diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 79bcd14851..6dc431e873 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ Publication uses checksum-pinned regctl v0.11.6 with 8 MiB blob requests to
 avoid monolithic layer uploads exceeding reverse-proxy limits. Both images are
 exported and uploaded sequentially; temporary archives and credentials are removed
 on exit. The runner needs curl, sha256sum and temporary disk space for one Docker
-image archive. The remote image config digest is checked against the local image
+image archive plus its extracted OCI layout. The remote image config digest is checked against the locally normalized archive
 after each upload. A proxy must still allow the OCI registry PATCH/PUT endpoints.
 
 For this repository the image base is
diff --git a/scripts/publish-container.sh b/scripts/publish-container.sh
index 54cf64c60f..f8f6ff124e 100644
--- a/scripts/publish-container.sh
+++ b/scripts/publish-container.sh
@@ -58,12 +58,16 @@ regctl registry set "$registry" --blob-chunk 8388608 --blob-max 8388608
 for target in "$image-migrations" "$image"; do
   echo "Publishing $target with blob requests up to 8 MiB"
   docker image save --output "$context/image.tar" "$target"
-  regctl image import "$target" "$context/image.tar"
-  # Import may change compression/manifest representation, but the immutable
-  # image config digest must still match the exact local image we verified.
-  expected_config="$(docker image inspect --format '{{.Id}}' "$target")"
+  # Normalize the saved archive locally before copying it unchanged to Gitea.
+  # Docker engine IDs and OCI index IDs are not interchangeable with config IDs.
+  local_ref="ocidir://$context/oci:verified"
+  regctl image import "$local_ref" "$context/image.tar"
+  expected_config="$(regctl manifest get "$local_ref" --platform "linux/$arch" --format '{{.GetConfig.Digest}}')"
+  [[ "$expected_config" =~ ^sha256:[0-9a-f]{64}$ ]] || { echo "Invalid local image config digest" >&2; exit 1; }
+  regctl image copy "$local_ref" "$target"
   remote_config="$(regctl manifest get "$target" --platform "linux/$arch" --format '{{.GetConfig.Digest}}')"
   [[ "$remote_config" = "$expected_config" ]] || { echo "Published image config does not match verified local image" >&2; exit 1; }
   rm -f -- "$context/image.tar"
+  rm -rf -- "$context/oci"
 done
 echo "Published application and migrations: $image"
diff --git a/src/lib/publish-container.test.ts b/src/lib/publish-container.test.ts
index 40fbbfd5eb..e03cce876a 100644
--- a/src/lib/publish-container.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/publish-container.test.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ describe("verified application image reuse", () => {
 		expect(calls).not.toContain("docker build --network=host --build-arg");
 		expect(
 			calls.indexOf("verify scripts/verify-portable-image.mjs"),
-		).toBeLessThan(calls.indexOf("regctl image import"));
+		).toBeLessThan(calls.indexOf("regctl image copy"));
 	});
 	it.each(["missing", "mismatch"])(
 		"builds committed source when verification marker is %s",
@@ -71,16 +71,12 @@ describe("verified application image reuse", () => {
 
 it("uses the token account namespace instead of the repository owner", () => {
 	const calls = simulate("verified");
-	expect(calls).toContain(
-		`regctl image import registry.invalid/simo/cms:${sha}`,
-	);
+	expect(calls).toContain(`registry.invalid/simo/cms:${sha}\n`);
 	expect(calls).not.toContain("registry.invalid/owner/cms");
 });
 it("supports an explicit organization namespace", () => {
 	const calls = simulate("verified", "My-Org");
-	expect(calls).toContain(
-		`regctl image import registry.invalid/my-org/cms:${sha}`,
-	);
+	expect(calls).toContain(`registry.invalid/my-org/cms:${sha}\n`);
 });
 
 it("bounds uploads and verifies both published image configs", () => {
@@ -88,15 +84,16 @@ it("bounds uploads and verifies both published image configs", () => {
 	expect(calls).toContain("--blob-chunk 8388608 --blob-max 8388608");
 	expect(calls).not.toContain("docker push");
 	expect(calls.match(/regctl image import/g)).toHaveLength(2);
-	expect(calls.match(/regctl manifest get/g)).toHaveLength(2);
-	expect(calls.match(/--platform linux\/amd64/g)).toHaveLength(2);
+	expect(calls.match(/regctl image copy/g)).toHaveLength(2);
+	expect(calls.match(/regctl manifest get/g)).toHaveLength(4);
+	expect(calls.match(/--platform linux\/amd64/g)).toHaveLength(4);
 });
 it.each(["upload-fails", "wrong-config", "bad-checksum"])(
 	"stops publication on %s",
 	(scenario) => {
 		const calls = simulate(scenario, "", 1);
-		expect(calls).not.toContain(
-			`regctl image import registry.invalid/simo/cms:${sha} `,
+		expect(calls.match(/regctl image copy/g)?.length ?? 0).toBeLessThanOrEqual(
+			1,
 		);
 	},
 );
diff --git a/src/test/publish-container-harness.sh b/src/test/publish-container-harness.sh
index df4f935804..dc773485b4 100644
--- a/src/test/publish-container-harness.sh
+++ b/src/test/publish-container-harness.sh
@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ curl() {
  cat > "$output" <<'MOCK'
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 echo "regctl $*" >> "$TEST_DIR/calls"
-if [[ "$1 $2" = "image import" && "$SCENARIO" = upload-fails ]]; then exit 1; fi
+if [[ "$1 $2" = "image copy" && "$SCENARIO" = upload-fails ]]; then exit 1; fi
 if [[ "$1 $2" = "manifest get" ]]; then
- if [[ "$SCENARIO" = wrong-config ]]; then echo sha256:wrong; else echo sha256:candidate; fi
+ if [[ "$SCENARIO" = wrong-config && "$3" != ocidir:* ]]; then echo sha256:wrong; else printf "sha256:%064d\n" 0; fi
 fi
 MOCK
 }