Build and host your custom Docker images

Yes. Shard Cloud builds a Docker image from your Dockerfile and runs it as an application. Upload a ZIP or RAR archive with a Dockerfile at its root, or import a GitHub repository, then create an application from the finished image. The image's own ENTRYPOINT and CMD decide how it starts.

We always recommend using a standard runtime, and a custom Docker image only when the standard runtime can't do what you want. Standard runtimes cover the supported languages (Node.js, Python, Go, Java, PHP, .NET, Ruby, Elixir) and static sites: there is no Dockerfile to write, the platform detects how to start your app, and it doesn't need the Core plan. Choose a custom Docker image when you need something they don't offer, such as a different language or version, system packages, or a start process defined by your own Dockerfile. In exchange, you maintain the base image, and custom images need the Core plan or higher.

Custom Docker images need the Core plan or higher. Core includes 2 images, Pro includes 6 and Enterprise includes 20. Basic doesn't include them. The limit counts every image you have, whatever its build status.

Start with a ZIP or RAR archive (up to 100 MB), or import a repository through your GitHub integration; the creation flow lets you choose the source before building. The image is always built from your Dockerfile: there is no option to import a prebuilt image from another registry.

The archive must be a ZIP or RAR file of up to 100 MB with a file named Dockerfile at its root. The dashboard checks this before uploading and shows the Dockerfile for review. If it uses /app as its WORKDIR you get a warning, because application data lives in /app and any mounts there are erased.

Yes. Your source (ZIP, RAR, or GitHub repo) needs to already include a Dockerfile — the dashboard shows it to you in a preview step before you create or rebuild the image, it doesn't generate one for you.

The image defines how the application starts: whatever its ENTRYPOINT and CMD run is what runs. Language, version, entrypoint and custom command settings don't apply. When you create the application you choose its RAM, environment variables and, optionally, a web subdomain. Files under /app persist; the rest of the image's filesystem is read-only.

Once the image shows Ready, open Docker images in the dashboard and choose Create app on the image. You can create several applications from the same image. Afterwards, the application's Runtime settings show the image it uses, with its logs, update and GitHub rebuild options.

Yes. Choose Update image on the card and upload a new build context; the image keeps the same ID. Or link a GitHub repository and pick a branch so every push starts a rebuild. A rebuild is rejected while the image is already building.

No. A rebuild only updates the image. Applications running from it keep the version they last deployed until you restart or redeploy them.

Deleting an image also deletes every application created from it, so the dashboard asks you to type the image name to confirm. An image cannot be deleted while it is building.

Read the Custom Docker Images guide for the build flow, the limits and GitHub auto-rebuild.