# Pin and slim the base image

A base image that can change without warning, replaced with a fixed, smaller one, with size and known issues measured.

Category: Build, containers, and artifacts
Source: https://letsship.ai/use-cases/pin-and-slim-the-base-image
Published: 2026-08-25

## Goal

Pin the base image to a digest and move to a slimmer variant.

## Acceptance criteria

- The base image is pinned by digest, not by a floating tag
- A slimmer variant is used where it still works
- Size and advisory count are recorded before and after
- A smoke test passes against the new base

## What lands as proof

Size and advisory counts either side, plus a smoke test proving the slim variant still runs the application.

## Prompt

Copy this to an agent to open the ticket:

```text
Create a Linear issue in my team and assign it to the SHIP agent.

Title: Pin and slim the base image

Description: Pin the base image to a digest and move to a slimmer variant.

Acceptance criteria:
- The base image is pinned by digest, not by a floating tag
- A slimmer variant is used where it still works
- Size and advisory count are recorded before and after
- A smoke test passes against the new base

Before you create the issue, read this repository's base image tag and check whether a slim variant exists.
```

## Questions

### What does the agent actually change?

The ticket is scoped to one outcome: pin the base image to a digest and move to a slimmer variant. Work that serves that outcome is in scope, and anything outside it is left for a separate ticket, so the pull request stays reviewable.

### How do I know the work is done?

The pull request carries the evidence, not only the diff. Here that means size and advisory count before and after, so a reviewer can confirm the result without reproducing the work locally.

### How much oversight does this need?

The run stops once the plan is written. Somebody reads the approach and approves it before any code exists, which is the cheapest moment to redirect the work.