How to Fix ImagePullBackOff Error When Using GitHub Container Registry with Kubernetes

When deploying to Dagster Cloud using GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io) in a Kubernetes environment, you may encounter an ImagePullBackOff error even with valid GitHub credentials. This typically occurs because the Kubernetes cluster itself needs access to the container registry.

To resolve this issue:

1. Create a Kubernetes secret with your GitHub Container Registry credentials

2. Apply the secret to your Kubernetes cluster in the dagster-cloud namespace

3. Configure your deployment to use these credentials for pulling images

The error message will look similar to this:

Container 'dagster' status: Waiting: ImagePullBackOff: Back-off pulling image "ghcr.io/<redacted_image>": ErrImagePull: failed to pull and unpack image "ghcr.io/<redacted_image>": failed to resolve reference "ghcr.io/<redacted_image>": failed to authorize: failed to fetch anonymous token: unexpected status from GET request to https://ghcr.io/token?scope=repository%<redacted_repo>: 401 Unauthorized

This occurs because while your GitHub Actions workflow may have the correct credentials, the Kubernetes cluster requires its own authentication to pull images.

For more information about Dagster Cloud deployments and container configuration, visit our Dagster Cloud deployment documentation.