Introducing Docker Build Cloud: A New Solution to Speed Up Build Times and Improve Developer Productivity

Developers face a growing predicament — the long wait times for builds to complete. In fact, the average build time increased by an average of 15.9% between 2020 and 2021, according to a survey by Incredibuild. On average, developers lose around one hour each day, the study says, and this delay is steadily rising year after year. The impact on productivity and developer experience can cost even a small organization $420,000 per year (based on an annualized salary of $140K and a team of 25 developers).

We’re developers, too, so we explored ways to speed up build time without sacrificing the local development experience we love. That’s how Docker Build Cloud was born. 

“The new products we announced meet development teams where they are with ‘just enough cloud,’ seamlessly blurring the boundaries between local and remote development. In doing so, we’re enabling these teams to accelerate their delivery of secure applications critical to their businesses.” — Giri Sreenivas, Chief Product Officer, Docker

Temporary fixes don’t last 

Developers and their employers have attempted to address resource constraints that slow build times and drain productivity in a few common ways, the Incredibuild study says, including upgrading hardware (cited by 44% of respondents) and reducing codebase size (acknowledged by 33%). Although these tactics offer a temporary boost, they’re far from sustainable. A better solution is required — one that speeds up build times and improves team collaboration by eliminating redundant builds. 

Build up to 39x faster with Docker Build Cloud 

In the constantly evolving landscape of software development, two investment areas continue to trend upwards: moving development to the cloud and accelerating builds. The concept behind Docker Build Cloud is simple. By leveraging cloud compute and cache, developers can build faster and improve collaboration with their team. 

Building in the cloud speeds up build times because the cloud provides access to faster compute resources than are available on a developer’s local machine, and this approach provides more consistency between developers who may have newer or older machines. 

Shared cache speeds up build times because when one team member initiates a build, the cached results become instantly accessible to others, thereby eliminating unnecessary builds and speeding up the development cycle. No more waiting around for each build to complete independently. 

The combination of building in the cloud and shared cache helps developers save time and improve productivity. Developers can get back to coding on parallel tasks while builds complete, and they get the results of builds back faster to incorporate into their work.  

For example, one of our technology customers who develops enterprise collaboration software was able to reduce their build time from an average duration of 15-20 minutes to less than 2 minutes using Docker Build Cloud. 

Multi-architecture builds made effortless

Today, developers who need to create applications for both Intel (AMD64) and Apple Silicon/AWS Graviton (Arm64) chipsets must have multiple native builders or configure slow emulators to successfully build for their deployment targets. Docker Build Cloud offers native support for multi-architecture builds, eliminating the need for setting up and maintaining multiple native builders. This support removes the challenges associated with emulation, further improving build efficiency.

An e-commerce customer simplified their CI toolchain. Prior to Docker Build Cloud, they were leveraging GitHub Actions, GitLab runners, plus a custom GitLab runner to handle ARM architecture. Due to Build Cloud’s dual AMD and ARM builders, our customer reduced their complexity and sped up their pipelines. 

Seamless integration with the tools you love

Developer tools should enhance developer experience, not add new points of friction. We’ve designed Docker Build Cloud to be easy to set up wherever you run your builds without requiring a massive lift-and-shift effort. Docker Build Cloud also works well with Docker Compose, GitHub Actions, and other CI solutions. This means you can seamlessly incorporate Docker Build Cloud into your existing development tools and services and immediately start reaping the benefits of enhanced speed and efficiency.

Try Docker Build Cloud today

Docker Build Cloud will enable a faster, more efficient Docker image-building process. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just getting started, embrace the power of the cloud in your local development environment. Welcome to the future of Docker image builds with Docker Build Cloud. 

Try Docker Build Cloud now. 

Learn more

• See the video demo Introducing Docker Build Cloud.
• Watch the webinar Docker Build Cloud: Reclaim Your Dev Time with Fast, Multi-Architecture Builds.
• Get the latest release of Docker Desktop.
• Vote on what’s next! Check out our public roadmap.
• Have questions? The Docker community is here to help.
• New to Docker? Get started.