# jwilder/docker-squash

Squash docker images to make them smaller

Repository: https://github.com/jwilder/docker-squash
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/docker-squash
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Archived: true
Last push: 2021-05-21T22:47:46+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4403, "days_push": 1930, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1976, forks 157 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:01.375070+00:00)

## What it is
docker-squash is a Go CLI utility that squashes multiple Docker image layers into a single layer to reduce image size, while preserving Dockerfile metadata like ENV and PORT. It is designed to be run just before pushing an image to a registry, after cleaning out build-time dependencies and unwanted files.

## Use cases
- shrink a docker image before pushing to a registry
- merge many docker layers into one
- remove deleted files that still exist in lower layers
- reduce image pull and push transfer size
- clean up apt caches and build dependencies from a committed container

## When to choose
- you need to flatten an already-built or committed Docker image
- you want to purge files deleted in later layers from the image history
- you want to preserve the base image layers while squashing your own layers

## When to avoid
- starting a new project, since the project is explicitly no longer under development
- you can achieve smaller images with multi-stage builds or modern Docker features
- you need support for the latest Docker image formats or BuildKit

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: developer-tools, compression, container-runtime
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: docker-images, image-squashing, layer-optimization, registry-push, containers, devops, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- jwilder/docker-squash (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:01.375070+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:04:50.448852+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jwilder/docker-squash (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:01.375070+00:00, sha a2bee825e4bb)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.