`localstack/localstack:latest` will require auth token from March 23 — docs & prerequisites update needed

[HarshCasper]

Hey folks 👋

I'm Harsh from the LocalStack team. Wanted to flag an upcoming change that will directly affect users of this library.

What's changing: Starting March 23, 2026, localstack/localstack:latest on Docker Hub will consolidate into a single unified image that requires authentication via a LOCALSTACK_AUTH_TOKEN. The free Community image, as it exists today, will no longer be available under that tag without an auth token set.

What this means for this repo:

The README currently points users to the official LocalStack installation guide and recommends running LocalStack via Docker or docker-compose — both of which will be affected. Any user who pulls localstack/localstack:latest without an auth token after March 23 will get an authentication error when trying to start LocalStack, which will block the .NET client from working entirely.

The places most likely to need updating:

• The Prerequisites section, which references pulling and running LocalStack via Docker
• Any sandbox applications or integration test setups in tests/sandboxes that spin up a LocalStack container
• CI/CD pipelines (.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml) if they pull the community image

What users will need to do:

1. Sign up for a free LocalStack account at localstack.cloud
2. Generate an auth token from the LocalStack Web App
3. Set LOCALSTACK_AUTH_TOKEN as an environment variable before starting the LocalStack container

For Docker-based setups, this looks like:

docker run --rm -it \
  -e LOCALSTACK_AUTH_TOKEN=$LOCALSTACK_AUTH_TOKEN \
  -p 4566:4566 \
  localstack/localstack

For docker-compose, adding the following under the LocalStack service:

environment:
  - LOCALSTACK_AUTH_TOKEN=${LOCALSTACK_AUTH_TOKEN}

The good news: A free tier is staying — no one has to pay. CI credits are now unlimited on all plans, including free, and open-source projects like this one can apply for free access to paid plans.

Full details in our announcements:

• https://blog.localstack.cloud/the-road-ahead-for-localstack/
• https://blog.localstack.cloud/localstack-single-image-next-steps/
• https://blog.localstack.cloud/2026-upcoming-pricing-changes/

Happy to help with any doc updates, review PRs, or answer questions. Let us know if there's anything we can do to make this easier — and thanks for maintaining this library for the .NET community! 🙏