Flex Templates base images

You can download the Docker base image for your Flex Templates from the following repositories:

• Java8 base images
• Java11 base images
• Java17 base images
• Java21 base images
• Python37 base images
• Python38 base images
• Python39 base images
• Python310 base images
• Python311 base images
• Python312 base images
• Go base images

For specific versions of Java and Go, you can choose images that are based on Distroless. Distroless images are smaller and include only the required components to run Flex Templates.

• Java11 Distroless base images
• Java17 Distroless base images
• Java21 Distroless base images
• Go Distroless base images

Note: To ensure security and reduce vulnerability risks, always use Distroless base images. If the available images don't align with your specific needs, we recommend that you use a custom container image.

To download a Docker base image for your Flex Template, go to the relevant image repository for a supported Python or Java version and use the Filter field to search for an image tag.

The following table contains the tags of Docker base images for Flex Templates. In the image repository, the image with the latest tag is the official release and the image that we recommend using. Images released at later dates are not yet reviewed.

Java

Tag	Release note
20250707_RC00 (latest)	Security fixes and Beam version update.
20250514_RC00	Security fixes.
20250402_RC00	Security fixes.
20250220_RC00	Security fixes.
20250124_RC00	Security fixes.
20241127_RC00	Security fixes.
20240918_RC00	Security fixes. Fixed an issue where pipeline options did not support non-ASCII characters.
20240812_RC01	Security fixes.
20240506_RC00	Security fixes.
20240325_RC00	Security fixes.
20230622_RC00	Security fixes, added Distroless alternative images.
20230220_RC00	Security fixes.
20221018_RC00	Security fixes.
20220418_RC00	Minor improvements: fixed potential errors related to SSL certificates during the template launch, and non-critical errors will no longer prevent the Dataflow job from starting.
20220411_RC00	Security fixes.
20220124_RC00	Security fixes.
20210419_RC00	Added telemetry support and fixed a bug related to result file location parsing.
20210120_RC00	Added support for updating streaming jobs and Flexible Resource Scheduling (FlexRS).
20200803_RC00	Added support for propagating logs for Docker-related failures.
20200413_RC00	Initial version of the launcher agent.

Python

Tag	Release note
20250707_RC00 (latest)	Security fixes and Beam version update.
20250514_RC00	Security fixes.
20250402_RC00	Security fixes.
20250220_RC00	Security fixes.
20250124_RC00	Security fixes.
20241127_RC00	Security fixes.
20240918_RC00	Security fixes. Fixed an issue where pipeline options did not support non-ASCII characters.
20240812_RC01	Security fixes.
20240506_RC00	Security fixes.
20240325_RC00	Security fixes.
20230622_RC00	Security fixes.
20230220_RC00	Security fixes.
20221018_RC00	Security fixes.
20220418_RC00	Minor improvements: fixed potential errors related to SSL certificates during the template launch, and non-critical errors will no longer prevent the Dataflow job from starting.
20220411_RC00	Security fixes.
20220214_RC00	Security fixes.
20211101_RC00	Fixed bug that caused list-type parameters to be treated as a string.
20210419_RC00	Added telemetry support and fixed a bug related to result file location parsing.
20210120_RC00	Added support for updating streaming jobs and Flexible Resource Scheduling (FlexRS).
20200803_RC00	Added support for propagating logs for Docker-related failures.
20200413_RC00	Initial version of the launcher agent.

Go

Tag	Release note
20250707_RC00 (latest)	Security fixes and Beam version update.
20250514_RC00	Security fixes.
20250402_RC00	Security fixes.
20250220_RC00	Security fixes.
20250124_RC00	Security fixes.
20241127_RC00	Security fixes.
20240918_RC00	Security fixes. Fixed an issue where pipeline options did not support non-ASCII characters.
20240812_RC01	Security fixes.
20240506_RC00	Security fixes.
20240325_RC00	Security fixes.
20230622_RC00	Security fixes, added Distroless alternative images.
20230220_RC00	Security fixes.
20220815_RC00	Initial version of the launcher agent.

The Flex Template images use the Google-provided base images. For information about vulnerability scanning and patching, see Base images. Depending on the Flex Template image that you choose, the Dataflow images are either built with Distroless container images or with the Debian operating system. The Dataflow Debian images use Debian 12, also known as Bookworm.

It is recommended that you conduct regular upgrades of your Apache Beam SDK and template launcher versions to take advantage of the latest patches and fixes.