Azure Container Registry SDK for Python

Manage container images, artifacts, and repositories in Azure Container Registry.

Installation

pip install azure-containerregistry

Environment Variables

AZURE_CONTAINERREGISTRY_ENDPOINT=https://<registry-name>.azurecr.io  # Required for all auth methods
AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod # Required only if DefaultAzureCredential is used in production

Authentication & Lifecycle

🔑 Two rules apply to every code sample below:

1. Prefer DefaultAzureCredential. It works locally (Azure CLI / VS Code / Developer CLI) and in Azure (managed identity, workload identity) with no code change. Avoid connection strings, account/API keys — they bypass Entra audit and rotation.
   • Local dev: DefaultAzureCredential works as-is.
   • Production: set AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod (or AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=<specific_credential>) to constrain the credential chain to production-safe credentials.
2. Wrap every client in a context manager so HTTP transports, sockets, and token caches are released deterministically:
   • Sync: with <Client>(...) as client:
   • Async: async with <Client>(...) as client: and async with DefaultAzureCredential() as credential: (from azure.identity.aio)

Snippets may abbreviate this setup, but production code should always follow both rules.

Entra ID (Recommended)

import os
from azure.containerregistry import ContainerRegistryClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential, ManagedIdentityCredential

# Local dev: DefaultAzureCredential. Production: set AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=prod or AZURE_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS=<specific_credential>
credential = DefaultAzureCredential(require_envvar=True)
# Or use a specific credential directly in production:
# See https://learn.microsoft.com/python/api/overview/azure/identity-readme?view=azure-python#credential-classes
# credential = ManagedIdentityCredential()

with ContainerRegistryClient(
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_CONTAINERREGISTRY_ENDPOINT"],
    credential=credential
) as client:
    # Use client here (see following sections for operations)
    ...

Anonymous Access (Public Registry)

from azure.containerregistry import ContainerRegistryClient

with ContainerRegistryClient(
    endpoint="https://mcr.microsoft.com",
    credential=None,
    audience="https://mcr.microsoft.com"
) as client:
    # Use client here (see following sections for operations)
    ...

List Repositories

with ContainerRegistryClient(endpoint, DefaultAzureCredential()) as client:
    for repository in client.list_repository_names():
        print(repository)

Repository Operations

Get Repository Properties

properties = client.get_repository_properties("my-image")
print(f"Created: {properties.created_on}")
print(f"Modified: {properties.last_updated_on}")
print(f"Manifests: {properties.manifest_count}")
print(f"Tags: {properties.tag_count}")

Update Repository Properties

from azure.containerregistry import RepositoryProperties

client.update_repository_properties(
    "my-image",
    properties=RepositoryProperties(
        can_delete=False,
        can_write=False
    )
)

Delete Repository

client.delete_repository("my-image")

List Tags

for tag in client.list_tag_properties("my-image"):
    print(f"{tag.name}: {tag.created_on}")

Filter by Order

from azure.containerregistry import ArtifactTagOrder

# Most recent first
for tag in client.list_tag_properties(
    "my-image",
    order_by=ArtifactTagOrder.LAST_UPDATED_ON_DESCENDING
):
    print(f"{tag.name}: {tag.last_updated_on}")

Manifest Operations

List Manifests

from azure.containerregistry import ArtifactManifestOrder

for manifest in client.list_manifest_properties(
    "my-image",
    order_by=ArtifactManifestOrder.LAST_UPDATED_ON_DESCENDING
):
    print(f"Digest: {manifest.digest}")
    print(f"Tags: {manifest.tags}")
    print(f"Size: {manifest.size_in_bytes}")

Get Manifest Properties

manifest = client.get_manifest_properties("my-image", "latest")
print(f"Digest: {manifest.digest}")
print(f"Architecture: {manifest.architecture}")
print(f"OS: {manifest.operating_system}")

Update Manifest Properties

from azure.containerregistry import ArtifactManifestProperties

client.update_manifest_properties(
    "my-image",
    "latest",
    properties=ArtifactManifestProperties(
        can_delete=False,
        can_write=False
    )
)

Delete Manifest

# Delete by digest
client.delete_manifest("my-image", "sha256:abc123...")

# Delete by tag
manifest = client.get_manifest_properties("my-image", "old-tag")
client.delete_manifest("my-image", manifest.digest)

Tag Operations

Get Tag Properties

tag = client.get_tag_properties("my-image", "latest")
print(f"Digest: {tag.digest}")
print(f"Created: {tag.created_on}")

Delete Tag

client.delete_tag("my-image", "old-tag")

Upload and Download Artifacts

from azure.containerregistry import ContainerRegistryClient

with ContainerRegistryClient(endpoint, DefaultAzureCredential()) as client:
    # Download manifest
    manifest = client.download_manifest("my-image", "latest")
    print(f"Media type: {manifest.media_type}")
    print(f"Digest: {manifest.digest}")

    # Download blob
    blob = client.download_blob("my-image", "sha256:abc123...")
    with open("layer.tar.gz", "wb") as f:
        for chunk in blob:
            f.write(chunk)

Async Client

from azure.containerregistry.aio import ContainerRegistryClient
from azure.identity.aio import DefaultAzureCredential

async def list_repos():
    async with DefaultAzureCredential() as credential:
        async with ContainerRegistryClient(endpoint, credential) as client:
            async for repo in client.list_repository_names():
                print(repo)

Clean Up Old Images

from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone

cutoff = datetime.now(timezone.utc) - timedelta(days=30)

for manifest in client.list_manifest_properties("my-image"):
    if manifest.last_updated_on < cutoff and not manifest.tags:
        print(f"Deleting {manifest.digest}")
        client.delete_manifest("my-image", manifest.digest)

Client Operations

Operation	Description
list_repository_names	List all repositories
get_repository_properties	Get repository metadata
delete_repository	Delete repository and all images
list_tag_properties	List tags in repository
get_tag_properties	Get tag metadata
delete_tag	Delete specific tag
list_manifest_properties	List manifests in repository
get_manifest_properties	Get manifest metadata
delete_manifest	Delete manifest by digest
download_manifest	Download manifest content
download_blob	Download layer blob

Best Practices

1. Pick sync OR async and stay consistent. Do not mix azure.xxx sync clients with azure.xxx.aio async clients in the same call path. Choose one mode per module.
2. Always use context managers for clients and async credentials. Wrap every client in with Client(...) as client: (sync) or async with Client(...) as client: (async). For async DefaultAzureCredential from azure.identity.aio, also use async with credential: so tokens and transports are cleaned up.
3. Use Microsoft Entra ID for authentication in production
4. Delete by digest not tag to avoid orphaned images
5. Lock production images with can_delete=False
6. Clean up untagged manifests regularly
7. Use async client for high-throughput operations
8. Order by last_updated to find recent/old images
9. Check manifest.tags before deleting to avoid removing tagged images

Reference Files

File	Contents
references/capabilities.md	Additional non-hero capabilities, operation-group coverage, and production checklists.
references/non-hero-scenarios.md	Dedicated non-hero examples for secondary/advanced scenarios.