diff --git a/src/tye/BuildHost.cs b/src/tye/BuildHost.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bfa6f1ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tye/BuildHost.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.CommandLine;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Tye.ConfigModel;
+
+namespace Tye
+{
+    public static class BuildHost
+    {
+        public static Task BuildAsync(IConsole console, FileInfo path, Verbosity verbosity, bool interactive)
+        {
+            var application = ConfigFactory.FromFile(path);
+            return ExecuteBuildAsync(new OutputContext(console, verbosity), application, environment: "production", interactive);
+        }
+
+        public static async Task ExecuteBuildAsync(OutputContext output, ConfigApplication application, string environment, bool interactive)
+        {
+            var temporaryApplication = await Program.CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(output, application, interactive, requireRegistry: false);
+            var steps = new List<ServiceExecutor.Step>()
+            {
+                new CombineStep() { Environment = environment, },
+                new PublishProjectStep(),
+                new BuildDockerImageStep() { Environment = environment, },
+            };
+
+            var executor = new ServiceExecutor(output, temporaryApplication, steps);
+            foreach (var service in temporaryApplication.Services)
+            {
+                await executor.ExecuteAsync(service);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/tye/GenerateHost.cs b/src/tye/GenerateHost.cs
index 03232669..fb6382f7 100644
--- a/src/tye/GenerateHost.cs
+++ b/src/tye/GenerateHost.cs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ using Tye.ConfigModel;
 
 namespace Tye
 {
-    public class GenerateHost
+    public static class GenerateHost
     {
         public static Task GenerateAsync(IConsole console, FileInfo path, Verbosity verbosity, bool interactive)
         {
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ namespace Tye
 
         public static async Task ExecuteGenerateAsync(OutputContext output, ConfigApplication application, string environment, bool interactive)
         {
-            var temporaryApplication = await Program.CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(output, application, interactive);
+            var temporaryApplication = await Program.CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(output, application, interactive, requireRegistry: false);
             var steps = new List<ServiceExecutor.Step>()
             {
                 new CombineStep() { Environment = environment, },
diff --git a/src/tye/Program.BuildCommand.cs b/src/tye/Program.BuildCommand.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9c0ac21d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tye/Program.BuildCommand.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.CommandLine;
+using System.CommandLine.Invocation;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Tye.ConfigModel;
+
+namespace Tye
+{
+    static partial class Program
+    {
+        public static Command CreateBuildCommand()
+        {
+            var command = new Command("build", "build container for the application")
+            {
+                CommonArguments.Path_Required,
+                StandardOptions.Interactive,
+                StandardOptions.Verbosity,
+            };
+
+            command.Handler = CommandHandler.Create<IConsole, FileInfo, Verbosity, bool>((console, path, verbosity, interactive) =>
+            {
+                // Workaround for https://github.com/dotnet/command-line-api/issues/723#issuecomment-593062654
+                if (path is null)
+                {
+                    throw new CommandException("No project or solution file was found.");
+                }
+
+                return BuildHost.BuildAsync(console, path, verbosity, interactive);
+            });
+
+            return command;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs b/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs
index aeb41fb4..05a27b4f 100644
--- a/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs
+++ b/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ namespace Tye
     {
         public static Command CreateDeployCommand()
         {
-            var command = new Command("deploy", "Deploy the application")
+            var command = new Command("deploy", "deploy the application")
             {
                 CommonArguments.Path_Required,
                 StandardOptions.Interactive,
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ namespace Tye
                 throw new CommandException($"Cannot apply manifests because kubectl is not connected to a cluster.");
             }
 
-            var temporaryApplication = await CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(output, application, interactive);
+            var temporaryApplication = await CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(output, application, interactive, requireRegistry: true);
             var steps = new List<ServiceExecutor.Step>()
             {
                 new CombineStep() { Environment = environment, },
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ namespace Tye
             await DeployApplicationManifestAsync(output, temporaryApplication, application.Source.Directory.Name, environment);
         }
 
-        internal static async Task<TemporaryApplicationAdapter> CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(OutputContext output, ConfigApplication application, bool interactive)
+        internal static async Task<TemporaryApplicationAdapter> CreateApplicationAdapterAsync(OutputContext output, ConfigApplication application, bool interactive, bool requireRegistry)
         {
             var globals = new ApplicationGlobals()
             {
@@ -145,13 +145,20 @@ namespace Tye
             var temporaryApplication = new TemporaryApplicationAdapter(application, globals, services);
             if (temporaryApplication.Globals.Registry?.Hostname == null && interactive)
             {
-                var registry = output.Prompt("Enter the Container Registry (ex: 'example.azurecr.io' for Azure or 'example' for dockerhub)");
-                temporaryApplication.Globals.Registry = new ContainerRegistry(registry);
+                var registry = output.Prompt("Enter the Container Registry (ex: 'example.azurecr.io' for Azure or 'example' for dockerhub)", allowEmpty: !requireRegistry);
+                if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(registry))
+                {
+                    temporaryApplication.Globals.Registry = new ContainerRegistry(registry.Trim());
+                }
             }
-            else if (temporaryApplication.Globals.Registry?.Hostname == null)
+            else if (temporaryApplication.Globals.Registry?.Hostname == null && requireRegistry)
             {
                 throw new CommandException("A registry is required for deploy operations. Add the registry to 'tye.yaml' or use '-i' for interactive mode.");
             }
+            else
+            {
+                // No registry specified, and that's OK!
+            }
 
             foreach (var service in temporaryApplication.Services)
             {
diff --git a/src/tye/Program.GenerateCommand.cs b/src/tye/Program.GenerateCommand.cs
index ac883e98..a32a6cc7 100644
--- a/src/tye/Program.GenerateCommand.cs
+++ b/src/tye/Program.GenerateCommand.cs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ namespace Tye
     {
         public static Command CreateGenerateCommand()
         {
-            var command = new Command("generate", "Generate kubernetes manifests")
+            var command = new Command("generate", "generate kubernetes manifests")
             {
                 CommonArguments.Path_Required,
                 StandardOptions.Interactive,
diff --git a/src/tye/Program.cs b/src/tye/Program.cs
index cd2a1f98..efc97e85 100644
--- a/src/tye/Program.cs
+++ b/src/tye/Program.cs
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ namespace Tye
             command.AddCommand(CreateInitCommand());
             command.AddCommand(CreateGenerateCommand());
             command.AddCommand(CreateRunCommand(args));
+            command.AddCommand(CreateBuildCommand());
             command.AddCommand(CreateDeployCommand());
 
             // Show commandline help unless a subcommand was used.
diff --git a/test/E2ETest/DockerAssert.cs b/test/E2ETest/DockerAssert.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dfaf3dd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/E2ETest/DockerAssert.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System;
+using System.CommandLine.Invocation;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Xunit.Abstractions;
+using Xunit.Sdk;
+
+namespace E2ETest
+{
+    public static class DockerAssert
+    {
+        // Repository is the "registry/image" format. Yeah Docker uses that term for it, and it's 
+        // wierd and confusing.
+        public static async Task AssertImageExistsAsync(ITestOutputHelper output, string repository)
+        {
+            if (repository is null)
+            {
+                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(repository));
+            }
+
+            var builder = new StringBuilder();
+
+            var exitCode = await Process.ExecuteAsync(
+                "docker",
+                $"images \"{repository}\" --format \"{{{{.Repository}}}}\"",
+                stdOut: OnOutput,
+                stdErr: OnOutput);
+            if (exitCode != 0)
+            {
+                throw new XunitException($"Running `docker images \"{repository}\"` failed." + Environment.NewLine + builder.ToString());
+            }
+
+            var lines = builder.ToString().Split(new[] { '\r', '\n', });
+            if (lines.Any(line => line == repository))
+            {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            throw new XunitException($"Image '{repository}' was not found.");
+
+            void OnOutput(string text)
+            {
+                builder.AppendLine(text);
+                output.WriteLine(text);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/E2ETest/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs b/test/E2ETest/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ba199a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/E2ETest/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using Xunit;
+
+// We have numerous tests that manipulate machine-wide state (docker, ports, etc)
+[assembly: CollectionBehavior(CollectionBehavior.CollectionPerAssembly, DisableTestParallelization = true)]
diff --git a/test/E2ETest/TestHelpers.cs b/test/E2ETest/TestHelpers.cs
index 96690e0d..0e59d6dd 100644
--- a/test/E2ETest/TestHelpers.cs
+++ b/test/E2ETest/TestHelpers.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-using System;
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Text;
diff --git a/test/E2ETest/TyeBuildTests.cs b/test/E2ETest/TyeBuildTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..57ae44ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/E2ETest/TyeBuildTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using System.IO;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Tye;
+using Tye.ConfigModel;
+using Xunit;
+using Xunit.Abstractions;
+
+namespace E2ETest
+{
+    public class TyeBuildTests
+    {
+        private readonly ITestOutputHelper output;
+        private readonly TestOutputLogEventSink sink;
+
+        public TyeBuildTests(ITestOutputHelper output)
+        {
+            this.output = output;
+            sink = new TestOutputLogEventSink(output);
+        }
+
+        [ConditionalFact]
+        [SkipIfDockerNotRunning]
+        public async Task SingleProjectBuildTest()
+        {
+            var projectName = "single-project";
+            var environment = "production";
+
+            var projectDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(Path.Combine(TestHelpers.GetSolutionRootDirectory("tye"), "samples", projectName));
+            using var tempDirectory = TempDirectory.Create();
+            DirectoryCopy.Copy(projectDirectory.FullName, tempDirectory.DirectoryPath);
+
+            var projectFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(tempDirectory.DirectoryPath, "tye.yaml"));
+
+            var application = ConfigFactory.FromFile(projectFile);
+
+            application.Registry = "test";
+
+            await BuildHost.ExecuteBuildAsync(new OutputContext(sink, Verbosity.Debug), application, environment, interactive: false);
+
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test/test-project");
+        }
+
+        [ConditionalFact]
+        [SkipIfDockerNotRunning]
+        public async Task FrontendBackendBuildTest()
+        {
+            var projectName = "frontend-backend";
+            var environment = "production";
+
+            var projectDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(Path.Combine(TestHelpers.GetSolutionRootDirectory("tye"), "samples", projectName));
+            using var tempDirectory = TempDirectory.Create();
+            DirectoryCopy.Copy(projectDirectory.FullName, tempDirectory.DirectoryPath);
+
+            var projectFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(tempDirectory.DirectoryPath, "tye.yaml"));
+
+            var application = ConfigFactory.FromFile(projectFile);
+
+            application.Registry = "test";
+
+            await BuildHost.ExecuteBuildAsync(new OutputContext(sink, Verbosity.Debug), application, environment, interactive: false);
+
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test/backend");
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test/frontend");
+        }
+
+        [ConditionalFact]
+        [SkipIfDockerNotRunning]
+        public async Task MultipleProjectBuildTest()
+        {
+
+            var projectName = "multi-project";
+            var environment = "production";
+
+            var projectDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(Path.Combine(TestHelpers.GetSolutionRootDirectory("tye"), "samples", projectName));
+            using var tempDirectory = TempDirectory.Create();
+            DirectoryCopy.Copy(projectDirectory.FullName, tempDirectory.DirectoryPath);
+
+            var projectFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(tempDirectory.DirectoryPath, "tye.yaml"));
+
+            var application = ConfigFactory.FromFile(projectFile);
+
+            application.Registry = "test";
+
+            await BuildHost.ExecuteBuildAsync(new OutputContext(sink, Verbosity.Debug), application, environment, interactive: false);
+
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test/backend");
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test/frontend");
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test/worker");
+        }
+
+        [ConditionalFact]
+        [SkipIfDockerNotRunning]
+        public async Task BuildDoesNotRequireRegistry()
+        {
+            var projectName = "single-project";
+            var environment = "production";
+
+            var projectDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(Path.Combine(TestHelpers.GetSolutionRootDirectory("tye"), "samples", projectName));
+            using var tempDirectory = TempDirectory.Create();
+            DirectoryCopy.Copy(projectDirectory.FullName, tempDirectory.DirectoryPath);
+
+            var projectFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(tempDirectory.DirectoryPath, "tye.yaml"));
+
+            var application = ConfigFactory.FromFile(projectFile);
+
+            await BuildHost.ExecuteBuildAsync(new OutputContext(sink, Verbosity.Debug), application, environment, interactive: false);
+
+            await DockerAssert.AssertImageExistsAsync(output, "test-project");
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/E2ETest/TyeGenerateTests.cs b/test/E2ETest/TyeGenerateTests.cs
index f4d604a4..21ec0494 100644
--- a/test/E2ETest/TyeGenerateTests.cs
+++ b/test/E2ETest/TyeGenerateTests.cs
@@ -102,5 +102,29 @@ namespace E2ETest
 
             Assert.Equal(expectedContent, content);
         }
+
+        [ConditionalFact]
+        [SkipIfDockerNotRunning]
+        public async Task GenerateWorksWithoutRegistry()
+        {
+            var projectName = "single-project";
+            var environment = "production";
+
+            var projectDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(Path.Combine(TestHelpers.GetSolutionRootDirectory("tye"), "samples", projectName));
+            using var tempDirectory = TempDirectory.Create();
+            DirectoryCopy.Copy(projectDirectory.FullName, tempDirectory.DirectoryPath);
+
+            var projectFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(tempDirectory.DirectoryPath, "tye.yaml"));
+
+            var application = ConfigFactory.FromFile(projectFile);
+
+            await GenerateHost.ExecuteGenerateAsync(new OutputContext(sink, Verbosity.Debug), application, environment, interactive: false);
+
+            // name of application is the folder
+            var content = File.ReadAllText(Path.Combine(tempDirectory.DirectoryPath, $"{projectName}-generate-{environment}.yaml"));
+            var expectedContent = File.ReadAllText($"testassets/generate/{projectName}-noregistry.yaml");
+
+            Assert.Equal(expectedContent, content);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/E2ETest/testassets/generate/single-project-noregistry.yaml b/test/E2ETest/testassets/generate/single-project-noregistry.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..72598a15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/E2ETest/testassets/generate/single-project-noregistry.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+kind: Deployment
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+metadata:
+  name: test-project
+  labels:
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: test-project
+    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: single-project
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app.kubernetes.io/name: test-project
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app.kubernetes.io/name: test-project
+        app.kubernetes.io/part-of: single-project
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - name: test-project
+        image: test-project:1.0.0
+        imagePullPolicy: Always
+        env:
+        - name: ASPNETCORE_URLS
+          value: http://*:5000
+        ports:
+        - containerPort: 5001
+        - containerPort: 5000
+...
+---
+kind: Service
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: test-project
+  labels:
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: test-project
+    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: single-project
+spec:
+  selector:
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: test-project
+  type: ClusterIP
+  ports:
+  - name: test-project
+    protocol: TCP
+    port: 5001
+    targetPort: 5001
+  - name: test-project
+    protocol: TCP
+    port: 5000
+    targetPort: 5000
+...