Posted On: Feb 1, 2024

Today, AWS announced the general availability of Windows support for Finch, an open source command line tool that allows developers to build, run, and publish Linux containers on Windows and macOS. Finch simplifies container development by bundling a minimal native client with a curated selection of open source components, allowing developers to build and manage containers without the hassle of managing intricate details.

Since we first announced Finch in November 2022, we have made significant strides in improving efficiency in local container development and simplifying container registry management for developers. Finch enables immediate execution of Docker commands through seamless environment variable passthrough and streamlines credential management for AWS customers by integrating the Amazon Elastic Container Registry (Amazon ECR) credential helper. Finch also facilitates efficient container image building through its integration with AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK), allowing customers to build AWS CDK stacks that require image assets. Furthermore, Finch ensures your work is protected during upgrades with persistent disk support. With support for both Windows and macOS, customers can now leverage the same command line developer tools on Finch across both operating systems.

Refer to the Getting Started section on the Finch website to start using Finch for local container development on Windows. To install Finch on Windows, ensure that WSL2 is enabled on your system. To learn more, read the AWS News Blog.