mise oci requires an

Error message

mise oci requires an {}-based base image when [bootstrap.packages] contains {} entries; `scratch` has no {} metadata

What it means

When `[bootstrap.packages]` entries exist, mise builds a system-packages layer by inspecting the base image's metadata (os release / package manager info). With a `scratch` (layerless) base image there are no layers to inspect, so mise cannot determine the target distro and aborts with this error naming the requested package manager.

Solutions

Use a distro base image (e.g. alpine for apk, debian/ubuntu for apt) instead of scratch
Remove the `[bootstrap.packages]` entries if you truly want a from-scratch image
Bake the packages into your own base image and reference it

Example fix

// before (mise.toml)
[bootstrap]
from = "scratch"
[bootstrap.packages]
apt = ["curl"]
// after
[bootstrap]
from = "debian:bookworm"
[bootstrap.packages]
apt = ["curl"]

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# shell check before build
grep -q '^from = "scratch"' mise.toml && grep -q 'bootstrap.packages' mise.toml \
  && echo "invalid: packages require a distro base image" || true

Try / catch

if let Err(e) = build_result {
    if e.to_string().contains("`scratch` has no") {
        eprintln!("switch [bootstrap] from to a distro image or drop [bootstrap.packages]");
    }
}

Prevention

Never combine from = "scratch" with [bootstrap.packages]
Keep a lint step validating bootstrap config before builds
Prefer slim distro bases (alpine, debian-slim) when you need packages
Review base-image changes after copying configs between projects

When it happens

Trigger: Running `mise oci build`/bootstrap where `[bootstrap.packages]` in the config has apt or apk entries but the base image resolves to scratch (no `base_layers`), so `build_system_packages_layer` has no metadata to work with.

Common situations: Building from scratch to keep images small while still asking for system packages; copying a mise.toml that installs packages into a config whose FROM was changed to scratch.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8a4acf0546e2c69e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/oci/packages.rs:73

    fn name(self) -> &'static str {
        match self {
            Self::Apk => "apk",
            Self::Apt => "apt",
        }
    }
}

pub(crate) fn build_system_packages_layer(
    layout: &ImageLayout,
    base_layers: &[Descriptor],
    managers: &[ManagerPackages],
    architecture: &str,
) -> Result<Option<SystemPackagesLayer>> {
    let Some((manager, requests)) = collect_package_requests(managers)? else {
        return Ok(None);
    };
    if base_layers.is_empty() {
        bail!(
            "mise oci requires an {}-based base image when [bootstrap.packages] contains {} \
             entries; `scratch` has no {} metadata",
            manager.name(),
            manager.name(),
            manager.name(),
        );
    }
    validate_host_requirements(manager)?;

    let td = TempDir::with_prefix(format!("mise-oci-{}-rootfs-", manager.name())).wrap_err_with(
        || {
            format!(
                "creating temp rootfs for {} system packages",
                manager.name()
            )
        },
    )?;
    let rootfs = td.path().join("rootfs");

View on GitHub (pinned to 533346cc37)