What Is a Mutable Tag?
A mutable tag is a registry tag that can be repointed to different content after it is first created. The classic example is latest, which is moved to whatever the newest build is. Mutable tags are convenient for tracking a moving target but make the content behind the tag unpredictable.
Why it matters
Because a mutable tag can change underneath you, two pulls of the same tag may return different images, which breaks reproducibility and complicates rollbacks. For deploys, prefer immutable tags or pinned digests; reserve mutable tags like latest for convenience in development, not production references.
Related concepts
- latest is the canonical mutable tag
- Pulls can return different content over time
- Pin to a digest to deploy mutable-tagged images safely
Related guides
What Is an Immutable Tag?An immutable tag is a container or artifact tag that can never be reassigned after it is first pushed, guaran…
What Is a Pinned Digest?A pinned digest references a dependency or image by its exact content hash instead of a tag, guaranteeing you…
What Is an Image Digest?An image digest is a cryptographic hash that uniquely and immutably identifies the exact contents of a contai…