---
title: "Pin the service image used by integration tests"
description: "A floating database tag changes test behavior and download work outside your commit."
url: https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/image-pins
canonicalUrl: https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/image-pins
---

# Pin the service image used by integration tests

A floating database tag changes test behavior and download work outside your commit.

## How to choose an approach

This technique currently has one documented company example. Validate its prerequisites, tradeoffs and original CI environment against your repository before adapting it.

- **[Mastra](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/mastra#image-pins)**: Use it when Integration tests pull latest or rolling service tags. Check before adopting: A pin needs a refresh policy and supported-version coverage.

## Apply this technique

````text
Evaluate and apply this CI technique to my repository: Pin the service image used by integration tests.

A floating database tag changes test behavior and download work outside your commit.

Read the technique and its source-backed company examples: https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/image-pins.md

Inspect this repository’s CI workflows, build and test commands, dependencies, and recent run timings. Identify where this technique applies and explain the expected benefit using this repository’s evidence.
Measure a baseline from recent comparable runs: elapsed time, queue time, runner minutes and failures where available. If data is unavailable, say what cannot be measured.
Compare relevant company approaches, checking prerequisites, platform differences and tradeoffs. Rank applicable options by evidence, fit and measurable opportunity; do not present company results as predictions for this repo.
Recommend the smallest safe change, show what checks and fallback paths remain, and ASK ME WHICH CHANGE TO APPROVE BEFORE EDITING ANY FILES.
Only after approval, work on a new feature branch, make one reversible change, and open a reviewable pull request. Never merge or push to a default or protected branch.
Keep required checks, test coverage, deployment and release behavior intact. Validate the change and compare equivalent runs where possible; report limitations and what should be monitored after merge.
````

## How Mastra used this technique

Read what Mastra changed and follow the original sources.

### Mastra: Pin the service image used by integration tests

MSSQL and ClickHouse changed floating tags to explicit versions; Chroma did the same. Pinning makes the tested service version deliberate.

Evidence: Source PR/commit evidence

ClickHouse is pinned to 26.6.1.1193 on main. ([Source](https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/blob/f92e947a448a47515acf14df1eddc5fd5c36f424/stores/clickhouse/docker-compose.yaml))

Chroma is pinned to 1.5.9 on main. ([Source](https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/blob/f92e947a448a47515acf14df1eddc5fd5c36f424/stores/chroma/docker-compose.yaml))

Use it when: Integration tests pull latest or rolling service tags.

Before applying it: A pin needs a refresh policy and supported-version coverage.

[Read more in the Mastra playbook](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/mastra#image-pins)

[Primary source](https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/pull/14520)

## CI optimization is continuous work.

Apply this technique yourself, or use StarSling Runners for faster GitHub Actions and optional agent-driven optimization PRs, which teams on eligible paid plans can turn on.

[Get self-improving CI](https://starsling.dev/products/runners)

## Company Playbooks

### [Anthropic](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/anthropic)

Run only affected tests

### [DoorDash](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/doordash)

Run build and test in parallel, sharded across CI agents

### [Linear](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/linear)

Benchmark the same job on faster hardware

### [Mastra](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/mastra)

StarSling runners for the slowest test workflow

### [OpenAI](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/openai)

Rank CI fixes by the minutes they save

### [Ramp](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/ramp)

Move a CPU-bound test suite to a faster CPU

### [Shopify](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/shopify)

Let an agent iterate against one CI metric

### [Spotify](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/spotify)

Build arm64 on native arm64 runners

### [Stripe](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/stripe)

Run only the tests a change can reach

### [Uber](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/uber)

Build the merge-queue speculations most likely to be needed

## Related guides

Implementation guides for this technique.

### [Speed up Docker builds in GitHub Actions](https://starsling.dev/github-actions/optimizations/optimize-docker-builds)

Start only the containers a test needs and pin image tags so Docker builds in CI stay fast, reproducible, and cache-friendly.