> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://astronomer.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Create a Deployment on Astronomer Software
Use this document to learn how to create a Deployment on Astronomer Software.
## Prerequisites
* [The Astro CLI](/docs/cli/v1.43/install-cli)
* A [Workspace](/docs/astro-private-cloud/v-0-37/manage-workspaces)
## Create a Deployment in the Software UI
To create an Airflow Deployment on Astronomer:
1. Log in to your Astronomer platform at `app.BASEDOMAIN`, select a Workspace, and then click **New Deployment**.
2. Complete the following fields:
* **Name**: Enter a descriptive name for the Deployment.
* **Description**: (Optional) Enter a description for your Deployment.
* **Airflow Version**: Select the Airflow version/ Astro Runtime version that the Deployment should run with.
* **Executor**: Astronomer recommends starting with Local.
3. Click **Create Deployment** and wait a few moments. After the Deployment is created, you can access the **Settings** page of your new Deployment:
On this tab you can modify resources for your Deployment. Specifically, you can:
* Choose a strategy for how you configure resources to Airflow components. See [Customize resource usage](/docs/astro-private-cloud/v-0-37/customize-resource-usage).
* Select an Airflow executor
* Allocate resources to your Airflow scheduler and webserver
* Set scheduler count (*Airflow 2.0+ only*)
* Add extra capacity (*Kubernetes only*)
* Set worker count (*Celery only*)
* Adjust your worker termination grace period (*Celery only*)
## Customize Deployment release names
An Airflow Deployment's release name on Astronomer is a unique, immutable identifier for that Deployment. The release name corresponds to its Kubernetes namespace and that renders in Grafana, Kibana, and other platform-level monitoring tools.
By default, release names are randomly generated in the following format: `noun-noun-<4-digit-number>`. For example: `elementary-zenith-7243`. Alternatively, you can customize the release name for a Deployment if you want all namespaces in your cluster to follow a specific style.
To customize the release name for a Deployment as you're creating it, you first need to enable the feature on your Astronomer platform. To do so, set the following value in your `values.yaml` file:
```yaml wrap theme={null}
astronomer:
houston:
config:
deployments:
manualReleaseNames: true # Allows you to set your release names
```
Then, push the updated `config.yaml` file to your installation as described in [Apply a config change](/docs/astro-private-cloud/v-0-37/apply-platform-config).
After applying this change, the **Release Name** field in the Software UI becomes configurable:
## Programmatically create or update Deployments
You can programmatically create or update Deployments with all possible configurations using the Houston API `upsertDeployment` mutation. See [Create or update a Deployment with configurations](/docs/astro-private-cloud/v-0-37/houston-api-examples#create-or-update-a-deployment-with-configurations).
When you make upsert updates to your Airflow Deployments, you must explicitly specify all existing environment variables, otherwise, the upsert overwrites them.
## Create Deployments using Astro Runtime SHA256 digest
By default, Deployment creation references an Astro Runtime image by its tag in the Kubernetes spec, like `quay.io/astronomer/astro-runtime:9.3.0`. However, image tags are mutable and can lead to non-reproducible builds if the image associated with the tag changes. Instead of using the Runtime image tag, you can configure Astronomer Software to reference a Runtime image's immutable `sha256` digest, such as `quay.io/astronomer/astro-runtime@sha256:`. Using the `sha256` digest ensures secure, immutable, and reproducible Deployments, which prevents unexpected behavior caused by tag reassignments.
After you enable using the `sha256` digest, when users create or update Deployments that include a SHA version, they still see the same Runtime Image tag view as before in the UI or CLI, but the system resolves the build using the `sha256` digest in the Kubernetes spec.
## Step 1: Enable configuration
[Apply a config change](/docs/astro-private-cloud/v-0-37/apply-platform-config) to your Houston `values.yaml` file to enable `customImageShaEnabled`.
```yaml wrap theme={null}
astronomer:
houston:
config:
deployments:
customImageShaEnabled: true
```
## Step 2: (Optional) Correlate SHA256 with Runtime versions
By default, Astronomer Software checks for Airflow updates, which are included in the Astro Runtime, once per day at midnight by querying `https://updates.astronomer.io/astronomer-runtime`. This returns a JSON file with details about the latest available Astro Runtime versions.
You can store this information in the cluster itself by completing the following steps:
1. Download the JSON files and store them in a Kubernetes configmap by running the following commands:
```sh wrap theme={null}
curl -XGET https://updates.astronomer.io/astronomer-runtime -o astro_runtime_releases.json
kubectl -n create configmap astro-runtime-base-images --from-file=astro_runtime_releases.json
```
2. Open the `astro_runtime_release.json` file and manually add the SHA256 values that you want Deployments to use for each Runtime version. For example, the following code example shows
```json wrap theme={null}
"13.0.0": {
"metadata": {
"airflowVersion": "2.11.0",
"channel": "stable",
"releaseDate": "2025-05-20",
"endOfSupport": "2026-11-30",
"LTS": true
},
"migrations": {
"airflowDatabase": false,
"stellarDatabase": false
}
}
```
Add the Tag and SHA256 value and save:
```json wrap theme={null}
"13.0.0": {
"metadata": {
"airflowVersion": "2.11.0",
"channel": "stable",
"releaseDate": "2025-05-20",
"endOfSupport": "2026-11-30",
"LTS": true
},
"migrations": {
"airflowDatabase": false,
"stellarDatabase": false
},
"sha256": "82dc7efe0b16acc74e96a82bc8f1fd1db35a76a5a8c32f581d171d9765c02326"
}
```
3. Add your configmap name, `astro-runtime-base-images` to your Houston configuration using the `runtimeReleasesConfigMapName` configuration:
```yaml wrap theme={null}
astronomer:
houston:
runtimeReleasesConfigMapName: astro-runtime-base-images
config:
airgapped:
enabled: true
```
## Step 3: (Optional) Specify default Runtime
If you want to configure your platform to create Deployments with a single, specific Runtime version, you can add the `defaultRuntimeRepository` configuration to specify the Runtime:
```yaml wrap theme={null}
astronomer:
houston:
config:
deployments:
customImageShaEnabled: true
helm:
defaultRuntimeRepository: quay.io/astronomer/astro-runtime@sha256
```