diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go b/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go
index c361adba..22c36b5b 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/export_test.go
@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"os"
 
+	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/distrofactory"
 	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/reporegistry"
 )
 
 var (
 	GetOneImage = getOneImage
+	Run         = run
 )
 
 func MockOsArgs(new []string) (restore func()) {
@@ -49,6 +51,10 @@ func MockNewRepoRegistry(f func() (*reporegistry.RepoRegistry, error)) (restore
 	}
 }
 
-var (
-	Run = run
-)
+func MockDistrofactoryNew(f func() *distrofactory.Factory) (restore func()) {
+	saved := distrofactoryNew
+	distrofactoryNew = f
+	return func() {
+		distrofactoryNew = saved
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/filters.go b/cmd/image-builder/filters.go
index 58a89aaf..ff96253b 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/filters.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/filters.go
@@ -10,12 +10,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/imagefilter"
 )
 
+var distrofactoryNew = distrofactory.NewDefault
+
 func newImageFilterDefault(dataDir string) (*imagefilter.ImageFilter, error) {
-	fac := distrofactory.NewDefault()
+	fac := distrofactoryNew()
 	repos, err := newRepoRegistry(dataDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	return imagefilter.New(fac, repos)
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/list.go b/cmd/image-builder/list.go
index 81e357ee..9bf06d94 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/list.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/list.go
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/imagefilter"
 )
 
-func listImages(output string, filterExprs []string, opts *cmdlineOpts) error {
-	imageFilter, err := newImageFilterDefault(opts.dataDir)
+func listImages(dataDir, output string, filterExprs []string) error {
+	imageFilter, err := newImageFilterDefault(dataDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ func listImages(output string, filterExprs []string, opts *cmdlineOpts) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := fmter.Output(opts.out, filteredResult); err != nil {
+	if err := fmter.Output(osStdout, filteredResult); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/main.go b/cmd/image-builder/main.go
index 96fe0f98..03f93eda 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/main.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/main.go
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/arch"
+	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/blueprint"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/image-builder-cli/internal/manifestgen"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -14,11 +19,6 @@ var (
 	osStderr io.Writer = os.Stderr
 )
 
-type cmdlineOpts struct {
-	dataDir string
-	out     io.Writer
-}
-
 func cmdListImages(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	filter, err := cmd.Flags().GetStringArray("filter")
 	if err != nil {
@@ -33,11 +33,46 @@ func cmdListImages(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	opts := &cmdlineOpts{
-		out:     osStdout,
-		dataDir: dataDir,
+	return listImages(dataDir, output, filter)
+}
+
+func cmdManifest(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+	dataDir, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("datadir")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	distroStr := args[0]
+	imgTypeStr := args[1]
+	var archStr string
+	if len(args) > 2 {
+		archStr = args[2]
+	} else {
+		archStr = arch.Current().String()
 	}
-	return listImages(output, filter, opts)
+	// XXX: this is not symetric, ideally we would only pass
+	// either a single reporegistry from a datadir everywhere
+	// or we would pass datadir everywhere but with just
+	// datadir we cannot create test distros as they cannot be
+	// defined outside of code so manifestgen needs to take a
+	// reporegistry instead of just a datadir
+	res, err := getOneImage(dataDir, distroStr, imgTypeStr, archStr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	repos, err := newRepoRegistry(dataDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	// XXX: add --rpmmd/cachedir option like bib
+	mg, err := manifestgen.New(repos, &manifestgen.Options{
+		Output: osStdout,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var bp blueprint.Blueprint
+	return mg.Generate(&bp, res.Distro, res.ImgType, res.Arch, nil)
 }
 
 func run() error {
@@ -69,6 +104,17 @@ operating sytsems like centos and RHEL with easy customizations support.`,
 	listImagesCmd.Flags().String("output", "", "Output in a specific format (text, json)")
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(listImagesCmd)
 
+	manifestCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:          "manifest <distro> <image-type> [<arch>]",
+		Short:        "Build manifest for the given distro/image-type, e.g. centos-9 qcow2",
+		RunE:         cmdManifest,
+		SilenceUsage: true,
+		Args:         cobra.MinimumNArgs(2),
+		Hidden:       true,
+	}
+	// XXX: add blueprint switch
+	rootCmd.AddCommand(manifestCmd)
+
 	return rootCmd.Execute()
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go b/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
index 2d949e4d..4405d852 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main_test
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	testrepos "github.com/osbuild/images/test/data/repositories"
 
 	"github.com/osbuild/image-builder-cli/cmd/image-builder"
+	"github.com/osbuild/image-builder-cli/internal/manifesttest"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -108,3 +110,38 @@ func TestListImagesOverrideDatadir(t *testing.T) {
 	err := main.Run()
 	assert.EqualError(t, err, `no repositories found in the given paths: [/this/path/does/not/exist]`)
 }
+
+func hasDepsolveDnf() bool {
+	// XXX: expose images/pkg/depsolve:findDepsolveDnf()
+	_, err := os.Stat("/usr/libexec/osbuild-depsolve-dnf")
+	return err == nil
+}
+
+// XXX: move to pytest like bib maybe?
+func TestManifestIntegrationSmoke(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", "centos-9", "qcow2"},
+	)
+	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, "qcow2")
+}