# hashicorp/packer

Packer is a tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration.

Repository: https://github.com/hashicorp/packer
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/packer
Homepage: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer
Language: Go
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-26T08:43:49+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 82, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4911, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 40, "gap_med": 43.5, "n_releases_24m": 13}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 15768, forks 3334 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:14.066047+00:00)

## What it is
HashiCorp Packer is a CLI tool that builds identical machine images (AMIs, VMDK, Docker images, etc.) for multiple platforms in parallel from a single HCL2 or JSON template. It supports many cloud and virtualization targets through a plugin ecosystem and integrates with HCP Packer for image metadata management.

## Use cases
- build golden images for aws ec2
- create machine images for multiple clouds from one config
- automate ami builds in ci pipeline
- build docker and vm images from a template
- manage image lifecycle and versions across teams
- create pre-configured os images with software installed

## When to choose
- you need reproducible, identical machine images across multiple platforms
- you want to bake software into images rather than configure at boot
- you run an image pipeline feeding Terraform or Vagrant
- you need parallel builds for many cloud providers

## When to avoid
- you only need runtime configuration management (use Ansible, Chef, or Puppet)
- you want to provision infrastructure rather than images (use Terraform)
- you need a fully open-source license - Packer is BUSL-1.1
- you need container orchestration rather than image building

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: infrastructure-as-code, deployment, configuration-management, cli, workflow-automation
- domain: cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code, self-hosted
- platform: windows, cli, go, cross-platform, cloud
- tags: machine-images, golden-images, hashicorp, hcl2, ami, vm-images, image-pipeline, busl, devops, automation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- hashicorp/packer (main) score 93

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:14.066047+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 2026-08-29T17:05:32.870937+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/hashicorp/packer (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:14.066047+00:00, sha 583f2449736d)
  - homepage: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.067086+00:00, sha 20e691601358)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/hcp/docs/vault-radar (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.070670+00:00, sha 558d122b761a)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/install (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.072898+00:00, sha ac9026bcd8ff)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.074948+00:00, sha f42b276a71cb)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/docs/intro (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.078538+00:00, sha 29f116e6a7a0)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/docs/templates (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.080274+00:00, sha cb0c45a159d3)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/docs/commands (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.081844+00:00, sha 885196453de3)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/hcp/docs/packer (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.083711+00:00, sha e418532340a4)
  - site_page: https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/integrations (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:29.076838+00:00, sha 7276dab3ec9e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.