diff --git a/packer/gcp/rocky/README.md b/packer/gcp/rocky/README.md
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+# Rocky Linux Packer Template
+
+This directory contains the Packer template and scripts to build optimized Rocky Linux 8 base images for GitHub Actions self-hosted runners on GCP.
+
+## 📊 Performance
+
+- **Standard spawn time:** 4min37s (277s)
+- **With Packer image:** 2min21s (141s)
+- **Improvement:** 49% faster ⚡
+- **Time saved per instance:** 136 seconds (2min16s)
+
+## 📦 What's Pre-installed
+
+- Docker CE + containerd.io
+- EPEL repository (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux)
+- System updates (yum update)
+- Base development tools (bind-utils, yum-utils)
+- Docker service enabled
+- Optimized for GitHub Actions runner deployment
+
+## 🚀 Quick Start
+
+### Build Locally
+
+```bash
+./build.sh
+```
+
+The script will interactively prompt you for:
+
+- GCP Project ID
+- GCP Zone
+- Disk size (default: 80 GB)
+- Image name (auto-generated with timestamp)
+
+### Manual Build
+
+```bash
+# Initialize Packer
+packer init template.pkr.hcl
+
+# Validate
+packer validate \
+  -var="project_id=YOUR_PROJECT" \
+  -var="zone=europe-west1-b" \
+  -var="disk_size=80" \
+  -var="image_name=github-runner-base-rocky-8-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" \
+  template.pkr.hcl
+
+# Build
+packer build \
+  -var="project_id=YOUR_PROJECT" \
+  -var="zone=europe-west1-b" \
+  -var="disk_size=80" \
+  -var="image_name=github-runner-base-rocky-8-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" \
+  template.pkr.hcl
+```
+
+## 📋 Files
+
+- **template.pkr.hcl** - Packer template definition
+- **build.sh** - Interactive build script
+- **provision.sh** - Shell provisioning script (if used)
+- **variables.pkrvars.hcl.example** - Example variables file
+- **config-example.yaml** - Runner-manager configuration example
+
+## 🛠️ Customization
+
+To customize the image, edit:
+
+1. **template.pkr.hcl** - Modify build configuration, machine type, disk size
+2. **provisioners** - Add/remove provisioning steps
+
+Example: Add additional packages
+
+```hcl
+provisioner "shell" {
+  inline = [
+    "sudo yum install -y your-package",
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+## 💡 Why EPEL?
+
+EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) provides most GitHub Actions runner dependencies:
+
+- `lttng-ust`
+- `openssl-libs`
+- `krb5-libs`
+- `zlib`
+- `libicu`
+
+By pre-installing EPEL in the Packer image, the runner's `installdependencies.sh` script finds these packages already available, significantly reducing startup time.
+
+## 📝 Notes
+
+- Build machine: e2-standard-2 (2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM)
+- Build time: ~10-15 minutes
+- Disk size: 80 GB SSD
+- Image family: `github-runner-base-rocky-8`
+- Source image: `rocky-linux-8` from `rocky-linux-cloud`
+
+## ⚠️ Important
+
+Rocky Linux 8 runners show the **best performance improvement** (49% vs 35% for Ubuntu) because:
+
+1. Standard Rocky VMs take much longer to provision (4min37s vs 2min09s)
+2. EPEL installation eliminates most dependency installation time
+3. Docker pre-installation is more impactful on Rocky
+
+## 🔗 See Also
+
+- [Main Packer README](../README.md)
+- [Runner Manager Documentation](../../README.md)
+- [Rocky Linux Documentation](https://docs.rockylinux.org/)
+- [Packer GCP Builder Documentation](https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/integrations/hashicorp/googlecompute)
diff --git a/packer/gcp/rocky/build.sh b/packer/gcp/rocky/build.sh
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+#!/bin/bash
+# Interactive script to build Rocky Linux 8 GitHub Runner base image with Packer
+
+set -e
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+
+echo "=========================================="
+echo "   Rocky Linux 8 Runner Image Builder"
+echo "=========================================="
+echo
+
+# Check prerequisites
+echo "Checking prerequisites..."
+
+# Check if packer is installed
+if ! command -v packer &>/dev/null; then
+	echo "❌ Error: Packer is not installed"
+	echo "   Install from: https://www.packer.io/downloads"
+	exit 1
+fi
+echo "✅ Packer found: $(packer version)"
+
+# Check if gcloud is installed
+if ! command -v gcloud &>/dev/null; then
+	echo "❌ Error: gcloud CLI is not installed"
+	echo "   Install from: https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install"
+	exit 1
+fi
+echo "✅ gcloud CLI found"
+
+# Check gcloud authentication
+if ! gcloud auth list --filter=status:ACTIVE --format="value(account)" &>/dev/null; then
+	echo "❌ Error: No active gcloud authentication"
+	echo "   Run: gcloud auth login"
+	exit 1
+fi
+ACTIVE_ACCOUNT=$(gcloud auth list --filter=status:ACTIVE --format="value(account)")
+# trunk-ignore-all(shellcheck)
+echo "✅ Authenticated as: ${ACTIVE_ACCOUNT}"
+
+echo
+echo "Prerequisites check passed!"
+echo
+
+# Get configuration
+read -p "Enter GCP Project ID [scality-prod-ga-runners]: " PROJECT_ID
+PROJECT_ID=${PROJECT_ID:-scality-prod-ga-runners}
+
+read -p "Enter GCP Zone [europe-west1-b]: " ZONE
+ZONE=${ZONE:-europe-west1-b}
+
+# Choose Rocky Linux version
+echo
+echo "Available Rocky Linux versions:"
+echo "  1) Rocky Linux 8 (recommended)"
+echo "  2) Rocky Linux 9"
+echo "  3) Custom version"
+read -p "Select Rocky Linux version (1/2/3): " VERSION_CHOICE
+
+case ${VERSION_CHOICE} in
+1)
+	ROCKY_VERSION="8"
+	echo "✅ Selected: Rocky Linux 8"
+	;;
+2)
+	ROCKY_VERSION="9"
+	echo "✅ Selected: Rocky Linux 9"
+	;;
+3)
+	read -p "Enter Rocky Linux version (e.g., 8 or 9): " ROCKY_VERSION
+	echo "✅ Selected: Rocky Linux ${ROCKY_VERSION}"
+	;;
+*)
+	ROCKY_VERSION="8"
+	echo "⚠️  Invalid choice, defaulting to Rocky Linux 8"
+	;;
+esac
+
+read -p "Enter disk size in GB [80]: " DISK_SIZE
+DISK_SIZE=${DISK_SIZE:-80}
+
+# Generate image name with timestamp
+TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
+IMAGE_NAME="github-runner-base-rocky-${ROCKY_VERSION}-${TIMESTAMP}"
+
+echo
+echo "=========================================="
+echo "Build Configuration:"
+echo "=========================================="
+echo "Project ID:    ${PROJECT_ID}"
+echo "Zone:          ${ZONE}"
+echo "Rocky Version: ${ROCKY_VERSION}"
+echo "Disk Size:     ${DISK_SIZE}GB"
+echo "Image Name:    ${IMAGE_NAME}"
+echo "Image Family:  github-runner-base-rocky-${ROCKY_VERSION}"
+echo "=========================================="
+echo
+
+read -p "Proceed with build? (yes/no): " CONFIRM
+if [[ ${CONFIRM} != "yes" ]]; then
+	echo "Build cancelled."
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+echo
+echo "Starting Packer build..."
+echo "This will take approximately 10-15 minutes."
+echo
+
+# Initialize Packer
+echo "Initializing Packer plugins..."
+packer init template.pkr.hcl
+
+# Validate template
+echo "Validating Packer template..."
+packer validate \
+	-var="project_id=${PROJECT_ID}" \
+	-var="zone=${ZONE}" \
+	-var="image_name=${IMAGE_NAME}" \
+	-var="rocky_version=${ROCKY_VERSION}" \
+	-var="disk_size=${DISK_SIZE}" \
+	template.pkr.hcl
+
+# Build image
+echo
+echo "Building image (this will take several minutes)..."
+packer build \
+	-var="project_id=${PROJECT_ID}" \
+	-var="zone=${ZONE}" \
+	-var="image_name=${IMAGE_NAME}" \
+	-var="rocky_version=${ROCKY_VERSION}" \
+	-var="disk_size=${DISK_SIZE}" \
+	template.pkr.hcl | tee "packer-build-rocky-${TIMESTAMP}.log"
+
+echo
+echo "=========================================="
+echo "✅ Build completed successfully!"
+echo "=========================================="
+echo
+echo "Image Details:"
+echo "  Name:   ${IMAGE_NAME}"
+echo "  Family: github-runner-base-rocky-${ROCKY_VERSION}"
+echo
+echo "To use this image in runner-manager, update your config.yaml:"
+echo "  runner_groups:"
+echo "    - name: rocky-${ROCKY_VERSION}-packer-gcloud"
+echo "      cloud_provider: gcloud"
+echo "      image_family: github-runner-base-rocky-${ROCKY_VERSION}"
+echo "      image_project: ${PROJECT_ID}"
+echo
+echo "Build log saved to: packer-build-rocky-${TIMESTAMP}.log"
+echo "Manifest saved to: manifest-rocky.json"
+echo
diff --git a/packer/gcp/rocky/provision.sh b/packer/gcp/rocky/provision.sh
new file mode 100755
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+++ b/packer/gcp/rocky/provision.sh
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+#!/bin/bash
+# Rocky Linux provisioning script for GitHub Actions runner base image
+# This script is called by Packer to configure the image
+
+set -e
+
+echo "=========================================="
+echo "Rocky Linux Provisioning Starting"
+echo "=========================================="
+
+# Update system packages
+echo "Step 1/4: Updating system packages..."
+yum update -y
+
+# Install base dependencies
+echo "Step 2/4: Installing base dependencies..."
+yum install -y bind-utils yum-utils
+
+# Install Docker CE
+echo "Step 3/4: Installing Docker CE..."
+yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
+yum install -y epel-release docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
+
+# Configure Docker
+systemctl enable docker
+groupadd -f docker
+
+# Clean up
+echo "Step 4/4: Cleaning up..."
+yum clean all
+rm -rf /var/cache/yum
+rm -rf /tmp/*
+rm -f ~/.bash_history
+
+echo "=========================================="
+echo "Rocky Linux Provisioning Completed"
+echo "=========================================="
diff --git a/packer/gcp/rocky/template.pkr.hcl b/packer/gcp/rocky/template.pkr.hcl
new file mode 100644
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+# Packer Template for GitHub Runner Base Image (Rocky Linux)
+# This template creates a pre-built GCP VM image with common dependencies
+# to accelerate GitHub Actions runner startup time.
+# 
+# Supports multiple Rocky Linux versions: 8, 9, etc.
+# 
+# Example usage:
+#   Rocky 8: packer build -var="rocky_version=8" template.pkr.hcl
+#   Rocky 9: packer build -var="rocky_version=9" template.pkr.hcl
+
+# Variables for configuration
+variable "project_id" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "GCP project ID where the image will be built and stored"
+}
+
+variable "zone" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "GCP zone for the build VM"
+  default     = "europe-west1-b"
+}
+
+variable "rocky_version" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Rocky Linux version (8, 9, etc.)"
+  default     = "8"
+}
+
+variable "source_image_family" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Base image family to build from (will be constructed from rocky_version if not set)"
+  default     = ""
+}
+
+variable "source_image_project" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "GCP project containing the source image"
+  default     = "rocky-linux-cloud"
+}
+
+variable "image_name" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Name for the output image (will be auto-generated if not set)"
+  default     = ""
+}
+
+variable "image_family" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Image family for the output image (will be constructed from rocky_version if not set)"
+  default     = ""
+}
+
+# Local variables for dynamic naming
+locals {
+  # Construct source image family from version if not explicitly set
+  actual_source_image_family = var.source_image_family != "" ? var.source_image_family : "rocky-linux-${var.rocky_version}"
+  
+  # Construct image family from version if not explicitly set
+  actual_image_family = var.image_family != "" ? var.image_family : "github-runner-base-rocky-${var.rocky_version}"
+  
+  # Construct image name with timestamp if not explicitly set
+  actual_image_name = var.image_name != "" ? var.image_name : "github-runner-base-rocky-${var.rocky_version}-${formatdate("YYYYMMDD-hhmmss", timestamp())}"
+}
+
+variable "machine_type" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Machine type for the build VM"
+  default     = "e2-standard-2"
+}
+
+variable "disk_size" {
+  type        = number
+  description = "Disk size in GB for the image"
+  default     = 80
+}
+
+variable "disk_type" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Disk type for the build VM"
+  default     = "pd-ssd"
+}
+
+variable "network" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Network to use for the build VM"
+  default     = "default"
+}
+
+variable "subnetwork" {
+  type        = string
+  description = "Subnetwork to use for the build VM"
+  default     = ""
+}
+
+variable "tags" {
+  type        = list(string)
+  description = "Network tags for the build VM"
+  default     = ["packer-build"]
+}
+
+variable "image_labels" {
+  type        = map(string)
+  description = "Labels to apply to the output image"
+  default = {
+    created_by = "packer"
+    purpose    = "github-actions-runner"
+    os         = "rocky-linux-8"
+  }
+}
+
+# Packer configuration
+packer {
+  required_version = ">= 1.9.0"
+  required_plugins {
+    googlecompute = {
+      version = ">= 1.1.1"
+      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/googlecompute"
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+# Source configuration
+source "googlecompute" "runner-base-rocky" {
+  project_id          = var.project_id
+  source_image_family = local.actual_source_image_family
+  source_image_project_id = [var.source_image_project]
+  zone                = var.zone
+  
+  # Output image configuration
+  image_name          = local.actual_image_name
+  image_family        = local.actual_image_family
+  image_description   = "Pre-built GitHub Actions runner base image (Rocky Linux ${var.rocky_version}) with common dependencies"
+  image_labels        = merge(var.image_labels, {
+    os_version = var.rocky_version
+  })
+  
+  # Build VM configuration
+  machine_type        = var.machine_type
+  disk_size           = var.disk_size
+  disk_type           = var.disk_type
+  network             = var.network
+  subnetwork          = var.subnetwork
+  tags                = var.tags
+  
+  # SSH configuration
+  ssh_username        = "packer"
+  
+  # Use internal IP if on a private network
+  use_internal_ip     = false
+  
+  # Don't create a default service account
+  omit_external_ip    = false
+}
+
+# Build configuration
+build {
+  name = "github-runner-base-rocky"
+  
+  sources = ["source.googlecompute.runner-base-rocky"]
+  
+  # Wait for cloud-init to complete
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "echo 'Waiting for cloud-init to complete...'",
+      "cloud-init status --wait || true",
+      "echo 'Cloud-init completed'"
+    ]
+  }
+  
+  # Update system packages
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "echo 'Updating system packages...'",
+      "sudo yum update -y",
+      "echo 'System update completed'"
+    ]
+  }
+  
+  # Install base dependencies (from startup.sh init() function)
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "echo 'Installing base dependencies...'",
+      "sudo yum install -y bind-utils yum-utils",
+      "echo 'Base dependencies installed'"
+    ]
+  }
+  
+  # Install Docker CE (from startup.sh install_docker() function for Rocky Linux)
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "echo 'Installing Docker CE...'",
+      "sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo",
+      "sudo yum install -y epel-release docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io",
+      "echo 'Docker CE installed'"
+    ]
+  }
+  
+  # Configure Docker
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "echo 'Configuring Docker...'",
+      "sudo systemctl enable docker",
+      "sudo groupadd -f docker",
+      "echo 'Docker configured (will start on first boot)'"
+    ]
+  }
+  
+  # Clean up
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "echo 'Cleaning up...'",
+      "sudo yum clean all",
+      "sudo rm -rf /var/cache/yum",
+      "sudo rm -rf /tmp/*",
+      "sudo rm -f ~/.bash_history",
+      "echo 'Cleanup completed'"
+    ]
+  }
+  
+  # Post-processor: print image information
+  post-processor "manifest" {
+    output = "manifest-rocky.json"
+    strip_path = true
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packer/gcp/rocky/variables.pkrvars.hcl.example b/packer/gcp/rocky/variables.pkrvars.hcl.example
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b6e5dc6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packer/gcp/rocky/variables.pkrvars.hcl.example
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+# Packer Variables File (Optional)
+# This file allows you to set default values for variables
+# You can create a copy of this file as `variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl`
+# and Packer will automatically load it.
+
+# GCP Project Configuration
+zone       = "europe-west1-b"
+
+# Rocky Linux Version
+rocky_version = "8"  # or "9" for Rocky Linux 9
+
+# Image Configuration
+source_image_family  = "rocky-linux-8"  # or "rocky-linux-9"
+source_image_project = "rocky-linux-cloud"
+image_family         = "github-runner-base-rocky-8"  # or "github-runner-base-rocky-9"
+
+# Build VM Configuration
+machine_type = "e2-standard-2"
+disk_size    = 80
+disk_type    = "pd-ssd"
+
+# Network Configuration
+network    = "default"
+subnetwork = ""
+tags       = ["packer-build"]
+
+# Image Labels
+image_labels = {
+  created_by = "packer"
+  purpose    = "github-actions-runner"
+  team       = "platform"
+  os         = "rocky"
+}
+
+# Note: image_name should be set dynamically, not in this file
+# Use: packer build -var="image_name=github-runner-base-rocky-8-$(date +%Y%m%d)" .