Create a Docker, Swarm or Podman image cleanup policy

Define a policy that automatically reclaims disk space by removing old and unused Docker images on a defined schedule.

To create a image cleanup policy, in the menu, under Environment-related, select Policies then select Create policy. From the policy type list, navigate to the Docker, Podman and Swarm > Image cleanup section, select either a predefined template or the Custom policy, then select Continue to start configuring the policy.

Name	Define a name for this policy.
Environment groups	Select one or more environment groups from the dropdown menu. If the selected group is already included in an existing policy, a warning icon will appear next to the group name.
Cleanup interval	Define how often the cleanup runs. This value must be greater than 5 minutes.

Once the initial policy setup is complete, select how you would like automatic image cleanup to be triggered. At least one cleanup mode must be selected to save your policy.

Enable age-based cleanup	Toggle on to automatically remove images older than a specified age.
Max image age	Specify the age at which images are automatically removed.

Enable storage-limit cleanup	Toggle on to automatically remove images once disk usage exceeds a specified threshold.
High threshold	Specify the disk usage percentage that must be reached before the policy begins removing images.
Low threshold	Specify the disk usage percentage at which the policy stops removing images.
Clear Docker build cache	Toggle on to prune the Docker build cache when disk usage exceeds the high threshold.
Minimum image age	Specify a minimum age below which images are never removed by storage-limit cleanup.
Limit images removed per interval	Specify the maximum number of images that can be removed per cleanup cycle. Select No limit to remove images without a cap.

Finally, specify any images that should never be removed. To exclude images from custom repositories, ensure you use the full repository path.

When you have completed the form, click Create policy. A confirmation screen displays the changes being made and any existing policy that will be replaced. Click Confirm to acknowledge the changes and create the policy.

Policy templates

Policy templates come with a pre-configured setup that you can adjust before creating the policy. The following Docker, Swarm or Podman image cleanup templates are currently available:

Policy template	Default setup description
Disk space cleanup	Cleans up images at a sensible threshold with the following behavior: removes images older than 30 days; when disk usage exceeds 80%, clears the Docker build cache and removes images older than 1 week with no removal limit until disk usage drops to 60%.