diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/distro.go b/cmd/image-builder/distro.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..deaae7a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/distro.go
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/distro"
+)
+
+var distroGetHostDistroName = distro.GetHostDistroName
+
+// findDistro will ensure that the given distro argument do not
+// diverge. If no distro is set via the blueprint or the argument
+// the host is used to derive the distro.
+func findDistro(argDistroName, bpDistroName string) (string, error) {
+	switch {
+	case argDistroName != "" && bpDistroName != "" && argDistroName != bpDistroName:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("error selecting distro name, cmdline argument %q is different from blueprint %q", argDistroName, bpDistroName)
+	case argDistroName != "":
+		return argDistroName, nil
+	case bpDistroName != "":
+		return bpDistroName, nil
+	}
+	// nothing selected by the user, derive from host
+	distroStr, err := distroGetHostDistroName()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("error deriving host distro %w", err)
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintf(osStderr, "No distro name specified, selecting %q based on host, use --distro to override", distroStr)
+	return distroStr, nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/distro_test.go b/cmd/image-builder/distro_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c187f8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/distro_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package main_test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/image-builder-cli/cmd/image-builder"
+)
+
+func TestFindDistro(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		argDistro      string
+		bpDistro       string
+		expectedDistro string
+		expectedErr    string
+	}{
+		{"arg", "", "arg", ""},
+		{"", "bp", "bp", ""},
+		{"arg", "bp", "", `error selecting distro name, cmdline argument "arg" is different from blueprint "bp"`},
+		// the argDistro,bpDistro == "" case is tested below
+	} {
+		distro, err := main.FindDistro(tc.argDistro, tc.bpDistro)
+		if tc.expectedErr != "" {
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedErr, err.Error())
+		} else {
+			assert.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedDistro, distro)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFindDistroAutoDetect(t *testing.T) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	restore := main.MockOsStderr(&buf)
+	defer restore()
+
+	restore = main.MockDistroGetHostDistroName(func() (string, error) {
+		return "mocked-host-distro", nil
+	})
+	defer restore()
+
+	distro, err := main.FindDistro("", "")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "mocked-host-distro", distro)
+	assert.Equal(t, `No distro name specified, selecting "mocked-host-distro" based on host, use --distro to override`, buf.String())
+}
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go b/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go
index d5a7dbec..5b3005f7 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 var (
 	GetOneImage = getOneImage
 	Run         = run
+	FindDistro  = findDistro
 )
 
 func MockOsArgs(new []string) (restore func()) {
@@ -49,3 +50,11 @@ func MockNewRepoRegistry(f func() (*reporegistry.RepoRegistry, error)) (restore
 		newRepoRegistry = saved
 	}
 }
+
+func MockDistroGetHostDistroName(f func() (string, error)) (restore func()) {
+	saved := distroGetHostDistroName
+	distroGetHostDistroName = f
+	return func() {
+		distroGetHostDistroName = saved
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/main.go b/cmd/image-builder/main.go
index b2ba2cec..39f24cb0 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/main.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/main.go
@@ -41,19 +41,32 @@ func cmdManifest(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	blueprintPath, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("blueprint")
+	archStr, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("arch")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-
-	distroStr := args[0]
-	imgTypeStr := args[1]
-	var archStr string
-	if len(args) > 2 {
-		archStr = args[2]
-	} else {
+	if archStr == "" {
 		archStr = arch.Current().String()
 	}
+	distroStr, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("distro")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	var blueprintPath string
+	imgTypeStr := args[0]
+	if len(args) > 1 {
+		blueprintPath = args[1]
+	}
+	bp, err := blueprintload.Load(blueprintPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	distroStr, err = findDistro(distroStr, bp.Distro)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	res, err := getOneImage(dataDir, distroStr, imgTypeStr, archStr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -69,10 +82,6 @@ func cmdManifest(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	bp, err := blueprintload.Load(blueprintPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
 
 	return mg.Generate(bp, res.Distro, res.ImgType, res.Arch, nil)
 }
@@ -108,15 +117,15 @@ operating sytsems like centos and RHEL with easy customizations support.`,
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(listImagesCmd)
 
 	manifestCmd := &cobra.Command{
-		Use:          "manifest <distro> <image-type> [<arch>]",
+		Use:          "manifest <image-type> [blueprint]",
 		Short:        "Build manifest for the given distro/image-type, e.g. centos-9 qcow2",
 		RunE:         cmdManifest,
 		SilenceUsage: true,
-		Args:         cobra.MinimumNArgs(2),
+		Args:         cobra.RangeArgs(1, 2),
 		Hidden:       true,
 	}
-	// XXX: share with build
-	manifestCmd.Flags().String("blueprint", "", `pass a blueprint file`)
+	manifestCmd.Flags().String("arch", "", `build manifest for a different architecture`)
+	manifestCmd.Flags().String("distro", "", `build manifest for a different distroname (e.g. centos-9)`)
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(manifestCmd)
 
 	return rootCmd.Execute()
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go b/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
index da452980..a265ef42 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
@@ -170,9 +170,10 @@ func TestManifestIntegrationSmoke(t *testing.T) {
 
 	restore = main.MockOsArgs([]string{
 		"manifest",
-		"--blueprint", makeTestBlueprint(t, testBlueprint),
-		"centos-9", "qcow2"},
-	)
+		"qcow2",
+		"--distro=centos-9",
+		makeTestBlueprint(t, testBlueprint),
+	})
 	defer restore()
 
 	var fakeStdout bytes.Buffer
@@ -190,3 +191,37 @@ func TestManifestIntegrationSmoke(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, fakeStdout.String(), `{"type":"org.osbuild.users","options":{"users":{"alice":{}}}}`)
 	assert.Contains(t, fakeStdout.String(), `"image":{"name":"registry.gitlab.com/redhat/services/products/image-builder/ci/osbuild-composer/fedora-minimal"`)
 }
+
+func TestManifestIntegrationCrossArch(t *testing.T) {
+	if testing.Short() {
+		t.Skip("manifest generation takes a while")
+	}
+	if !hasDepsolveDnf() {
+		t.Skip("no osbuild-depsolve-dnf binary found")
+	}
+
+	restore := main.MockNewRepoRegistry(testrepos.New)
+	defer restore()
+
+	restore = main.MockOsArgs([]string{
+		"manifest",
+		"tar",
+		"--distro", "centos-9",
+		"--arch", "s390x",
+	})
+	defer restore()
+
+	var fakeStdout bytes.Buffer
+	restore = main.MockOsStdout(&fakeStdout)
+	defer restore()
+
+	err := main.Run()
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	pipelineNames, err := manifesttest.PipelineNamesFrom(fakeStdout.Bytes())
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, pipelineNames, "archive")
+
+	// XXX: provide helpers in manifesttest to extract this in a nicer way
+	assert.Contains(t, fakeStdout.String(), `.el9.s390x.rpm`)
+}