Delegate Image Factory Workflow

Understand the Delegate Image Factory Workflow

Harness Delegate Image Factory helps teams create and manage custom delegate images when the default Harness delegate does not meet enterprise requirements. It provides a controlled, repeatable process for building, versioning, and releasing custom delegates, with a pre-optimized Dockerfile and configuration included out of the box.

When to use this workflow

Use Delegate Image Factory when your enterprise environment requires delegates that the default Harness delegate image does not support. Common scenarios include:

• Adding tools not bundled with the default delegate: for example, AWS CLI, Azure CLI, or custom internal utilities required by your CD or pipeline workloads.

• Embedding enterprise CA certificates and Java trust stores: avoids x509 certificate errors in environments with internal PKI.

• Installing custom utilities: any tooling your pipelines depend on that is not available in the default delegate image.

If the default Harness delegate meets your needs, you do not need this workflow.

Before you begin

• HSF is deployed and post-deployment configuration is complete.

• You have the certificates, tools, or utilities you want to bake into the delegate image ready to reference.

• A container registry is configured and accessible. If you have not set one up yet, run Harness Central Build Farm Setup first.

• You have been added to the HSF Users or HSF Admins group.

Inputs

Input	Description
Delegate image name	The name for your custom delegate image
Container registry	Where the built image will be pushed
Tools to install	Additional tools or utilities to include in the image
Certificates	Enterprise CA certificates or Java trust stores to embed

What gets created

Resource	Details
Pipeline	A build pipeline that builds, versions, and pushes your custom delegate image
Repository	harness-delegate-factory: contains a pre-optimized Dockerfile and configuration files for embedding certificates and trust stores
IaCM workspace	In the Solutions Factory project

Expected output

After the workflow completes:

• The harness-delegate-factory repository is visible in Harness Code Repository (or your configured SCM).

• A delegate build pipeline is visible in the Solutions Factory project.

• The IaCM workspace appears in IaCM → Workspaces.

• An IDP catalog entry for the workspace is registered automatically.

Post setup: build and deploy your delegate

Once the workflow completes, run the delegate build pipeline to produce your first custom delegate image. After the image is built and pushed to your container registry:

1. Create a new delegate in Harness using the custom image. Go to Install a delegate for instructions.

2. Verify the delegate is connected and healthy in Account Settings → Delegates.

Making changes

To update the delegate configuration, for example to add a new tool or rotate certificates, navigate to the workspace in IaCM → Workspaces, update the relevant variable, re-execute the workspace, and then re-run the build pipeline to produce an updated image.

Pin your custom delegate images to specific version tags in your pipelines rather than using latest. This ensures a certificate rotation or tooling update does not automatically roll out to running pipelines until you are ready.