crane manifest: Fetch a Raw Image Manifest
crane manifest prints the exact manifest document a registry serves for a reference, letting you inspect media types and per-arch entries.
When you need to see whether an image is a single manifest or a multi-arch index, and which media types it uses, crane manifest shows the raw JSON.
What it does
crane manifest fetches and prints the raw manifest for a reference. For a multi-arch tag that is an image index listing each platform and its digest; for a single image it is the schema 2 or OCI manifest with its config and layers.
Common usage
# raw manifest / index
crane manifest docker.io/library/alpine:3.20 | jq .
# list platforms in a multi-arch index
crane manifest docker.io/library/alpine:3.20 \
| jq -r '.manifests[].platform | .os + "/" + .architecture'
# manifest of a single platform
crane manifest --platform linux/arm64 docker.io/library/alpine:3.20Options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
| REF | The image reference (positional) |
| --platform os/arch | Resolve to and print one platform manifest from an index |
| --insecure | Allow HTTP / skip TLS verification |
In CI
Use crane manifest to assert an image really shipped the architectures you expect (for example fail the build if linux/arm64 is missing from the index) before promoting it.
Common errors in CI
"MANIFEST_UNKNOWN: manifest unknown" means the reference does not exist. "unsupported MediaType: ..." can appear when a tool downstream cannot parse a manifest schema the registry served; inspect the mediaType field to see whether it is a docker.distribution.manifest.list or an oci.image.index. "UNAUTHORIZED" means authenticate first.