The image index is a higher-level manifest which points to specific image manifests, ideal for one or more platforms. While the use of an image index is OPTIONAL for image providers, image consumers SHOULD be prepared to process them.
This section defines the application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json
media type.
For the media type(s) that this document is compatible with, see the matrix.
-
schemaVersion
intThis REQUIRED property specifies the image manifest schema version. For this version of the specification, this MUST be
2
to ensure backward compatibility with older versions of Docker. The value of this field will not change. This field MAY be removed in a future version of the specification. -
mediaType
stringThis property SHOULD be used and remain compatible with earlier versions of this specification and with other similar external formats. When used, this field MUST contain the media type
application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json
. This field usage differs from the descriptor use ofmediaType
. -
artifactType
stringThis OPTIONAL property contains the type of an artifact when the manifest is used for an artifact. If defined, the value MUST comply with RFC 6838, including the naming requirements in its section 4.2, and MAY be registered with IANA.
-
manifests
array of objectsThis REQUIRED property contains a list of manifests for specific platforms. While this property MUST be present, the size of the array MAY be zero.
Each object in
manifests
includes a set of descriptor properties with the following additional properties and restrictions:-
mediaType
stringThis descriptor property has additional restrictions for
manifests
. Implementations MUST support at least the following media types:Also, implementations SHOULD support the following media types:
application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json
(nested index)
Image indexes concerned with portability SHOULD use one of the above media types. Future versions of the spec MAY use a different mediatype (i.e. a new versioned format). An encountered
mediaType
that is unknown to the implementation MUST NOT generate an error. -
platform
objectThis OPTIONAL property describes the minimum runtime requirements of the image. This property SHOULD be present if its target is platform-specific.
-
architecture
stringThis REQUIRED property specifies the CPU architecture. Image indexes SHOULD use, and implementations SHOULD understand, values listed in the Go Language document for
GOARCH
. -
os
stringThis REQUIRED property specifies the operating system. Image indexes SHOULD use, and implementations SHOULD understand, values listed in the Go Language document for
GOOS
. -
os.version
stringThis OPTIONAL property specifies the version of the operating system targeted by the referenced blob. Implementations MAY refuse to use manifests where
os.version
is not known to work with the host OS version. Valid values are implementation-defined. e.g.10.0.14393.1066
onwindows
. -
os.features
array of stringsThis OPTIONAL property specifies an array of strings, each specifying a mandatory OS feature. When
os
iswindows
, image indexes SHOULD use, and implementations SHOULD understand the following values:win32k
: image requireswin32k.sys
on the host (Note:win32k.sys
is missing on Nano Server)
When
os
is notwindows
, values are implementation-defined and SHOULD be submitted to this specification for standardization. -
variant
stringThis OPTIONAL property specifies the variant of the CPU. Image indexes SHOULD use, and implementations SHOULD understand,
variant
values listed in the Platform Variants table. -
features
array of stringsThis property is RESERVED for future versions of the specification.
-
If multiple manifests match a client or runtime's requirements, the first matching entry SHOULD be used.
-
-
subject
descriptorThis OPTIONAL property specifies a descriptor of another manifest. This value defines a weak association to a separate Merkle Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure, and is used by the
referrers
API to include this manifest in the list of responses for the subject digest. -
annotations
string-string mapThis OPTIONAL property contains arbitrary metadata for the image index. This OPTIONAL property MUST use the annotation rules.
When the variant of the CPU is not listed in the table, values are implementation-defined and SHOULD be submitted to this specification for standardization.
ISA/ABI | architecture |
variant |
---|---|---|
ARM 32-bit, v6 | arm |
v6 |
ARM 32-bit, v7 | arm |
v7 |
ARM 32-bit, v8 | arm |
v8 |
ARM 64-bit, v8 | arm64 |
v8 |
Example showing a simple image index pointing to image manifests for two platforms:
{
"schemaVersion": 2,
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json",
"manifests": [
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
"size": 7143,
"digest": "sha256:e692418e4cbaf90ca69d05a66403747baa33ee08806650b51fab815ad7fc331f",
"platform": {
"architecture": "ppc64le",
"os": "linux"
}
},
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
"size": 7682,
"digest": "sha256:5b0bcabd1ed22e9fb1310cf6c2dec7cdef19f0ad69efa1f392e94a4333501270",
"platform": {
"architecture": "amd64",
"os": "linux"
}
}
],
"annotations": {
"com.example.key1": "value1",
"com.example.key2": "value2"
}
}
Example showing an image index pointing to manifests with multiple media types:
{
"schemaVersion": 2,
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json",
"manifests": [
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
"size": 7143,
"digest": "sha256:e692418e4cbaf90ca69d05a66403747baa33ee08806650b51fab815ad7fc331f",
"platform": {
"architecture": "ppc64le",
"os": "linux"
}
},
{
"mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json",
"size": 7682,
"digest": "sha256:601570aaff1b68a61eb9c85b8beca1644e698003e0cdb5bce960f193d265a8b7"
}
],
"annotations": {
"com.example.key1": "value1",
"com.example.key2": "value2"
}
}