Answers: <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/q/32113330/2777965">A related Q&amp;A</a> was already created on StackOverflow back in the day.</p>
  
  <p>Several answers simply do a <code>docker pull image-to-be-checked</code>. If exit 0, the image exists in a certain registry. If not then the image seems to be omitted. However, if an image is large, e.g. X>1GB or the (office) internet is slow (due to proxies), this could take a while.</p>
  
  <p>The best option to mitigate this is to use <code>docker manifest inspect docker-image</code> as suggested by <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/52077346/2777965">@morty</a> in conjunction with <code>DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled</code> <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32113330/check-if-imagetag-combination-already-exists-on-docker-hub#comment101216063_52077346">as suggested in a comment by @ChrisDeacy</a></p>
  
  <p>Although this command works for dockerhub images, it fails if images have to be checked on quay.io:</p>
  
  <pre><code>unsupported manifest media type and no default available:
  application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.v1+prettyjws
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Therefor I decided to stick to the <code>docker pull</code> approach to make the check docker-registry agnostic.</p>
  
  <p>Today I released version 1.0.0 of Docker Image Patrol (<a href="https://github.com/030/dip" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DIP</a>). This tool is able to check whether an image exists in a docker-registry. One could check the existence by running:</p>
  
  <pre><code>./dip -image nginx -registry quay.io/some.org/ -debug
  DEBU[0000] debug: true; image: nginx; registry: quay.io/some.org/ 
  DEBU[0002] Command: docker pull quay.io/some.org/nginx; Output: Using
  default tag: latest
  Error response from daemon: unauthorized: access to the requested resource
  is not authorized 
  DEBU[0002] 1                                            
  Is image: 'nginx' absent in registry: 'quay.io/some.org/'? -&gt; true
  </code></pre>
  
Answers: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers: 2019-11-05T00:33:08.687Z
Answers: 2019-11-05T16:46:56.987Z
Answers: 2019-11-05T16:46:56.987Z
Answers: 030
Body: <p>The docker help was consulted:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Usage:  docker [OPTIONS] COMMAND
  
  A self-sufficient runtime for containers
  
  Options:
        --config string      Location of client config files (default "/home/ben/.docker")
    -c, --context string     Name of the context to use to connect to the daemon (overrides DOCKER_HOST env var and default context set with "docker context use")
    -D, --debug              Enable debug mode
    -H, --host list          Daemon socket(s) to connect to
    -l, --log-level string   Set the logging level ("debug"|"info"|"warn"|"error"|"fatal") (default "info")
        --tls                Use TLS; implied by --tlsverify
        --tlscacert string   Trust certs signed only by this CA (default "/home/ben/.docker/ca.pem")
        --tlscert string     Path to TLS certificate file (default "/home/ben/.docker/cert.pem")
        --tlskey string      Path to TLS key file (default "/home/ben/.docker/key.pem")
        --tlsverify          Use TLS and verify the remote
    -v, --version            Print version information and quit
  
  Management Commands:
    builder     Manage builds
    config      Manage Docker configs
    container   Manage containers
    context     Manage contexts
    engine      Manage the docker engine
    image       Manage images
    network     Manage networks
    node        Manage Swarm nodes
    plugin      Manage plugins
    secret      Manage Docker secrets
    service     Manage services
    stack       Manage Docker stacks
    swarm       Manage Swarm
    system      Manage Docker
    trust       Manage trust on Docker images
    volume      Manage volumes
  
  Commands:
    attach      Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
    build       Build an image from a Dockerfile
    commit      Create a new image from a container's changes
    cp          Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
    create      Create a new container
    diff        Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
    events      Get real time events from the server
    exec        Run a command in a running container
    export      Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive
    history     Show the history of an image
    images      List images
    import      Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
    info        Display system-wide information
    inspect     Return low-level information on Docker objects
    kill        Kill one or more running containers
    load        Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
    login       Log in to a Docker registry
    logout      Log out from a Docker registry
    logs        Fetch the logs of a container
    pause       Pause all processes within one or more containers
    port        List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
    ps          List containers
    pull        Pull an image or a repository from a registry
    push        Push an image or a repository to a registry
    rename      Rename a container
    restart     Restart one or more containers
    rm          Remove one or more containers
    rmi         Remove one or more images
    run         Run a command in a new container
    save        Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
    search      Search the Docker Hub for images
    start       Start one or more stopped containers
    stats       Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
    stop        Stop one or more running containers
    tag         Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
    top         Display the running processes of a container
    unpause     Unpause all processes within one or more containers
    update      Update configuration of one or more containers
    version     Show the Docker version information
    wait        Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes
  
  Run 'docker COMMAND --help' for more information on a command.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The assumption was that there should be a kind of <code>compare</code> command. How could one compare a local image with one in a private registry? For example, if nginx:1.17.5 has been pulled locally and resides in a private docker registry then a command should indicated that:</p>
  
  <pre><code>docker compare nginx:1.17.5 quay.io/some-org/nginx:1.17.5
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>the command should return:</p>
  
  <pre><code>exit 1, the docker image already resides in the docker private registry
  </code></pre>
  
Tags: <docker><docker-registry><dip>
Title: What docker command could be issued to check whether a certain local docker image resides in a docker registry?
UserDisplayName: 030
ThreadText: # What docker command could be issued to check whether a certain local docker image resides in a docker registry?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-05)
  
  The docker help was consulted:
  
  ```
  Usage:  docker [OPTIONS] COMMAND
  
  A self-sufficient runtime for containers
  
  Options:
        --config string      Location of client config files (default "/home/ben/.docker")
    -c, --context string     Name of the context to use to connect to the daemon (overrides DOCKER_HOST env var and default context set with "docker context use")
    -D, --debug              Enable debug mode
    -H, --host list          Daemon socket(s) to connect to
    -l, --log-level string   Set the logging level ("debug"|"info"|"warn"|"error"|"fatal") (default "info")
        --tls                Use TLS; implied by --tlsverify
        --tlscacert string   Trust certs signed only by this CA (default "/home/ben/.docker/ca.pem")
        --tlscert string     Path to TLS certificate file (default "/home/ben/.docker/cert.pem")
        --tlskey string      Path to TLS key file (default "/home/ben/.docker/key.pem")
        --tlsverify          Use TLS and verify the remote
    -v, --version            Print version information and quit
  
  Management Commands:
    builder     Manage builds
    config      Manage Docker configs
    container   Manage containers
    context     Manage contexts
    engine      Manage the docker engine
    image       Manage images
    network     Manage networks
    node        Manage Swarm nodes
    plugin      Manage plugins
    secret      Manage Docker secrets
    service     Manage services
    stack       Manage Docker stacks
    swarm       Manage Swarm
    system      Manage Docker
    trust       Manage trust on Docker images
    volume      Manage volumes
  
  Commands:
    attach      Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
    build       Build an image from a Dockerfile
    commit      Create a new image from a container's changes
    cp          Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
    create      Create a new container
    diff        Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
    events      Get real time events from the server
    exec        Run a command in a running container
    export      Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive
    history     Show the history of an image
    images      List images
    import      Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
    info        Display system-wide information
    inspect     Return low-level information on Docker objects
    kill        Kill one or more running containers
    load        Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
    login       Log in to a Docker registry
    logout      Log out from a Docker registry
    logs        Fetch the logs of a container
    pause       Pause all processes within one or more containers
    port        List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
    ps          List containers
    pull        Pull an image or a repository from a registry
    push        Push an image or a repository to a registry
    rename      Rename a container
    restart     Restart one or more containers
    rm          Remove one or more containers
    rmi         Remove one or more images
    run         Run a command in a new container
    save        Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
    search      Search the Docker Hub for images
    start       Start one or more stopped containers
    stats       Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
    stop        Stop one or more running containers
    tag         Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
    top         Display the running processes of a container
    unpause     Unpause all processes within one or more containers
    update      Update configuration of one or more containers
    version     Show the Docker version information
    wait        Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes
  
  Run 'docker COMMAND --help' for more information on a command.
  
  ```
  
  The assumption was that there should be a kind of `compare` command. How could one compare a local image with one in a private registry? For example, if nginx:1.17.5 has been pulled locally and resides in a private docker registry then a command should indicated that:
  
  ```
  docker compare nginx:1.17.5 quay.io/some-org/nginx:1.17.5
  
  ```
  
  the command should return:
  
  ```
  exit 1, the docker image already resides in the docker private registry
  
  ```
  
  **Tags:** docker, docker-registry, dip
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2019-11-05. Score: 2 | Accepted answer
  
  [A related Q&A](https://stackoverflow.com/q/32113330/2777965) was already created on StackOverflow back in the day.
  
  Several answers simply do a `docker pull image-to-be-checked`. If exit 0, the image exists in a certain registry. If not then the image seems to be omitted. However, if an image is large, e.g. X>1GB or the (office) internet is slow (due to proxies), this could take a while.
  
  The best option to mitigate this is to use `docker manifest inspect docker-image` as suggested by [@morty](https://stackoverflow.com/a/52077346/2777965) in conjunction with `DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled` [as suggested in a comment by @ChrisDeacy](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32113330/check-if-imagetag-combination-already-exists-on-docker-hub#comment101216063_52077346)
  
  Although this command works for dockerhub images, it fails if images have to be checked on quay.io:
  
  ```
  unsupported manifest media type and no default available:
  application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.v1+prettyjws
  
  ```
  
  Therefor I decided to stick to the `docker pull` approach to make the check docker-registry agnostic.
  
  Today I released version 1.0.0 of Docker Image Patrol ([DIP](https://github.com/030/dip)). This tool is able to check whether an image exists in a docker-registry. One could check the existence by running:
  
  ```
  ./dip -image nginx -registry quay.io/some.org/ -debug
  DEBU[0000] debug: true; image: nginx; registry: quay.io/some.org/ 
  DEBU[0002] Command: docker pull quay.io/some.org/nginx; Output: Using
  default tag: latest
  Error response from daemon: unauthorized: access to the requested resource
  is not authorized 
  DEBU[0002] 1                                            
  Is image: 'nginx' absent in registry: 'quay.io/some.org/'? -> true
  
  ```
  
  
  ---
  
  