Updating the Container Image

Update the AI Runtime Security container image deployed to Kubernetes when a new version is released.

Overview

The container image is hosted on images.hiddenlayer.ai and referenced in the deployment manifest:

image: images.hiddenlayer.ai/proxy/aidr-genai/ghcr.io/hiddenlayer-engineering/distro-enterprise-aidr-genai:<tag>

Avoid the latest tag

Do not use the :latest tag in production. Kubernetes will not detect a change if the tag stays the same, so new images won't be pulled automatically. Use explicit version tags (e.g., 26.1.0) to ensure updates are applied reliably.

Prerequisites

kubectl configured with access to your cluster
Access to images.hiddenlayer.ai with valid registry credentials and imagePullSecret configured in your cluster
Your deployment name and namespace (referenced as $NAMESPACE and aidr-genai in the commands below)

Release Workflow

Step 1: Identify the new image tag

HiddenLayer publishes release notes for each new version. When you receive a release notification, use the tag from the release notes in the steps below.

New releases are published to images.hiddenlayer.ai. Find the version you want to deploy:

images.hiddenlayer.ai/proxy/aidr-genai/ghcr.io/hiddenlayer-engineering/distro-enterprise-aidr-genai:$TAG

You do not need to pull the image locally, as Kubernetes pulls it directly from the registry during the rolling update.

Step 2: Apply the update

You can update the image using either the manifest file or a direct kubectl patch.

Edit the image tag in your deployment manifest:

image: images.hiddenlayer.ai/proxy/aidr-genai/ghcr.io/hiddenlayer-engineering/distro-enterprise-aidr-genai:$TAG

Apply the updated manifest:

kubectl apply -f $MANIFEST_FILE.yaml

Kubernetes detects the tag change and triggers a rolling update automatically.

Step 3: Verify the rollout

Monitor the rolling update until it completes:

kubectl rollout status deployment/aidr-genai -n $NAMESPACE

When the rollout is complete, you will see:

deployment "aidr-genai" successfully rolled out

Rolling Back

If the new image causes issues, roll back to the previous version:

kubectl rollout undo deployment/aidr-genai -n $NAMESPACE

To roll back to a specific revision:

kubectl rollout history deployment/aidr-genai -n $NAMESPACE
kubectl rollout undo deployment/aidr-genai --to-revision=$REVISION -n $NAMESPACE

Keep your manifest in sync

After rolling back, update the image tag in your deployment manifest to match the version now running in the cluster. If the manifest still references the newer tag, the next kubectl apply will re-deploy the broken version.

Versioned vs. Latest Tags

	Versioned tag (`:26.1.0`)	`:latest`
Kubernetes detects change	✅ Yes	❌ No
Reliable rolling updates	✅ Yes	❌ No
Easy rollback	✅ Yes	❌ No
Recommended for production	✅ Yes	❌ No