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App Platform 'failed to export: failed to write image to the following tags: [<image-4>: head <registry-uri-5>

Posted on October 27, 2025

Trying to deploy app components via app platform and getting this error after the build succeeds.

failed to export: failed to write image to the following tags: [<image-4>: head <registry-uri-5> unexpected status code 401 unauthorized (head responses have no body, use get for details)

This same exact codebase, different branch, is running with no issues in another App platform deployment. More logs:

Oct 27 20:06:39 │ -----> Build succeeded! Oct 27 20:06:40 │ Running custom build command: npm run build Oct 27 20:06:40 │ Oct 27 20:06:40 │ > backend@1.0.0 build Oct 27 20:06:40 │ > tsc Oct 27 20:06:40 │ Oct 27 20:06:46 │ npm notice Oct 27 20:06:46 │ npm notice New major version of npm available! 10.9.2 -> 11.6.2 Oct 27 20:06:46 │ npm notice Changelog: https://github.com/npm/cli/releases/tag/v11.6.2 Oct 27 20:06:46 │ npm notice To update run: npm install -g npm@11.6.2 Oct 27 20:06:46 │ npm notice Oct 27 20:06:46 │ Timer: Builder ran for 25.300368088s and ended at 2025-10-27T20:06:46Z Oct 27 20:06:46 ╰───────────────────────────────────╼ Oct 27 20:06:46
Oct 27 20:06:46 ╭──────────── app upload ───────────╼ Oct 27 20:06:46 │  › uploading app container image to DOCR Oct 27 20:06:46 │ Warning: no analyzed metadata found at path ‘/layers/analyzed.toml’ Oct 27 20:06:46 │ Timer: Exporter started at 2025-10-27T20:06:46Z Oct 27 20:06:46 │ Adding layer ‘heroku/nodejs:profile’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding 1/1 app layer(s) Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding layer ‘buildpacksio/lifecycle:launcher’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding layer ‘buildpacksio/lifecycle:config’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding layer ‘buildpacksio/lifecycle:process-types’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding label ‘io.buildpacks.lifecycle.metadata’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding label ‘io.buildpacks.build.metadata’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Adding label ‘io.buildpacks.project.metadata’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Setting default process type ‘web’ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Timer: Saving <image-0>… started at 2025-10-27T20:06:57Z Oct 27 20:06:57 │ *** Images (sha256:ec37cb06900b1f3ac54a9e084a798c2c72f4d9004694a23e4e499dc7c86d2f66): Oct 27 20:06:57 │ <image-1> - HEAD <registry-uri-3> unexpected status code 401 Unauthorized (HEAD responses have no body, use GET for details) Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Timer: Saving <image-2>… ran for 60.920831ms and ended at 2025-10-27T20:06:57Z Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Timer: Exporter ran for 10.922091465s and ended at 2025-10-27T20:06:57Z Oct 27 20:06:57 │ ERROR: failed to export: failed to write image to the following tags: [<image-4>: HEAD <registry-uri-5> unexpected status code 401 Unauthorized (HEAD responses have no body, use GET for details)] Oct 27 20:06:57 │ Oct 27 20:06:57 │ command exited with code 246



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