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How to Add Custom Images to Additional Regions

Validated on 5 Jun 2019 • Last edited on 10 Dec 2025

Custom images are Linux and Unix-like images you import to DigitalOcean. You can create Droplets based custom images, which lets you migrate and scale your workloads without spending time recreating your environment from scratch.

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After you upload a custom image to your account, you can create Droplets from that image as long as they are in the same datacenter. If you’d like to create a Droplet from a custom image in a different region, you need to add your custom image to that region first.

Add a Custom Image to a Region using Automation

How to Add an Image to a Region Using the DigitalOcean CLI

Install doctl, the official DigitalOcean CLI.
Create a personal access token and save it for use with doctl.
Use the token to grant doctl access to your DigitalOcean account.
```
doctl auth init
```
Finally, run doctl compute image-action transfer. Basic usage looks like this, but you can read the usage docs for more details:
```
doctl compute image-action transfer <image-id> [flags]
```
The following example transfers an image with the ID 386734086 to the region with the slug nyc3:
```
doctl compute image-action transfer 386734086 --region nyc3
```

How to Add an Image to a Region Using the DigitalOcean API

Create a personal access token and save it for use with the API.
Send a POST request to https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/images/{image_id}/actions.

cURL

Using cURL:

# Transfer an Existing Image
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"transfer","region":"nyc2"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/images/7938269/actions"

# Convert an Image into a Snapshot
curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"type":"convert"}' \
  "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/images/7938291/actions"

Go

Using Godo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Go:

import (
    "context"
    "os"

    "github.com/digitalocean/godo"
)

func main() {
    token := os.Getenv("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN")

    client := godo.NewFromToken(token)
    ctx := context.TODO()

    // Transfer an existing image
    transferRequest := &godo.ActionRequest{
        "type":   "transfer",
        "region": "nyc2",
    }
  # Transfer an Image
    transfer, _, err := client.ImageActions.Transfer(ctx, 7938269, transferRequest)

  # Convert an Image to a Snapshot
  # client.image_actions.convert(image_id: 7938269)

}

Ruby

Using DropletKit, the official DigitalOcean API client for Ruby:

require 'droplet_kit'
token = ENV['DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN']
client = DropletKit::Client.new(access_token: token)

# Transfer an Image
client.image_actions.transfer(image_id: 7938269, region: 'nyc2')

# Convert an Image to a Snapshot
# client.image_actions.convert(image_id: 7938269)

Python

Using PyDo, the official DigitalOcean API client for Python:

import os
from pydo import Client

client = Client(token=os.environ.get("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN"))

req = {
  "type": "convert"
}
resp = client.image_actions.post(image_id=342341, body=req)

Add a Custom Image to a Region using the Control Panel

From the Backups & Snapshots section, click the Custom Images tab. From there, open the More menu of the custom image you want to add to a new region and choose Add to region.

Custom Images page listing uploaded images with image details, and a More dropdown menu for starting a Droplet or deleting the image.

In the Custom image availability window that opens, click the region or regions you want to add your custom image to.