# Use an Image Volume With a Pod
LLMS index: [llms.txt](/llms.txt)
---
FEATURE STATE:
Kubernetes v1.36 [stable](enabled by default)
This page shows how to configure a pod using image volumes. This allows you to
mount content from OCI registries inside containers.
## Before you begin
You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must
be configured to communicate with your cluster. It is recommended to run this tutorial on a cluster with at least two nodes that are not acting as control plane hosts. If you do not already have a
cluster, you can create one by using
minikube
or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:
Your Kubernetes server must be at or later than version v1.31.
To check the version, enter kubectl version.
- The container runtime needs to support the image volumes feature
- You need to exec commands in the host
- You need to be able to exec into pods
## Run a Pod that uses an image volume {#create-pod}
An image volume for a pod is enabled by setting the `volumes[*].image` field of `.spec`
to a valid reference and consuming it in the `volumeMounts` of the container. For example:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: image-volume
spec:
containers:
- name: shell
command: ["sleep", "infinity"]
image: debian
volumeMounts:
- name: volume
mountPath: /volume
volumes:
- name: volume
image:
reference: quay.io/crio/artifact:v2
pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
1. Create the pod on your cluster:
```shell
kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/pods/image-volumes.yaml
```
1. Attach to the container:
```shell
kubectl exec image-volume -it -- bash
```
1. Check the content of a file in the volume:
```shell
cat /volume/dir/file
```
The output is similar to:
```none
1
```
You can also check another file in a different path:
```shell
cat /volume/file
```
The output is similar to:
```none
2
```
## Use `subPath` (or `subPathExpr`)
It is possible to utilize
[`subPath`](/docs/concepts/storage/volumes/#using-subpath) or
[`subPathExpr`](/docs/concepts/storage/volumes/#using-subpath-expanded-environment)
from Kubernetes v1.33 when using the image volume feature.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: image-volume
spec:
containers:
- name: shell
command: ["sleep", "infinity"]
image: debian
volumeMounts:
- name: volume
mountPath: /volume
subPath: dir
volumes:
- name: volume
image:
reference: quay.io/crio/artifact:v2
pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
1. Create the pod on your cluster:
```shell
kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/pods/image-volumes-subpath.yaml
```
1. Attach to the container:
```shell
kubectl exec image-volume -it -- bash
```
1. Check the content of the file from the `dir` sub path in the volume:
```shell
cat /volume/file
```
The output is similar to:
```none
1
```
## Further reading
- [`image` volumes](/docs/concepts/storage/volumes/#image)
