Earthly Has a Free API: Repeatable CI/CD Builds That Work Everywhere

Earthly is a build automation tool that combines the best of Makefiles and Dockerfiles. It gives you repeatable, containerized builds that work the same on your laptop and in CI.

What Is Earthly?

Earthly provides a syntax that combines Dockerfile and Makefile concepts into Earthfiles. Every build step runs in a container, so builds are reproducible regardless of the host environment. No more 'works on my machine' problems.

Key Features:

• Reproducible containerized builds
• Dockerfile + Makefile hybrid syntax
• Automatic caching
• Parallel execution
• Multi-platform builds (ARM, x86)
• Works with any CI system
• Shared cache via Earthly Cloud
• Monorepo-friendly

Installation

# Install Earthly
curl -sSL https://earthly.dev/get-earthly | sh

# Verify
earthly --version

# Bootstrap (sets up BuildKit)
earthly bootstrap

Earthfile Example

# Earthfile
VERSION 0.8

# Base image for all targets
FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app

# Install dependencies (cached)
deps:
    COPY package.json package-lock.json .
    RUN npm ci
    SAVE ARTIFACT node_modules

# Run tests
test:
    FROM +deps
    COPY . .
    RUN npm test

# Build the app
build:
    FROM +deps
    COPY . .
    RUN npm run build
    SAVE ARTIFACT dist AS LOCAL ./dist

# Create Docker image
docker:
    FROM +build
    EXPOSE 3000
    CMD ["node", "dist/server.js"]
    SAVE IMAGE my-app:latest

# Multi-platform build
docker-multiplatform:
    BUILD --platform=linux/amd64 --platform=linux/arm64 +docker

# Integration tests
integration-test:
    FROM earthly/dind:alpine
    COPY docker-compose.test.yml .
    WITH DOCKER --compose docker-compose.test.yml
        RUN npm run test:integration
    END

# CI target: run everything
ci:
    BUILD +test
    BUILD +build
    BUILD +docker
    BUILD +integration-test

Running Earthly

# Run a specific target
earthly +build

# Run tests
earthly +test

# Build Docker image
earthly +docker

# Run full CI pipeline
earthly +ci

# Multi-platform build
earthly +docker-multiplatform

Python Project Earthfile

VERSION 0.8
FROM python:3.12-slim
WORKDIR /app

deps:
    COPY requirements.txt .
    RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
    SAVE ARTIFACT /usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages

test:
    FROM +deps
    COPY . .
    RUN pytest tests/ -v

lint:
    FROM +deps
    COPY . .
    RUN ruff check .
    RUN mypy src/

build:
    FROM +deps
    COPY . .
    RUN python -m build
    SAVE ARTIFACT dist/*.whl AS LOCAL ./dist/

docker:
    FROM python:3.12-slim
    COPY +deps/ /usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages
    COPY . .
    ENTRYPOINT ["python", "-m", "myapp"]
    SAVE IMAGE myapp:latest

Monorepo Setup

# services/api/Earthfile
VERSION 0.8
IMPORT ../shared AS shared

build:
    FROM node:20-alpine
    COPY +shared/lib ./shared
    COPY . .
    RUN npm run build

# Root Earthfile
VERSION 0.8

all:
    BUILD ./services/api+build
    BUILD ./services/web+build
    BUILD ./services/worker+build

Earthly vs Alternatives

Feature	Earthly	Makefile	Dockerfile
Reproducible	Always	Host-dependent	Build only
Caching	Smart	Manual	Layer cache
Parallel	Built-in	-j flag	Multi-stage
CI agnostic	Yes	Mostly	Build only
Multi-platform	Native	Manual	BuildKit

Resources

• Earthly Docs
• Earthly GitHub — 11K+ stars
• Earthfile Reference

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