# Custom Images Reference

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.

The [DigitalOcean API](https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/index.html.md) lets you manage resources programmatically with standard HTTP requests. All actions available in the control panel are also available through the API.

[`doctl`](https://github.com/digitalocean/doctl) is the command-line interface for the DigitalOcean API. It supports most of the same actions available in the API and DigitalOcean Control Panel.

[DigitalOcean API Custom Image Reference](http://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/api/digitalocean/#operation/images_create_custom): Use the DigitalOcean API to create, delete, and manage custom images.

[doctl reference compute image](https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/doctl/reference/compute/image/index.html.md): The sub-commands of `doctl compute image` manage images, including custom images.