In modern cloud environments, consistency and security are critical, yet many teams still rely on manual image creation or scattered automation scripts. This often leads to configuration drift, outdated software, and challenges in scaling infrastructure. HashiCorp Packer solves this problem by enabling teams to create automated, reproducible machine images across multiple clouds. With Packer, you can build golden images that are preconfigured, secured, and ready to be deployed in any environment.

But building images is only half of the story. Managing and sharing them across teams, environments, and regions can be just as complex. This is where HCP Packer Registry comes in. By integrating Packer with HCP Packer, you gain a central service to track image versions, manage lifecycle stages, and promote builds across channels like development, staging, and production. This eliminates the need to hardcode AMI IDs or manually distribute image references. Instead, Terraform and other automation tools can consume the latest approved image directly from HCP.

In this session, I will walk through how to create golden images using Packer, push image metadata into HCP Packer Registry, and integrate this workflow into Terraform for seamless deployments. Attendees will learn how to standardize infrastructure, strengthen security posture, and simplify cross-cloud image management with a practical, demo-driven approach.