Hauler Content

Content is the smallest unit Hauler works with - the actual artifacts you collect, carry across the airgap, and serve on the other side. Every Haul is ultimately just a bundle of content grouped into collections. For how these pieces nest together, see Core Concepts.

Hauler recognizes three kinds of content, and stores each one as an OCI-compliant artifact in its content store.

Content Types

Images

Container images are pulled from a registry (or the local Docker daemon) and stored alongside their cosign signatures, attestations, SBOMs, and OCI referrers. By default an image is fetched for all platforms; narrow this with --platform, or fetch only the image itself with --exclude-extras.

See Hauler Store Add Image for the full set of flags and manifest fields.

Charts

Helm charts are fetched from an HTTP(S) repository, an OCI registry, or a local path. A chart on its own does not bring the container images it deploys - those live in separate registries. Use --add-images to also collect the images referenced by a chart's templates and image lock files, and --add-dependencies to pull dependent (subchart) charts.

See Hauler Store Add Chart for details.

Files

Files cover everything that isn't an image or a chart but still needs to make it across the airgap - install scripts, binaries, tarballs, RPMs, configuration, and manifests. Files can be fetched from a local path or an HTTP(S) URL, and optionally stored under a friendlier name with --name.

See Hauler Store Add File for details.

OCI Compliant Artifacts

Whatever the content type, Hauler stores it as an artifact that conforms to the Open Container Initiative (OCI) specification. Representing images, charts, and files in a single, standardized format is what lets Hauler treat them uniformly - bundling them into a Haul, pushing them to any OCI registry, and serving them on the disconnected side without per-type handling.

Adding Content

There are two ways to add content to the store:

• Imperatively, one artifact at a time, with the hauler store add commands. This is ideal for exploring or testing - confirming a reference resolves or grabbing a single dependency.
• Declaratively, by describing the full set of content in a Hauler manifest and applying it with hauler store sync. This keeps your content reproducible and version-controlled, and is the recommended approach once you know what you need.

Per-artifact fields override manifest-level annotations, which override CLI flags - so a manifest can set sensible defaults globally while still allowing per-artifact overrides.

Signature Verification

As part of a secure supply chain, content can be verified against cosign signatures both when it is added to the store and when it is used to seed a registry on the far side of the airgap. Verification supports both public-key and keyless (certificate-based) workflows. See Signature Verification and the Hauler Manifests guide for examples.