diff --git a/docs/deployment_patterns.md b/docs/deployment_patterns.md
index fb2e0063..2ec82dca 100644
--- a/docs/deployment_patterns.md
+++ b/docs/deployment_patterns.md
@@ -75,3 +75,52 @@ This overwrites your customizations with defaults from the stack's `commands.py`
 git pull  # Get latest spec.yml from your operator repo
 laconic-so deployment --dir my-deployment restart
 ```
+
+## Private Registry Authentication
+
+For deployments using images from private container registries (e.g., GitHub Container Registry), configure authentication in your spec.yml:
+
+### Configuration
+
+Add an `image-registry` section to your spec.yml:
+
+```yaml
+image-registry:
+  server: ghcr.io
+  username: your-org-or-username
+  token-env: REGISTRY_TOKEN
+```
+
+**Fields:**
+- `server`: The registry hostname (e.g., `ghcr.io`, `docker.io`, `gcr.io`)
+- `username`: Registry username (for GHCR, use your GitHub username or org name)
+- `token-env`: Name of the environment variable containing your API token/PAT
+
+### Token Environment Variable
+
+The `token-env` pattern keeps credentials out of version control. Set the environment variable when running `deployment start`:
+
+```bash
+export REGISTRY_TOKEN="your-personal-access-token"
+laconic-so deployment --dir my-deployment start
+```
+
+For GHCR, create a Personal Access Token (PAT) with `read:packages` scope.
+
+### Ansible Integration
+
+When using Ansible for deployments, pass the token from a credentials file:
+
+```yaml
+- name: Start deployment
+  ansible.builtin.command:
+    cmd: laconic-so deployment --dir {{ deployment_dir }} start
+  environment:
+    REGISTRY_TOKEN: "{{ lookup('file', '~/.credentials/ghcr_token') }}"
+```
+
+### How It Works
+
+1. laconic-so reads the `image-registry` config from spec.yml
+2. Creates a Kubernetes `docker-registry` secret named `{deployment}-registry`
+3. The deployment's pods reference this secret for image pulls
diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/deployment_create.py b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/deployment_create.py
index bfa5b3d6..870410f8 100644
--- a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/deployment_create.py
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/deployment_create.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import click
 from importlib import util
+import json
 import os
 import re
 import base64
@@ -554,6 +555,87 @@ def _generate_and_store_secrets(config_vars: dict, deployment_name: str):
     return secrets
 
 
+def create_registry_secret(spec: Spec, deployment_name: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    """Create K8s docker-registry secret from spec + environment.
+
+    Reads registry configuration from spec.yml and creates a Kubernetes
+    secret of type kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson for image pulls.
+
+    Args:
+        spec: The deployment spec containing image-registry config
+        deployment_name: Name of the deployment (used for secret naming)
+
+    Returns:
+        The secret name if created, None if no registry config
+    """
+    from kubernetes import client, config as k8s_config
+
+    registry_config = spec.get_image_registry_config()
+    if not registry_config:
+        return None
+
+    server = registry_config.get("server")
+    username = registry_config.get("username")
+    token_env = registry_config.get("token-env")
+
+    if not all([server, username, token_env]):
+        return None
+
+    # Type narrowing for pyright - we've validated these aren't None above
+    assert token_env is not None
+    token = os.environ.get(token_env)
+    if not token:
+        print(
+            f"Warning: Registry token env var '{token_env}' not set, "
+            "skipping registry secret"
+        )
+        return None
+
+    # Create dockerconfigjson format (Docker API uses "password" field for tokens)
+    auth = base64.b64encode(f"{username}:{token}".encode()).decode()
+    docker_config = {
+        "auths": {server: {"username": username, "password": token, "auth": auth}}
+    }
+
+    # Secret name derived from deployment name
+    secret_name = f"{deployment_name}-registry"
+
+    # Load kube config
+    try:
+        k8s_config.load_kube_config()
+    except Exception:
+        try:
+            k8s_config.load_incluster_config()
+        except Exception:
+            print("Warning: Could not load kube config, registry secret not created")
+            return None
+
+    v1 = client.CoreV1Api()
+    namespace = "default"
+
+    k8s_secret = client.V1Secret(
+        metadata=client.V1ObjectMeta(name=secret_name),
+        data={
+            ".dockerconfigjson": base64.b64encode(
+                json.dumps(docker_config).encode()
+            ).decode()
+        },
+        type="kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson",
+    )
+
+    try:
+        v1.create_namespaced_secret(namespace, k8s_secret)
+        print(f"Created registry secret '{secret_name}' for {server}")
+    except client.exceptions.ApiException as e:
+        if e.status == 409:  # Already exists
+            v1.replace_namespaced_secret(secret_name, namespace, k8s_secret)
+            print(f"Updated registry secret '{secret_name}' for {server}")
+        else:
+            raise
+
+    return secret_name
+
+
 def _write_config_file(
     spec_file: Path, config_env_file: Path, deployment_name: Optional[str] = None
 ):
diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/cluster_info.py b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/cluster_info.py
index 0d9ac2ed..22c3ccf4 100644
--- a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/cluster_info.py
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/cluster_info.py
@@ -487,7 +487,12 @@ class ClusterInfo:
         volumes = volumes_for_pod_files(
             self.parsed_pod_yaml_map, self.spec, self.app_name
         )
-        image_pull_secrets = [client.V1LocalObjectReference(name="laconic-registry")]
+        registry_config = self.spec.get_image_registry_config()
+        if registry_config:
+            secret_name = f"{self.app_name}-registry"
+            image_pull_secrets = [client.V1LocalObjectReference(name=secret_name)]
+        else:
+            image_pull_secrets = []
 
         annotations = None
         labels = {"app": self.app_name}
diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/deploy_k8s.py b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/deploy_k8s.py
index 2d44fe23..326cb6ab 100644
--- a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/deploy_k8s.py
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/k8s/deploy_k8s.py
@@ -332,6 +332,11 @@ class K8sDeployer(Deployer):
         else:
             print("Dry run mode enabled, skipping k8s API connect")
 
+        # Create registry secret if configured
+        from stack_orchestrator.deploy.deployment_create import create_registry_secret
+
+        create_registry_secret(self.cluster_info.spec, self.cluster_info.app_name)
+
         self._create_volume_data()
         self._create_deployment()
 
diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/spec.py b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/spec.py
index a870ef60..07b220cd 100644
--- a/stack_orchestrator/deploy/spec.py
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/deploy/spec.py
@@ -98,6 +98,14 @@ class Spec:
     def get_image_registry(self):
         return self.obj.get(constants.image_registry_key)
 
+    def get_image_registry_config(self) -> typing.Optional[typing.Dict]:
+        """Returns registry auth config: {server, username, token-env}.
+
+        Used for private container registries like GHCR. The token-env field
+        specifies an environment variable containing the API token/PAT.
+        """
+        return self.obj.get("image-registry")
+
     def get_volumes(self):
         return self.obj.get(constants.volumes_key, {})