Skopeo is a command line utility that performs various operations on container images and image repositories. Skopeo does not require the user to be running as root to do most of its operations. Skopeo does not require a daemon to be running to perform its operations. Skopeo can work with OCI images as well as the original Docker v2 images. Skopeo works with API V2 container image registries such as docker.io and quay.io registries, private registries, local directories and local OCI-layout directories. Skopeo can perform operations which consist of:

Copying an image from and to various storage mechanisms. For example you can copy images from one registry to another, without requiring privilege. Inspecting a remote image showing its properties including its layers, without requiring you to pull the image to the host. Deleting an image from an image repository. Syncing an external image repository to an internal registry for air-gapped deployments. When required by the repository, skopeo can pass the appropriate credentials and certificates for authentication.

Skopeo operates on the following image and repository types:

containers-storage:docker-reference An image located in a local containers/storage image store. Both the location and image store are specified in /etc/containers/storage.conf. (This is the backend for Podman, CRI-O, Buildah and friends) dir:path An existing local directory path storing the manifest, layer tarballs and signatures as individual files. This is a non-standardized format, primarily useful for debugging or noninvasive container inspection. docker://docker-reference An image in a registry implementing the "Docker Registry HTTP API V2". By default, uses the authorization state in $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/containers/auth.json, which is set using skopeo login. docker-archive:path[:docker-reference] An image is stored in a docker save-formatted file. docker-reference is only used when creating such a file, and it must not contain a digest. docker-daemon:docker-reference An image docker-reference stored in the docker daemon internal storage. docker-reference must contain either a tag or a digest. Alternatively, when reading images, the format can also be docker-daemon:algo:digest (an image ID). oci:path:tag An image tag in a directory compliant with "Open Container Image Layout Specification" at path.