Azure ACR "manifest unknown" on pull in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

ACR could not find a manifest for the tag or digest you asked for. The repository may exist but the specific tag was never pushed, was deleted, or you are pulling from a different registry than the one that holds it. Verify the tag exists with az acr repository show-tags.

What this error means

docker pull <registry>.azurecr.io/app:<tag> fails with "manifest unknown" or "manifest for <ref> not found: manifest unknown".

Error response from daemon: manifest for myregistry.azurecr.io/app:v2 not found:
manifest unknown: manifest tagged by "v2" is not found

Common causes

The tag was never pushed or was deleted

The repository exists but has no manifest under that tag, so ACR returns manifest unknown.

Pulling from the wrong registry or repo path

The image lives in a different ACR or under a different repository name than the one in the pull reference.

How to fix it

Confirm the tag exists in this registry

1. List tags for the repository in the target registry.
2. Pull an existing tag, or push the missing tag first.
3. Check the registry host and repo path in the reference.

az acr repository show-tags --name myregistry --repository app --output table

Order build/push before pull

If a downstream job pulls a tag an upstream job produces, ensure the push completes (needs:) before the pull runs.

How to prevent it

• Reference only tags you have pushed to that registry.
• Pin digests so a deleted/retagged image fails loudly.
• Order dependent jobs so the image exists before pulling.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Docker documentation
• Docker build cache
• GitHub Actions documentation