, Google Container Registry (GCR). Universal artifact and container image repository for Docker, Helm, language packages, and OS packages. The underlying legacy API or CLI surface is deprecated, so a technical migration is required.

Also known as

  • GCR
  • gcr.io repositories in Artifact Registry

Technical identifiers

Legacy identifiers deprecated. The underlying API or CLI surface for the legacy name is officially deprecated, so this change requires a technical migration rather than a label update.

REST / gRPC APIsartifactregistry.googleapis.com containerregistry.googleapis.com
gcloud / CLI Commandsgcloud artifacts gcloud container images
IAM Predefined Rolesroles/artifactregistry.*
Terraform Resourcesgoogle_artifact_registry_repository

containerregistry.googleapis.com was deprecated on May 15, 2023 and shut down on March 18, 2025; migrate to artifactregistry.googleapis.com and gcloud artifacts.

Notes & disambiguation

  • Google Container Registry (GCR) was succeeded by Artifact Registry (GA April 2021), deprecated on May 15, 2023, and shut down on March 18, 2025.
  • Legacy gcr.io domains are automatically routed to Artifact Registry gcr.io repositories.
  • Container Registry (containerregistry.googleapis.com / gcloud container images) was deprecated on May 15, 2023 and shut down effective March 18, 2025, making writes to legacy Container Registry unavailable.
  • Artifact Registry (artifactregistry.googleapis.com / gcloud artifacts / pkg.dev) is the mandatory replacement and also supports hosting backward-compatible gcr.io domain repositories.

Sources & official documentation

Catalog last updated . Spotted an error? Suggest an edit