Creating OCI container from Gitea container repository fails with Error: Failed instance creation: Image not found

I’ve run into an issue where I cannot create an instance from my local gitea package repository. The error returned is Error: Failed instance creation: Image not found. I am able to pull the image with docker pull <repo>/matt/lxconsole:latest.

A bit more digging with incus image info gitea:matt/lxconsole:latest --debug returns

DEBUG  [2026-01-02T13:44:56Z] Connecting to a remote OCI server             URL="https://git.<tld>"
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T13:44:56Z] Error getting image alias                     name="matt/lxconsole:latest" stderr="Failed to run: skopeo --insecure-policy inspect docker://git.<tld>/matt/lxconsole:latest: exit status 1 (time=\"2026-01-02T13:44:56Z\" level=fatal msg=\"Error parsing manifest for image: unsupported schema version 2\")" stdout=
Error: Image not found

I looked around in the gitea docs for any mention of the manifest version, but didn’t find anything. I’m also not sure if that is the root issue or a symptom thereof. Any thoughts on how to resolve this or additional debugging would be appreciated.

I’m running Incus version 6.19.1 on Ubuntu 24.04.

Steps to reproduce

Add the remote

Add the gitea instance as a remote, I used the first command, then removed and tried the second, with the same result:

incus remote add gitea https://git.<tld> --protocol=oci

The second attempt and the one in place for any output included here:

incus remote add gitea https://git.<tld> --protocol=oci --accept-certificate --public

I included accept-certificate just in case this issue is relevant and would be addressed by the flag; I don’t think it is because the gitea instance has a valid ssl cert. But, I’m not overly familiar with package repositories, so maybe the container repo itself has a cert? (I didn’t find any evidence of this).

I also added the public flag based on this comment, again, just in case it made a difference.

Create the container

The command used to create the container:

incus launch gitea:matt/lxconsole:latest lxconsole \
    -p default \
    -c boot.autostart=true \
    -c limits.cpu=1 \
    -c limits.memory=512MiB \
    -c environment.LXCONSOLE_SECRET_KEY=<secret_key> \
     --debug

returns:

DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] Connecting to a local Incus over a Unix socket 
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] Sending request to Incus                      etag= method=GET url="http://unix.socket/1.0"
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] Got response struct from Incus               
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] 
	{
		"config": {
			"cluster.https_address": "10.77.10.23:8443",
			"core.https_address": "10.77.10.23:8443"
		},
		"api_extensions": [
			"storage_zfs_remove_snapshots",
			"container_host_shutdown_timeout",
			"container_stop_priority",
			"container_syscall_filtering",
			"auth_pki",
			"container_last_used_at",
			"etag",
			"patch",
			"usb_devices",
			"https_allowed_credentials",
			"image_compression_algorithm",
			"directory_manipulation",
			"container_cpu_time",
			"storage_zfs_use_refquota",
			"storage_lvm_mount_options",
			"network",
			"profile_usedby",
			"container_push",
			"container_exec_recording",
			"certificate_update",
			"container_exec_signal_handling",
			"gpu_devices",
			"container_image_properties",
			"migration_progress",
			"id_map",
			"network_firewall_filtering",
			"network_routes",
			"storage",
			"file_delete",
			"file_append",
			"network_dhcp_expiry",
			"storage_lvm_vg_rename",
			"storage_lvm_thinpool_rename",
			"network_vlan",
			"image_create_aliases",
			"container_stateless_copy",
			"container_only_migration",
			"storage_zfs_clone_copy",
			"unix_device_rename",
			"storage_lvm_use_thinpool",
			"storage_rsync_bwlimit",
			"network_vxlan_interface",
			"storage_btrfs_mount_options",
			"entity_description",
			"image_force_refresh",
			"storage_lvm_lv_resizing",
			"id_map_base",
			"file_symlinks",
			"container_push_target",
			"network_vlan_physical",
			"storage_images_delete",
			"container_edit_metadata",
			"container_snapshot_stateful_migration",
			"storage_driver_ceph",
			"storage_ceph_user_name",
			"resource_limits",
			"storage_volatile_initial_source",
			"storage_ceph_force_osd_reuse",
			"storage_block_filesystem_btrfs",
			"resources",
			"kernel_limits",
			"storage_api_volume_rename",
			"network_sriov",
			"console",
			"restrict_dev_incus",
			"migration_pre_copy",
			"infiniband",
			"dev_incus_events",
			"proxy",
			"network_dhcp_gateway",
			"file_get_symlink",
			"network_leases",
			"unix_device_hotplug",
			"storage_api_local_volume_handling",
			"operation_description",
			"clustering",
			"event_lifecycle",
			"storage_api_remote_volume_handling",
			"nvidia_runtime",
			"container_mount_propagation",
			"container_backup",
			"dev_incus_images",
			"container_local_cross_pool_handling",
			"proxy_unix",
			"proxy_udp",
			"clustering_join",
			"proxy_tcp_udp_multi_port_handling",
			"network_state",
			"proxy_unix_dac_properties",
			"container_protection_delete",
			"unix_priv_drop",
			"pprof_http",
			"proxy_haproxy_protocol",
			"network_hwaddr",
			"proxy_nat",
			"network_nat_order",
			"container_full",
			"backup_compression",
			"nvidia_runtime_config",
			"storage_api_volume_snapshots",
			"storage_unmapped",
			"projects",
			"network_vxlan_ttl",
			"container_incremental_copy",
			"usb_optional_vendorid",
			"snapshot_scheduling",
			"snapshot_schedule_aliases",
			"container_copy_project",
			"clustering_server_address",
			"clustering_image_replication",
			"container_protection_shift",
			"snapshot_expiry",
			"container_backup_override_pool",
			"snapshot_expiry_creation",
			"network_leases_location",
			"resources_cpu_socket",
			"resources_gpu",
			"resources_numa",
			"kernel_features",
			"id_map_current",
			"event_location",
			"storage_api_remote_volume_snapshots",
			"network_nat_address",
			"container_nic_routes",
			"cluster_internal_copy",
			"seccomp_notify",
			"lxc_features",
			"container_nic_ipvlan",
			"network_vlan_sriov",
			"storage_cephfs",
			"container_nic_ipfilter",
			"resources_v2",
			"container_exec_user_group_cwd",
			"container_syscall_intercept",
			"container_disk_shift",
			"storage_shifted",
			"resources_infiniband",
			"daemon_storage",
			"instances",
			"image_types",
			"resources_disk_sata",
			"clustering_roles",
			"images_expiry",
			"resources_network_firmware",
			"backup_compression_algorithm",
			"ceph_data_pool_name",
			"container_syscall_intercept_mount",
			"compression_squashfs",
			"container_raw_mount",
			"container_nic_routed",
			"container_syscall_intercept_mount_fuse",
			"container_disk_ceph",
			"virtual-machines",
			"image_profiles",
			"clustering_architecture",
			"resources_disk_id",
			"storage_lvm_stripes",
			"vm_boot_priority",
			"unix_hotplug_devices",
			"api_filtering",
			"instance_nic_network",
			"clustering_sizing",
			"firewall_driver",
			"projects_limits",
			"container_syscall_intercept_hugetlbfs",
			"limits_hugepages",
			"container_nic_routed_gateway",
			"projects_restrictions",
			"custom_volume_snapshot_expiry",
			"volume_snapshot_scheduling",
			"trust_ca_certificates",
			"snapshot_disk_usage",
			"clustering_edit_roles",
			"container_nic_routed_host_address",
			"container_nic_ipvlan_gateway",
			"resources_usb_pci",
			"resources_cpu_threads_numa",
			"resources_cpu_core_die",
			"api_os",
			"container_nic_routed_host_table",
			"container_nic_ipvlan_host_table",
			"container_nic_ipvlan_mode",
			"resources_system",
			"images_push_relay",
			"network_dns_search",
			"container_nic_routed_limits",
			"instance_nic_bridged_vlan",
			"network_state_bond_bridge",
			"usedby_consistency",
			"custom_block_volumes",
			"clustering_failure_domains",
			"resources_gpu_mdev",
			"console_vga_type",
			"projects_limits_disk",
			"network_type_macvlan",
			"network_type_sriov",
			"container_syscall_intercept_bpf_devices",
			"network_type_ovn",
			"projects_networks",
			"projects_networks_restricted_uplinks",
			"custom_volume_backup",
			"backup_override_name",
			"storage_rsync_compression",
			"network_type_physical",
			"network_ovn_external_subnets",
			"network_ovn_nat",
			"network_ovn_external_routes_remove",
			"tpm_device_type",
			"storage_zfs_clone_copy_rebase",
			"gpu_mdev",
			"resources_pci_iommu",
			"resources_network_usb",
			"resources_disk_address",
			"network_physical_ovn_ingress_mode",
			"network_ovn_dhcp",
			"network_physical_routes_anycast",
			"projects_limits_instances",
			"network_state_vlan",
			"instance_nic_bridged_port_isolation",
			"instance_bulk_state_change",
			"network_gvrp",
			"instance_pool_move",
			"gpu_sriov",
			"pci_device_type",
			"storage_volume_state",
			"network_acl",
			"migration_stateful",
			"disk_state_quota",
			"storage_ceph_features",
			"projects_compression",
			"projects_images_remote_cache_expiry",
			"certificate_project",
			"network_ovn_acl",
			"projects_images_auto_update",
			"projects_restricted_cluster_target",
			"images_default_architecture",
			"network_ovn_acl_defaults",
			"gpu_mig",
			"project_usage",
			"network_bridge_acl",
			"warnings",
			"projects_restricted_backups_and_snapshots",
			"clustering_join_token",
			"clustering_description",
			"server_trusted_proxy",
			"clustering_update_cert",
			"storage_api_project",
			"server_instance_driver_operational",
			"server_supported_storage_drivers",
			"event_lifecycle_requestor_address",
			"resources_gpu_usb",
			"clustering_evacuation",
			"network_ovn_nat_address",
			"network_bgp",
			"network_forward",
			"custom_volume_refresh",
			"network_counters_errors_dropped",
			"metrics",
			"image_source_project",
			"clustering_config",
			"network_peer",
			"linux_sysctl",
			"network_dns",
			"ovn_nic_acceleration",
			"certificate_self_renewal",
			"instance_project_move",
			"storage_volume_project_move",
			"cloud_init",
			"network_dns_nat",
			"database_leader",
			"instance_all_projects",
			"clustering_groups",
			"ceph_rbd_du",
			"instance_get_full",
			"qemu_metrics",
			"gpu_mig_uuid",
			"event_project",
			"clustering_evacuation_live",
			"instance_allow_inconsistent_copy",
			"network_state_ovn",
			"storage_volume_api_filtering",
			"image_restrictions",
			"storage_zfs_export",
			"network_dns_records",
			"storage_zfs_reserve_space",
			"network_acl_log",
			"storage_zfs_blocksize",
			"metrics_cpu_seconds",
			"instance_snapshot_never",
			"certificate_token",
			"instance_nic_routed_neighbor_probe",
			"event_hub",
			"agent_nic_config",
			"projects_restricted_intercept",
			"metrics_authentication",
			"images_target_project",
			"images_all_projects",
			"cluster_migration_inconsistent_copy",
			"cluster_ovn_chassis",
			"container_syscall_intercept_sched_setscheduler",
			"storage_lvm_thinpool_metadata_size",
			"storage_volume_state_total",
			"instance_file_head",
			"instances_nic_host_name",
			"image_copy_profile",
			"container_syscall_intercept_sysinfo",
			"clustering_evacuation_mode",
			"resources_pci_vpd",
			"qemu_raw_conf",
			"storage_cephfs_fscache",
			"network_load_balancer",
			"vsock_api",
			"instance_ready_state",
			"network_bgp_holdtime",
			"storage_volumes_all_projects",
			"metrics_memory_oom_total",
			"storage_buckets",
			"storage_buckets_create_credentials",
			"metrics_cpu_effective_total",
			"projects_networks_restricted_access",
			"storage_buckets_local",
			"loki",
			"acme",
			"internal_metrics",
			"cluster_join_token_expiry",
			"remote_token_expiry",
			"init_preseed",
			"storage_volumes_created_at",
			"cpu_hotplug",
			"projects_networks_zones",
			"network_txqueuelen",
			"cluster_member_state",
			"instances_placement_scriptlet",
			"storage_pool_source_wipe",
			"zfs_block_mode",
			"instance_generation_id",
			"disk_io_cache",
			"amd_sev",
			"storage_pool_loop_resize",
			"migration_vm_live",
			"ovn_nic_nesting",
			"oidc",
			"network_ovn_l3only",
			"ovn_nic_acceleration_vdpa",
			"cluster_healing",
			"instances_state_total",
			"auth_user",
			"security_csm",
			"instances_rebuild",
			"numa_cpu_placement",
			"custom_volume_iso",
			"network_allocations",
			"zfs_delegate",
			"storage_api_remote_volume_snapshot_copy",
			"operations_get_query_all_projects",
			"metadata_configuration",
			"syslog_socket",
			"event_lifecycle_name_and_project",
			"instances_nic_limits_priority",
			"disk_initial_volume_configuration",
			"operation_wait",
			"image_restriction_privileged",
			"cluster_internal_custom_volume_copy",
			"disk_io_bus",
			"storage_cephfs_create_missing",
			"instance_move_config",
			"ovn_ssl_config",
			"certificate_description",
			"disk_io_bus_virtio_blk",
			"loki_config_instance",
			"instance_create_start",
			"clustering_evacuation_stop_options",
			"boot_host_shutdown_action",
			"agent_config_drive",
			"network_state_ovn_lr",
			"image_template_permissions",
			"storage_bucket_backup",
			"storage_lvm_cluster",
			"shared_custom_block_volumes",
			"auth_tls_jwt",
			"oidc_claim",
			"device_usb_serial",
			"numa_cpu_balanced",
			"image_restriction_nesting",
			"network_integrations",
			"instance_memory_swap_bytes",
			"network_bridge_external_create",
			"network_zones_all_projects",
			"storage_zfs_vdev",
			"container_migration_stateful",
			"profiles_all_projects",
			"instances_scriptlet_get_instances",
			"instances_scriptlet_get_cluster_members",
			"instances_scriptlet_get_project",
			"network_acl_stateless",
			"instance_state_started_at",
			"networks_all_projects",
			"network_acls_all_projects",
			"storage_buckets_all_projects",
			"resources_load",
			"instance_access",
			"project_access",
			"projects_force_delete",
			"resources_cpu_flags",
			"disk_io_bus_cache_filesystem",
			"instance_oci",
			"clustering_groups_config",
			"instances_lxcfs_per_instance",
			"clustering_groups_vm_cpu_definition",
			"disk_volume_subpath",
			"projects_limits_disk_pool",
			"network_ovn_isolated",
			"qemu_raw_qmp",
			"network_load_balancer_health_check",
			"oidc_scopes",
			"network_integrations_peer_name",
			"qemu_scriptlet",
			"instance_auto_restart",
			"storage_lvm_metadatasize",
			"ovn_nic_promiscuous",
			"ovn_nic_ip_address_none",
			"instances_state_os_info",
			"network_load_balancer_state",
			"instance_nic_macvlan_mode",
			"storage_lvm_cluster_create",
			"network_ovn_external_interfaces",
			"instances_scriptlet_get_instances_count",
			"cluster_rebalance",
			"custom_volume_refresh_exclude_older_snapshots",
			"storage_initial_owner",
			"storage_live_migration",
			"instance_console_screenshot",
			"image_import_alias",
			"authorization_scriptlet",
			"console_force",
			"network_ovn_state_addresses",
			"network_bridge_acl_devices",
			"instance_debug_memory",
			"init_preseed_storage_volumes",
			"init_preseed_profile_project",
			"instance_nic_routed_host_address",
			"instance_smbios11",
			"api_filtering_extended",
			"acme_dns01",
			"security_iommu",
			"network_ipv4_dhcp_routes",
			"network_state_ovn_ls",
			"network_dns_nameservers",
			"acme_http01_port",
			"network_ovn_ipv4_dhcp_expiry",
			"instance_state_cpu_time",
			"network_io_bus",
			"disk_io_bus_usb",
			"storage_driver_linstor",
			"instance_oci_entrypoint",
			"network_address_set",
			"server_logging",
			"network_forward_snat",
			"memory_hotplug",
			"instance_nic_routed_host_tables",
			"instance_publish_split",
			"init_preseed_certificates",
			"custom_volume_sftp",
			"network_ovn_external_nic_address",
			"network_physical_gateway_hwaddr",
			"backup_s3_upload",
			"snapshot_manual_expiry",
			"resources_cpu_address_sizes",
			"disk_attached",
			"limits_memory_hotplug",
			"disk_wwn",
			"server_logging_webhook",
			"storage_driver_truenas",
			"container_disk_tmpfs",
			"instance_limits_oom",
			"backup_override_config",
			"network_ovn_tunnels",
			"init_preseed_cluster_groups",
			"usb_attached",
			"backup_iso",
			"instance_systemd_credentials",
			"cluster_group_usedby",
			"bpf_token_delegation",
			"file_storage_volume",
			"network_hwaddr_pattern",
			"storage_volume_full",
			"storage_bucket_full",
			"device_pci_firmware",
			"resources_serial",
			"ovn_nic_limits"
		],
		"api_status": "stable",
		"api_version": "1.0",
		"auth": "trusted",
		"public": false,
		"auth_methods": [
			"tls"
		],
		"auth_user_name": "root",
		"auth_user_method": "unix",
		"environment": {
			"addresses": [
				"10.77.10.23:8443"
			],
			"architectures": [
				"x86_64",
				"i686"
			],
			"certificate": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----<cert>\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n",
			"certificate_fingerprint": "<fingerprint>",
			"driver": "lxc | qemu",
			"driver_version": "6.0.5 | 10.1.3",
			"firewall": "nftables",
			"kernel": "Linux",
			"kernel_architecture": "x86_64",
			"kernel_features": {
				"idmapped_mounts": "true",
				"netnsid_getifaddrs": "true",
				"seccomp_listener": "true",
				"seccomp_listener_continue": "true",
				"uevent_injection": "true",
				"unpriv_binfmt": "true",
				"unpriv_fscaps": "true"
			},
			"kernel_version": "6.8.0-90-generic",
			"lxc_features": {
				"cgroup2": "true",
				"core_scheduling": "true",
				"devpts_fd": "true",
				"idmapped_mounts_v2": "true",
				"mount_injection_file": "true",
				"network_gateway_device_route": "true",
				"network_ipvlan": "true",
				"network_l2proxy": "true",
				"network_phys_macvlan_mtu": "true",
				"network_veth_router": "true",
				"pidfd": "true",
				"seccomp_allow_deny_syntax": "true",
				"seccomp_notify": "true",
				"seccomp_proxy_send_notify_fd": "true"
			},
			"os_name": "Ubuntu",
			"os_version": "24.04",
			"project": "default",
			"server": "incus",
			"server_clustered": true,
			"server_event_mode": "full-mesh",
			"server_name": "incus3",
			"server_pid": 1269,
			"server_version": "6.19.1",
			"storage": "zfs",
			"storage_version": "2.2.2-0ubuntu9.4",
			"storage_supported_drivers": [
				{
					"Name": "dir",
					"Version": "1",
					"Remote": false
				},
				{
					"Name": "lvm",
					"Version": "2.03.16(2) (2022-05-18) / 1.02.185 (2022-05-18) / 4.48.0",
					"Remote": false
				},
				{
					"Name": "truenas",
					"Version": "0.7.3",
					"Remote": true
				},
				{
					"Name": "btrfs",
					"Version": "6.6.3",
					"Remote": false
				},
				{
					"Name": "lvmcluster",
					"Version": "2.03.16(2) (2022-05-18) / 1.02.185 (2022-05-18) / 4.48.0",
					"Remote": true
				},
				{
					"Name": "zfs",
					"Version": "2.2.2-0ubuntu9.4",
					"Remote": false
				}
			]
		}
	} 
Launching lxconsole
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] Connecting to a remote OCI server             URL="https://git.<tld>"
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] Connected to the websocket: ws://unix.socket/1.0/events 
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] Sending request to Incus                      etag= method=POST url="http://unix.socket/1.0/instances"
DEBUG  [2026-01-02T14:13:29Z] 
	{
		"architecture": "",
		"config": {
			"boot.autostart": "true",
			"environment.LXCONSOLE_SECRET_KEY": "<secret_key>",
			"limits.cpu": "1",
			"limits.memory": "512MiB"
		},
		"devices": {},
		"ephemeral": false,
		"profiles": [
			"default"
		],
		"stateful": false,
		"description": "",
		"name": "lxconsole",
		"source": {
			"type": "image",
			"certificate": "",
			"alias": "matt/lxconsole:latest",
			"server": "https://git.<tld>",
			"protocol": "oci",
			"mode": "pull",
			"allow_inconsistent": false
		},
		"instance_type": "",
		"type": "container",
		"start": true
	} 
Error: Failed instance creation: Image not found

We use skopeo for registry interactions, so behind the scenes we’d run:

skopeo --insecure-policy inspect docker://git.foo/matt/lxconsole:latest

If that doesn’t work, then that’d explain the error.