Skip to content

Images Service CLI Reference

Reference · Updated Sep 2026

Coming from another cloud?

▸AWS·Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)

Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)high

  • Managed via EC2 APIs, not Glance.
  • Region-specific with cross-region copy.
  • Marketplace AMIs may charge hourly fees.
  • Includes block device mapping in AMI.
AWS docs ↗
▸Azure·Compute Gallery image definitions and versions

Azure Compute Gallery image definitions and versionshigh

  • Organized in galleries with image definitions and versioned images (Microsoft.Compute/galleries/images/versions), more structured than flat Glance images.
  • Supports global replication to regions with replicas (up to 100), ZRS storage, unlike OpenStack's store-only model.
  • Sharing via RBAC, community galleries, or direct share; requires gallery setup vs simple OpenStack image sharing.
  • New features like Trusted Launch only in Gallery, legacy managed images deprecated.
Azure docs ↗
▸DigitalOcean·Images (Distributions, 1-Click Apps, Snapshots, Backups, Custom Images)

Images (Distributions, 1-Click Apps, Snapshots, Backups, Custom Images)high

  • DigitalOcean classifies images into specific types (snapshots, backups, applications/1-Click, distributions, custom) rather than OpenStack Glance’s more generalized image model with visibility/properties/metadata.
  • Custom images are imported by providing a URL to a supported disk format (raw, qcow2, vhdx, vdi, vmdk) and have a documented max decompressed size (100 GB), which differs from typical OpenStack flows where images are uploaded directly to Glance and size limits are operator-defined.
  • DigitalOcean image operations are through /v2/images in their API, not Glance (and images also include DigitalOcean-specific fields like kind values base/snapshot/backup/custom/admin).
  • DigitalOcean's "applications" images (1-Click Apps/Marketplace style) are a first-class image type, whereas OpenStack commonly treats such preconfigured stacks as separate concerns (OpenTofu modules, Heat templates, app catalogs) rather than an image 'type'.
DigitalOcean docs ↗
▸Google Cloud·Machine Images (full VM state capture)

OS imageshigh

  • Public images shareable across projects (e.g. debian-cloud); OpenStack typically tenant-private.
  • Image families point to latest version; no OpenStack equivalent.
  • Custom images stored in Cloud Storage with licensing fees for premium OS.
Google Cloud docs ↗
▸Hetzner·Images

Imageshigh

  • Includes system images (OS), user images (snapshots/backups).
  • API /v1/images; create via server action create_image (type=snapshot/backup).
  • Billed per GB/month; backups cost 20% of server price.
  • No direct image upload; custom via ISO attach or rebuild.
Hetzner docs ↗

Images service CLI reference

See the OpenStack CLI image reference for the full list of openstack image subcommands.

Use these commands to list, show, create, update, download, and delete images, and to manage image tags and members. The IMAGE parameter accepts either the image ID or the image name.

Any authenticated project user can create, update, deactivate, reactivate, and delete images they own. Only Quake AI operators can publish images with visibility=public or visibility=community. User-created images default to visibility=shared. You can make a shared image private or share it with named projects through image members.

List images#

bash
openstack image list

Show image details#

bash
openstack image show IMAGE

Create an image#

bash
openstack image create --file IMAGE_FILE --disk-format DISK_FORMAT --container-format CONTAINER_FORMAT IMAGE_NAME

Change image visibility#

bash
openstack image set --private IMAGE
openstack image set --shared IMAGE

Delete an image#

bash
openstack image delete IMAGE

Update image properties#

bash
openstack image set --property KEY=VALUE IMAGE

Download an image#

bash
openstack image save --file DESTINATION_FILE IMAGE

Add a tag to an image#

bash
openstack image set --tag TAG IMAGE

Remove a tag from an image#

bash
openstack image unset --tag TAG IMAGE

Deactivate an image#

bash
openstack image set --deactivate IMAGE

Reactivate an image#

bash
openstack image set --activate IMAGE

Members#

Image members control which projects can see a shared image. Member operations apply only to images with visibility=shared; private, public, and community images do not accept members. These subcommands map to the image members API (/v2/images/IMAGE_ID/members).

Share an image with a project#

bash
openstack image add project IMAGE PROJECT

Remove a project from an image#

bash
openstack image remove project IMAGE PROJECT

Quake AI-injected properties#

Quake AI Glance auto-populates several image properties when you create or upload an image. Inspect them with openstack image show IMAGE -f json.

PropertyWritten byMutableDescription
direct_urlGlanceNoCeph RBD URL of the backing snapshot, in the form rbd://CLUSTER_UUID/images/IMAGE_UUID/snap. Returned only to the image owner or an operator.
storesGlanceNoMulti-store name for the image data. Always rbd on Quake AI.
os_hash_algoGlanceNoSecure-hash algorithm for the uploaded data. sha512 on Quake AI.
os_hash_valueGlanceNoHash of the uploaded image data, computed by Glance at upload time.
owner_specified.openstack.md5Upload clientNoReserved Glance namespace populated by the upload client. Empty for openstack image create --file.
owner_specified.openstack.sha256Upload clientNoReserved Glance namespace populated by the upload client. Empty for openstack image create --file.
owner_specified.openstack.objectUpload clientNoReserved Glance namespace recording the uploaded object path.

Output columns#

Select specific columns with --column COL1 --column COL2 or change the output format with -f json, -f csv, or -f table (default).

openstack image list#

ColumnDescription
IDImage UUID
NameImage name (e.g., Ubuntu-24.04)
StatusCurrent state (active, queued, saving, deactivated)

openstack image list --long#

ColumnDescription
IDImage UUID
NameImage name
Disk FormatImage disk format (qcow2, raw, iso)
Container FormatContainer format (bare, docker, ova)
SizeImage size in bytes
ChecksumMD5 checksum of the image data
StatusCurrent state
VisibilityAccess scope (public, private, shared, community)
ProtectedWhether the image is protected from deletion
ProjectOwning project ID
Hash AlgorithmMultihash algorithm used for verification
Hash ValueMultihash value for image verification
TagsUser-defined tags

Quick answers

Was this page helpful?