Bug: Docker login fails with Google Artifact Registry (GAR) using _json_key authentication

[sdkakcy]

To Reproduce

1. Create Google Artifact Registry credentials

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a Service Account
3. Grant access to Artifact Registry (e.g. Artifact Registry Reader or Writer)
4. Generate and download a JSON key

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2. Add Google Artifact Registry in Dokploy

1. Open Dokploy dashboard
2. Navigate to Registry
3. Click Add Registry
4. Configure the registry with the following values:

Registry URL: europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev
Username: _json_key
Password: <paste the entire JSON key content>

Example password value:

{
  "type": "service_account",
  "project_id": "my-project",
  "private_key_id": "...",
  "private_key": "...",
  "client_email": "...",
  ...
}

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3. Add a worker node

Add a worker node to the cluster.

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4. Create a service

Create a new Service in Dokploy.

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5. Configure cluster settings

In the service configuration:

• Go to service, click advanced tab
• In Cluster settings pane, select the registry created in step 2

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6. Push an image to Artifact Registry

Push a Docker image to Artifact Registry:

europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev/<project>/<repository>/<image>:tag

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7. Deploy the service

Click Deploy.

Current vs. Expected behavior

Expected Behavior

The service should successfully pull the image from Google Artifact Registry and deploy.

Current Behavior

Deployment fails.

📦 [Enabled Registry Swarm]
📦 [Enabled Registry] Uploading image to 'cloud' | 'europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev/_json_key/api-mhjflm:latest'
Error response from daemon: Get "https://europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev/v2/": unauthorized: authentication failed
❌ DockerHub Failed
Error occurred ❌, check the logs for details.

Provide environment information

Operating System:
 OS: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
 Arch: x86_64
Dokploy version: 0.28.4

Which area(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

Docker

Are you deploying the applications where Dokploy is installed or on a remote server?

Same server where Dokploy is installed

Additional context

Unable to deploy a service from Google Artifact Registry using a Service Account JSON key in Dokploy registry configuration.

Will you send a PR to fix it?

Yes

[dosubot]

Hi @sdkakcy! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the dokploy team.

This is a known issue! The root cause is that Dokploy uses echo to pipe passwords to docker login, which corrupts the newline escape sequences (\n) in the JSON service account key's private_key field.

The problematic code is in packages/server/src/utils/providers/docker.ts and packages/server/src/utils/cluster/upload.ts, where double quotes around ${password} don't properly handle special characters in JSON keys.

Related issues: #2365, #3320, #3382

Workaround: Manually authenticate on the server:

cat keyfile.json | docker login https://europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev --username _json_key --password-stdin

Then leave the username/password fields blank in Dokploy's registry configuration.

A secure implementation already exists in registry.ts using printf %s instead of echo with proper shell escaping, but it's not consistently applied across all code paths. If you're planning to submit a PR, you might want to check #3382 which tracks applying this fix—it may have useful context for your contribution.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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