# Annotations — Specify annotation level

> By default, annotations are added to the image manifest. You can specify which level (OCI image component) to attach the annotation to by prefixing the annotation string with a special type declaration Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically): ```console $ docker build --an

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-docker-fc6da8b5ec7dbb3f9423>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.479626+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `docker`, `manuals`, `build`, `metadata`, `annotations`, `specify`, `annotation`, `level`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/docker/docs/blob/3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244/content/manuals/build/metadata/annotations.md>
- Source name: Docker Documentation
- Source revision: `3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244`
- Source license: `Apache-2.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

By default, annotations are added to the image manifest. You can specify which level (OCI image component) to attach the annotation to by prefixing the annotation string with a special type declaration

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ docker build --annotation "&lt;TYPE&gt;:&lt;KEY&gt;=&lt;VALUE&gt;" .
```

The following types are supported

manifest: annotates manifests. index: annotates the root index. manifest-descriptor: annotates manifest descriptors in the index. index-descriptor: annotates the index descriptor in the image layout.

For example, to build an image with the annotation foo=bar attached to the image index

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ docker build --tag &lt;IMAGE&gt; --push --annotation "index:foo=bar" .
```

Note that the build must produce the component that you specify, or else the build will fail. For example, the following does not work, because the docker exporter does not produce an index

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ docker build --output type=docker --annotation "index:foo=bar" .
```

Likewise, the following example also does not work, because buildx creates a docker output by default under some circumstances, such as when provenance attestations are explicitly disabled

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ docker build --provenance=false --annotation "index:foo=bar" .
```

It is possible to specify types, separated by a comma, to add the annotation to more than one level. The following example creates an image with the annotation foo=bar on both the image index and the image manifest

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ docker build --tag &lt;IMAGE&gt; --push --annotation "index,manifest:foo=bar" .
```

You can also specify a platform qualifier within square brackets in the type prefix, to annotate only components matching specific OS and architectures. The following example adds the foo=bar annotation only to the linux/amd64 manifest

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ docker build --tag &lt;IMAGE&gt; --push --annotation "manifest[linux/amd64]:foo=bar" .
```

Attribution: Adapted from Docker Documentation under Apache-2.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.