---
title: Building with Docker Build Cloud
linkTitle: Usage
weight: 20
description: Invoke your cloud builds with the Buildx CLI client
keywords: build, cloud build, usage, cli, buildx, client
aliases:
  - /build/cloud/usage/
---

To build using Docker Build Cloud, invoke a build command and specify the name of the
builder using the `--builder` flag.

```console
$ docker buildx build --builder cloud-<ORG>-<BUILDER_NAME> --tag <IMAGE> .
```

## Use by default

If you want to use Docker Build Cloud without having to specify the `--builder` flag
each time, you can set it as the default builder.

{{< tabs group="ui" >}}
{{< tab name="CLI" >}}

Run the following command:

```console
$ docker buildx use cloud-<ORG>-<BUILDER_NAME> --global
```

{{< /tab >}}
{{< tab name="Docker Desktop" >}}

1. Open the Docker Desktop settings and navigate to the **Builders** tab.
2. Find the cloud builder under **Available builders**.
3. Open the drop-down menu and select **Use**.

   ![Selecting the cloud builder as default using the Docker Desktop GUI](/Users/baehyunsol/Documents/Rust/ragit/sample/docker/./build/images/set-default-builder-gui.webp)

{{< /tab >}}
{{< /tabs >}}

Changing your default builder with `docker buildx use` only changes the default
builder for the `docker buildx build` command. The `docker build` command still
uses the `default` builder, unless you specify the `--builder` flag explicitly.

If you use build scripts, such as `make`, we recommend that you update your
build commands from `docker build` to `docker buildx build`, to avoid any
confusion with regards to builder selection. Alternatively, you can run `docker
buildx install` to make the default `docker build` command behave like `docker
buildx build`, without discrepancies.

## Use with Docker Compose

To build with Docker Build Cloud using `docker compose build`, first set the
cloud builder as your selected builder, then run your build.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Make sure you're using a supported version of Docker Compose, see
> [Prerequisites](setup.md#prerequisites).

```console
$ docker buildx use cloud-<ORG>-<BUILDER_NAME>
$ docker compose build
```

In addition to `docker buildx use`, you can also use the `docker compose build
--builder` flag or the [`BUILDX_BUILDER` environment
variable](/manuals/build/building/variables.md#buildx_builder) to select the cloud builder.

## Loading build results

Building with `--tag` loads the build result to the local image store
automatically when the build finishes. To build without a tag and load the
result, you must pass the `--load` flag.

Loading the build result for multi-platform images is not supported. Use the
`docker buildx build --push` flag when building multi-platform images to push
the output to a registry.

```console
$ docker buildx build --builder cloud-<ORG>-<BUILDER_NAME> \
  --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
  --tag <IMAGE> \
  --push .
```

If you want to build with a tag, but you don't want to load the results to your
local image store, you can export the build results to the build cache only:

```console
$ docker buildx build --builder cloud-<ORG>-<BUILDER_NAME> \
  --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
  --tag <IMAGE> \
  --output type=cacheonly .
```

## Multi-platform builds

To run multi-platform builds, you must specify all of the platforms that you