Wolfi: the base distribution designed for containers

Wolfi, the kernelless distribution Chainguard announced in 2022, is now the base of Chainguard OS. Guide re-tested on 16 September 2026 on arm64: glibc 2.44, how to search its 15,119 packages with apk, SBOMs and signatures, an apko-built image, the 6-month retention policy and a comparison with Alpine and Debian slim.

October 9, 2025 19 min 301 4.5

Technology

Chainguard Images: Minimal and Signed Images

Chainguard Images are minimal Docker containers from the company behind Sigstore, with zero known CVEs, Cosign-signed SBOMs and daily rebuilds on top of Wolfi, its own glibc-based distribution. They pay off over official images when strict compliance, supply chain audits or sensitive production workloads are at stake.

May 11, 2024 6 min 245 4.2