This topic introduces the latest CR feature updates. New features are rolled out gradually across regions. Feel free to try them when they become available.

October 2026

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Image warm-up	CR instances support configuring image warm-up policies to pre-cache specified images on the local storage of VKE cluster workload nodes. When a pod starts, it can read image data directly from the workload node's local storage without going through the central cache node, which effectively improves image pull speed and pod startup efficiency. This feature applies to scenarios sensitive to image pull latency, such as large-scale autoscaling and scheduled batch releases.	All	Configure image warm-up

August 2026

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Custom expiration time supported for temporary access credentials	The validity period of the temporary access credentials for an instance is no longer fixed at 1 hour. You can now set it to a value between 10 minutes and 12 hours. The default is 1 hour.	All	Instance access credentials

July 2026

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Instance monitoring information	Monitoring information is available for instances. This information includes runtime metrics such as public/private bandwidth, storage usage, request QPS, and QPS by API. Alert rules can be configured for metrics reported to VMP.	All	View monitoring information

June 2026

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Encrypted storage supported for image data	CR instances support server-side encryption, which enables data to be stored in encrypted form on the server side to meet data security and compliance requirements in certain scenarios.	All	Creating Standard instances Creating proxy cache registries
Modification supported for image tag descriptions	CR supports adding descriptions to image tags to indicate images' purpose, status, or environment (for example, production or test).	All	Editing image tag descriptions

April 2026

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Container image signature	[Beta - apply for trial] CR integrates with Key Management Service (KMS) asymmetric keys, enabling automatic namespace-level signing and manual signing for individual image tags to ensure image integrity and source provenance trust. Signing rules can be created/deleted through both the Image signature page and the Namespace page.	All	Creating image signatures Deleting image signatures

December 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
GHCR proxy cache registries supported	CR supports pulling GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) images through the proxy cache registry solution without changing image addresses.	China (Beijing)	Creating proxy cache registries (Docker Hub or GHCR type)
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Guangzhou)
Docker Registry image migration supported	Docker Registry-compatible images can be quickly migrated to CR to meet service migration requirements.	All	Synchronizing external repositories to CR

October 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Fuzzy label searching	Resource tags now support fuzzy search. Resource tags enable multi-dimensional classification and aggregation of cloud resources, supporting scenarios such as tag-based authorization and cost allocation.	All	Splitting bills by tag

September 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Automatic cleanup of OCI artifact repositories with empty image tags	When all image tags in an OCI artifact repository are cleared based on tag retention rules, the system will automatically delete the empty repository.	All	Tag retention rules
Image building instructions	The CR console provides instructions for building CP images to improve image management efficiency.	All	Building images through a pipeline and pushing them to CR
Micro Edition request concurrency change	OCI artifact push/pull concurrency for Micro Edition instances and proxy cache registries has been increased to 200.	All	Limits

August 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Terminate a synchronization task	For an image synchronization task that cannot be completed within an extended period, you can terminate the task to stop subsequent image synchronization.	All	Managing registry replication
Connecting cross-account VPCs	‌Instances and proxy cache registries now support cross-region VPC connectivity. Pulling images and Helm charts over the internal network effectively boosts push and pull speeds while eliminating public network bandwidth costs.	All	Connecting cross-account VPCs
Configuring resource capacity alerts	You can configure quota alerts for your CR resources based on usage quantity or percentage. These alerts provide early warnings, allowing you to manage resource capacity proactively and prevent task failures from resource exhaustion.	All	Configuring resource capacity alerts

July 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Image list display optimization	The image tag list supports drag-based column width adjustment and can display longer image names/addresses.	All	None
Instance label search supported	Add tags to the instance. You can search for and select existing tags. You can also create custom ones if existing tags cannot meet your requirements.	All	Creating Standard Edition instances

June 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
VPC access quota increase	The maximum VPC access quota is increased to 20.	All	VPC access quota
Container image distribution and startup acceleration	As an efficient compression algorithm, zstd (Zstandard) achieves a better balance between compression ratio and speed than gzip. This balance optimizes image transmission and startup.	All	Container Image Distribution and Startup Acceleration Based on Zstd Compression Algorithm
Micro Edition instances supported	Micro Edition CR instances are available in the Asia Pacific (Johor) region.	Asia Pacific (Johor)	Available region

May 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Tag retention rule optimization	Image push/pull conditional rules can be associated with regex matching rules using OR/AND logic, enabling more flexible retention of specified images.	China (Guangzhou)	Creating tag retention rules
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Beijing)
				Asia Pacific (Johor)
Automatic namespace creation	‌In Docker (Dockerhub type) proxy cache registries, namespaces with the same name are automatically created during image pulls, eliminating the need for manual creation.	China (Guangzhou)	None
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Beijing)
Container Registry instances available	[Beta - apply for trial] The artifact repository instance module is added. It supports management of Maven, Generic, and PyPI sources.	China (Shanghai)	Artifact repository instance
Container Registry instances available			Artifact repository instance	China (Beijing)

April 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Pay-as-you-go to mixed billing	Standard instance billing supports switching from pay-as-you-go to partial subscription.	China (Guangzhou)	Switching from Pay-as-you-go to mixed billing (partial Subscription)
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Beijing)
Upgrading proxy cache registries from Micro Edition to Standard Edition	Micro Edition instances can be upgraded to Standard Edition instances to provide higher performance and SLA guarantees.	China (Guangzhou)	Upgrading proxy cache registries from Micro Edition to Standard Edition
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Beijing)

March 2025

Feature name	Description	Region	Related documentation
Universal image migration solution	Generic Docker Registry-compatible repositories (such as those on Huawei Cloud or Baidu Cloud) can be migrated to Volcano Engine CR.	China (Guangzhou)	Universal image migration solution
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Beijing)
Instance termination supported for pending-payment instances in mixed billing mode	CR supports destroying pending-payment instances in hybrid billing mode. This action releases the instance quota.	China (Guangzhou)	None
				China (Shanghai)
				China (Beijing)

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