The Watchtower project has been officially archived and is no longer under active maintenance. The GitHub repository was switched to read-only status on December 17, 2025, marking the end of development for one of the most widely used Docker container auto-update tools.
It has long been used to automatically monitor running containers and pull updated images when new versions are published, making it a common component in many self-hosted and small-scale Docker deployments.
The announcement was made by one of Watchtower’s core maintainers in the project’s GitHub Discussions section, stating that they no longer actively use Docker and have lost both the time and interest required to continue maintaining Watchtower. As a result, they decided to archive the repository rather than leave it in a partially maintained state.
“It is with a heavy heart, and some sense of relief, that I’d like to announce that we are looking to archive containrrr/watchtower. Neither piksel, nor I, are big users of docker anymore, and frankly lost interest (and time) in maintaining the project.”
What happens next? If you’re still using Watchtower, despite its last update dating back to November 2023, it’s time to consider moving to an alternative. My recommendation is WUD (What’s Up Docker), and our step-by-step guide will help you get up and running quickly.
However, if you don’t want to switch to something entirely new, there’s good news: over the years, Watchtower has accumulated several forks, and one of the most promising and actively maintained options is this, which makes it easy to migrate without major disruption.
It’s important to note that while Watchtower itself has been archived, the maintainers confirmed that the separate shoutrrr notification project will remain active for the time being. No future releases, bug fixes, or security updates are planned for Watchtower.
Finally, even though the project is now archived, the existing Watchtower installations will, of course, continue to function. However, let me say it again: you should plan your migration to a supported solution as soon as possible.
