Fly.io Deploy Failed: Waiting for Depot Builder, Registry 401, Too Many Requests

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Switch builder

   Copy steps
   1. fly deploy --depot=false for the legacy remote builder
   2. fly deploy --local-only if remote builds are down (needs Docker)
   3. Debug the Dockerfile with docker build .
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Fix 401 on push

   Copy steps
   1. Run fly auth logout then fly auth login
   2. Check status.flyio.net for a registry incident
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Fix rate limits and manifest errors

   Copy steps
   1. Push to Docker Hub or a private registry and run fly deploy --image <image:tag>
   2. For failed to get manifest, wait about a minute and retry
   3. For release_command machine not found, retry and read fly logs
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Shrink the image

   1. Use multi-stage builds, add .dockerignore, move large assets to volumes or object storage (limit 8GB)
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

fly deploy hangs at Waiting for depot builder, fails with failed to push registry: 401 Unauthorized, too many requests, machine not found, or failed to get manifest.

Why it happens

• Remote builder down or slow
• Expired CLI auth
• Registry rate limits (GHCR and others)
• Image larger than 8GB
• Release command timing issues

This guide also covers

• fly deploy failed
• waiting for depot builder
• failed to push registry 401 unauthorized fly
• fly deploy too many requests

The same problem in other apps

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• DigitalOcean App Platform Build Failed (DigitalOcean)
• Heroku Build Failed Error (Heroku)

Other Fly.io errors

• Fly.io: The app is not listening on the expected address and will not be reachable by fly-proxy
• Fly.io 502 Bad Gateway
• Fly.io 503 Service Unavailable
• Fly.io Health Checks Failing
• Fly.io Machines Stopping or Not Starting (Auto-Stop)
• Fly.io Out of Memory (OOM Killed)
• Fly.io Certificate Not Issuing or Custom Domain Not Working
• How to Cancel Fly.io: Delete an App, Stop Billing and Delete Your Account