# Difference between: jenkins/agent and jenkins/inbound-agent images? **URL:** \ **Category:** Using Jenkins\ **Created:** [December 15, 2021, 9:18am UTC](https://community.jenkins.io/t/difference-between-jenkins-agent-and-jenkins-inbound-agent-images/1017 "2021-12-15T09:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![MarkEWaite](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.jenkins.io/markewaite/32/20_2.png) [@MarkEWaite](https://community.jenkins.io/u/MarkEWaite)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 9:49am UTC](https://community.jenkins.io/t/difference-between-jenkins-agent-and-jenkins-inbound-agent-images/1017/2 "2021-12-15T09:49:22Z")
The Jenkins agent image can be used by the Jenkins controller to start an agent from the Jenkins controller using the **Launch method** of **Launch agent via execution of command on the controller**. The Jenkins inbound agent image is used to start an agent **externally** (for example, a Kubernetes pod that is a Jenkins agent). The externally started agent connects to Jenkins. The [Jenkins Kubernetes plugin](https://plugins.jenkins.io/kubernetes/) uses the inbound agent image to start agents on demand. Those agents are launched in the Kubernetes cluster and connect to Jenkins. ## [Jenkins agent](https://hub.docker.com/r/jenkins/agent) This image is used as the basis for the [Docker Inbound Agent](https://github.com/jenkinsci/docker-inbound-agent/) image. In that image, the container is launched externally and attaches to Jenkins. This image may instead be used to launch an agent using the **Launch method** of **Launch agent via execution of command on the controller**. ## [Jenkins inbound agent](https://hub.docker.com/r/jenkins/inbound-agent) This is an image for [Jenkins](https://jenkins.io/) agents using TCP or WebSockets to establish inbound connection to the Jenkins controller. This agent is powered by the [Jenkins Remoting library](https://github.com/jenkinsci/remoting), which version is being taken from the base [Docker Agent](https://github.com/jenkinsci/docker-agent/) image. --- _[View the full topic](https://community.jenkins.io/t/difference-between-jenkins-agent-and-jenkins-inbound-agent-images/1017)._