Image Composer Tool#

Image Composer Tool (ICT) is a command-line tool for building custom, bootable Linux images from pre-built packages. Define your requirements in a YAML template, run one command to get a RAW image ready for deployment (ISO installers require an extra step; see the Installation Guide).

Supported distributions: Azure Linux (azl3), Edge Microvisor Toolkit (emt3), Wind River eLxr (elxr12), Ubuntu (ubuntu24), and Red Hat-compatible distributions (rcd10).

Quick Start#

# 1. Clone and build (requires Go 1.24+)
git clone https://github.com/open-edge-platform/image-composer-tool.git
cd image-composer-tool
go build -buildmode=pie -ldflags "-s -w" ./cmd/image-composer-tool

# 2. Install prerequisites
sudo apt install systemd-ukify mmdebstrap
# Or run it directly:
go run ./cmd/image-composer-tool --help

# 3. Compose an image
sudo -E ./image-composer-tool build image-templates/azl3-x86_64-edge-raw.yml

For build options (Earthly, Debian package) and prerequisite details, see the Installation Guide.

Guides#

Guide	Description
Installation Guide	Build methods, Debian packaging, prerequisites
Usage Guide	CLI commands, configuration, build output, shell completion
CLI Reference	Complete command-line specification
Image Templates	Template structure, variables, best practices
Build Process	Pipeline stages, caching, troubleshooting
Architecture	System design and component overview

Tutorials#

Tutorial	Description
Prerequisites	Manual ukify and mmdebstrap installation
Secure Boot	Configuring secure boot for images
Configure Users	Adding users to images
Custom Build Actions	Commands during image compose (chroot)
Custom Initrd Script	Debian 13 GRUB initramfs-tools initrd hook
Multiple Repos	Using multiple package repositories

Get Help#

Run image-composer-tool --help (using the binary path from your install method)
Start a discussion
Troubleshoot build issues

Contribute#

License#