Pushing container hangs after upload completes

[agitter]

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I am following the instructions at https://docs.github.com/en/packages/working-with-a-github-packages-registry/working-with-the-container-registry#pushing-container-images to login to the container registry and then push a Docker image. The login appears to work with a classic token. Many layers are pushed. Then, everything hangs for 10s of minutes.

I also tried pushing an Apptainer .sif file by adapting the instructions to use oras://ghcr.io and experience the same thing. There is a progress bar that reaches 100% upload progress, and then it gets stuck.

What could this indicate? I made a new token and verified it has write:packages enabled.

[agitter]

I tried this again with a smaller Apptainer container and it worked

$ apptainer push allpairs:latest oras://ghcr.io/agitter/allpairs:latest
24.1MiB / 24.1MiB [=========================================================================================] 100 % 26.1 MiB/s 0s
INFO:    Upload complete

This suggests that the authentication is okay, and I am running the correct command. However, my original container still fails. The push will hang for hours

$ apptainer push bindcraft:v1.0.0 oras://ghcr.io/agitter/bindcraft:v1.0.0
7.8GiB / 7.8GiB [==========================================================================================] 100 % 138.7 MiB/s 0s

Besides the container size, I'm not sure what is different.

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[agitter]

I am still experiencing this issue and am unsure what additional information I could provide for more context. I could reproduce the issue with another image if anyone wants another example.

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[agitter]

This is still a problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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[agitter]

This is still unresolved.

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[agitter]

This is still unresolved.

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[agitter]

Still open

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Still open

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[agitter]

Unresolved

[dineshx29]

This appears to be caused by GHCR’s 10-minute timeout, which applies to the entire push operation, not just layer uploads.

The smaller image completes successfully, but the ~7.8 GiB image finishes uploading layers (shows 100%) and then stalls during the manifest upload / push finalization phase. For large images, this final step can exceed the timeout, after which GHCR never responds and the client waits indefinitely.

This is not a UI issue the push is genuinely stuck after layer transfer completes.

The reliable workarounds are to split the image into smaller stages/images, push via GitHub Actions (recommended due to optimized GHCR connectivity), and ensure no single layer approaches GHCR size limits.

[priyanshusta]

This issue occurs because GHCR enforces a 10-minute timeout on the entire push operation, not just on individual layer uploads. What’s happening in practice is that authentication succeeds, which confirms your token is valid. The image layers upload successfully and the progress bar reaches 100%. However, during the final manifest upload step, the process exceeds GHCR’s timeout limit. At that point, the server silently stops responding, and the client waits indefinitely, making it look like the push is stuck. This means it’s not a UI bug and not an authentication problem the push genuinely fails after the upload phase.
Solutions and workarounds
The most reliable fix is to push images using GitHub Actions. GitHub-hosted runners have optimized internal connectivity to GHCR and typically do not hit this timeout issue.
Another effective approach is to reduce the overall image size by using multi-stage Docker builds. This ensures only the required runtime files are included in the final image, significantly cutting down its size.
You should also avoid creating huge layers. For example, instead of downloading a large file in a single RUN command, break it into smaller steps so no single layer becomes excessively large.
If possible, split your application into smaller images. This could mean separating services or publishing multiple lightweight images instead of one massive image.

Your token and permissions are working correctly. The real problem is a backend limitation in GHCR, where large images exceed the allowed processing time. So this is not a configuration mistake on your side it’s a registry constraint.

[agitter]

Thank you @dineshx29 and @priyanshusta. I appreciate your explanations after this was puzzling me for over a year.