> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.xloud.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Share Images

> Share private images with specific projects in Xloud without making them globally public.

## Overview

Private images can be shared with specific projects without making them globally public.
This enables controlled cross-team image distribution — a platform team can maintain
golden images and share them selectively with application teams. The target project must
accept the share before the image becomes visible in their catalog.

<Note>
  **Prerequisites**

  * An active Xloud account with appropriate permissions
  * Access to the **Xloud Dashboard** or CLI configured with credentials
  * API credentials sourced (`source openrc.sh`)
</Note>

***

## Image Visibility Options

| Visibility  | Who Can See                       | Who Can Set | Use Case                                                 |
| ----------- | --------------------------------- | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| `private`   | Owning project only               | Image owner | Default. Development and test images.                    |
| `shared`    | Owning project + accepted members | Image owner | Controlled cross-team sharing.                           |
| `community` | All projects (discoverable)       | Image owner | Broadly useful images without admin approval.            |
| `public`    | All projects (visible by default) | Admin only  | Platform-wide OS images maintained by the platform team. |

***

## Share an Image

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Dashboard" icon="gauge">
    <Steps titleSize="h3">
      <Step title="Set image visibility to Shared">
        The image must have **Shared** visibility before it can be shared with
        other projects. If the image is currently Private:

        * **During creation**: Select **Shared** in the Visibility radio and choose
          the target projects from the project table
        * **After creation** (admin only): Click **Edit** on the image row and check
          **Public**, or use the CLI to set visibility to `shared`
      </Step>

      <Step title="Manage Access (admin only)">
        In the admin view, navigate to **Compute > Images** (admin view). Click
        the **More** dropdown on the image row and select **Manage Access**.

        <Note>
          The **Manage Access** action only appears when the image has **Shared**
          visibility. It is available to administrators only.
        </Note>

        The dialog shows:

        | Field       | Type               | Description                     |
        | ----------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------- |
        | **Name**    | Read-only          | The image being shared          |
        | **Project** | Multi-select table | Select projects to grant access |

        Select one or more projects and click **Confirm**.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Verify in target project">
        Users in the target project can see the shared image under the
        **Shared Images** tab in **Compute > Images**.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="CLI" icon="terminal">
    <Steps titleSize="h3">
      <Step title="Authenticate" icon="key">
        Source your credentials file to authenticate with the Xloud platform:

        ```bash title="Load credentials" theme={null}
        source openrc.sh
        ```

        <Tip>
          Your administrator provides the RC (credentials) file for your project. See [CLI Setup](/cli-setup) for configuration details.
        </Tip>
      </Step>

      <Step title="Change visibility to shared" icon="share-2">
        ```bash title="Set image visibility to shared" theme={null}
        openstack image set --shared ubuntu-24.04-lts
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Add the target project as a member" icon="user-plus">
        ```bash title="Share image with target project" theme={null}
        openstack image add project ubuntu-24.04-lts <TARGET_PROJECT_ID>
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step title="Verify member was added" icon="search">
        ```bash title="List current image members" theme={null}
        openstack image member list ubuntu-24.04-lts
        ```

        The target project appears with status `pending`.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Accept a Shared Image (Target Project)

The target project administrator must accept the share before the image is usable.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Dashboard" icon="gauge">
    Log in as a user in the target project. Navigate to **Compute > Images**.
    Find the shared image in the **Shared Images** tab. Shared images appear
    automatically — no explicit accept action is needed in the Dashboard.

    <Note>
      To explicitly accept a shared image via CLI, run:
      `openstack image set --accept <image-id>`
    </Note>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="CLI" icon="terminal">
    Source credentials for the target project, then accept the share:

    ```bash title="Accept shared image (run as target project)" theme={null}
    export OS_PROJECT_NAME=<target-project>
    source openrc.sh

    openstack image set --accept <IMAGE_ID>
    ```

    Verify the image is now accessible:

    ```bash title="Confirm image is visible" theme={null}
    openstack image show <IMAGE_ID> -c visibility -c status
    ```

    <Check>Image visibility shows `shared` and status shows `active` — it is ready to use.</Check>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Reject or Remove a Share

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Remove a member (image owner)" icon="gauge">
    ```bash title="Remove project from image members" theme={null}
    openstack image remove project ubuntu-24.04-lts <TARGET_PROJECT_ID>
    ```

    The image immediately disappears from the target project's catalog.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Reject share (target project)" icon="terminal">
    ```bash title="Reject a pending share (target project)" theme={null}
    openstack image set --reject <IMAGE_ID>
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Community Images

Community images are discoverable by all projects without explicit sharing, but are not
pushed into every project's default catalog. You must search for them explicitly.

```bash title="Set image visibility to community" theme={null}
openstack image set --community my-app-image
```

```bash title="List community images" theme={null}
openstack image list --community
```

<Note>
  Community images are visible to all authenticated users but do not appear in the
  default image list unless searched. They are useful for widely-useful base images
  that any team can discover and use without platform team intervention.
</Note>

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Image Properties" href="/services/images/image-properties" color="#197560">
    Add metadata to shared images to communicate hardware requirements and OS details.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Upload an Image" href="/services/images/upload-image" color="#197560">
    Upload new images to share with your organization.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Image Admin Guide — Quotas" href="/services/images/quotas" color="#197560">
    Configure per-project image count and storage quotas.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Troubleshooting" href="/services/images/troubleshooting" color="#197560">
    Resolve shared image visibility and acceptance issues.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>