baking AMI/image
also: image baking, golden image, pre-baked image
The process of creating a custom machine image (AMI on AWS, or image on other platforms) by launching an instance, installing and configuring software, and then capturing that configured state as a reusable template for future deployments.
Baking an image means building a pre-configured, ready-to-use virtual machine image rather than starting from a base image and customizing it at runtime. You launch an instance, install packages, apply configuration files, and make other customizations, then snapshot or capture that instance into a new image file.
This contrasts with the bootstrapping approach, where you start a generic base image and run provisioning scripts (via cloud-init, user data, or configuration management tools) each time you launch a new instance.
Example: instead of launching an Ubuntu instance and waiting for a user data script to install Docker, Node.js, and your application every time, you bake an AMI that already has Docker and Node.js pre-installed and optimized, so new instances start up faster and more reliably.
Baked images reduce boot time, improve consistency, and lower the risk of provisioning failures, but require a separate image-building pipeline (often using tools like Packer).