diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 55727b261f..c0bbeb9c22 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ require (
 	github.com/klauspost/compress v1.13.6
 	github.com/ldelossa/responserecorder v1.0.2-0.20210711162258-40bec93a9325
 	github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.11.0 // indirect
+	github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0
+	github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.2
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.9.0
 	github.com/quay/clair/config v1.0.0
 	github.com/quay/claircore v1.2.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index f48020dfd0..54ddb87e28 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -720,8 +720,9 @@ github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0-rc1.0.20180430190053-c9281466c8b2/go.
 github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0 h1:apOUWs51W5PlhuyGyz9FCeeBIOUDA/6nW8Oi/yOhh5U=
 github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0/go.mod h1:0JzlMkj0TRzQZfJkVvzbP0HBR3IKzErnv2BNG4W4MAM=
 github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.0/go.mod h1:BtxoFyWECRxE4U/7sNtV5W15zMzWCbyJoFRP3s7yZA0=
-github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.1 h1:JMemWkRwHx4Zj+fVxWoMCFm/8sYGGrUVojFA6h/TRcI=
 github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.1/go.mod h1:BtxoFyWECRxE4U/7sNtV5W15zMzWCbyJoFRP3s7yZA0=
+github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.2 h1:9yCKha/T5XdGtO0q9Q9a6T5NUCsTn/DrBg0D7ufOcFM=
+github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.0.2/go.mod h1:BtxoFyWECRxE4U/7sNtV5W15zMzWCbyJoFRP3s7yZA0=
 github.com/opencontainers/runc v0.0.0-20190115041553-12f6a991201f/go.mod h1:qT5XzbpPznkRYVz/mWwUaVBUv2rmF59PVA73FjuZG0U=
 github.com/opencontainers/runc v0.1.1/go.mod h1:qT5XzbpPznkRYVz/mWwUaVBUv2rmF59PVA73FjuZG0U=
 github.com/opencontainers/runc v1.0.0-rc8.0.20190926000215-3e425f80a8c9/go.mod h1:qT5XzbpPznkRYVz/mWwUaVBUv2rmF59PVA73FjuZG0U=
@@ -922,7 +923,6 @@ github.com/urfave/cli v1.20.0/go.mod h1:70zkFmudgCuE/ngEzBv17Jvp/497gISqfk5gWijb
 github.com/urfave/cli v1.22.1/go.mod h1:Gos4lmkARVdJ6EkW0WaNv/tZAAMe9V7XWyB60NtXRu0=
 github.com/urfave/cli v1.22.2 h1:gsqYFH8bb9ekPA12kRo0hfjngWQjkJPlN9R0N78BoUo=
 github.com/urfave/cli v1.22.2/go.mod h1:Gos4lmkARVdJ6EkW0WaNv/tZAAMe9V7XWyB60NtXRu0=
-github.com/urfave/cli v1.22.2/go.mod h1:Gos4lmkARVdJ6EkW0WaNv/tZAAMe9V7XWyB60NtXRu0=
 github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.3.0 h1:qph92Y649prgesehzOrQjdWyxFOp/QVM+6imKHad91M=
 github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.3.0/go.mod h1:LJmUH05zAU44vOAcrfzZQKsZbVcdbOG8rtL3/XcUArI=
 github.com/vishvananda/netlink v0.0.0-20181108222139-023a6dafdcdf/go.mod h1:+SR5DhBJrl6ZM7CoCKvpw5BKroDKQ+PJqOg65H/2ktk=
@@ -1106,7 +1106,6 @@ golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210316092652-d523dce5a7f4/go.mod h1:RBQZq4jEuRlivfhVLd
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210405180319-a5a99cb37ef4/go.mod h1:p54w0d4576C0XHj96bSt6lcn1PtDYWL6XObtHCRCNQM=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210503060351-7fd8e65b6420/go.mod h1:9nx3DQGgdP8bBQD5qxJ1jj9UTztislL4KSBs9R2vV5Y=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210525063256-abc453219eb5/go.mod h1:9nx3DQGgdP8bBQD5qxJ1jj9UTztislL4KSBs9R2vV5Y=
-golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210525063256-abc453219eb5/go.mod h1:9nx3DQGgdP8bBQD5qxJ1jj9UTztislL4KSBs9R2vV5Y=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210805182204-aaa1db679c0d h1:20cMwl2fHAzkJMEA+8J4JgqBQcQGzbisXo31MIeenXI=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20210805182204-aaa1db679c0d/go.mod h1:9nx3DQGgdP8bBQD5qxJ1jj9UTztislL4KSBs9R2vV5Y=
 golang.org/x/oauth2 v0.0.0-20180821212333-d2e6202438be/go.mod h1:N/0e6XlmueqKjAGxoOufVs8QHGRruUQn6yWY3a++T0U=
@@ -1317,7 +1316,6 @@ golang.org/x/tools v0.0.0-20210106214847-113979e3529a/go.mod h1:emZCQorbCU4vsT4f
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.0/go.mod h1:xkSsbof2nBLbhDlRMhhhyNLN/zl3eTqcnHD5viDpcZ0=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.1/go.mod h1:o0xws9oXOQQZyjljx8fwUC0k7L1pTE6eaCbjGeHmOkk=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.2/go.mod h1:o0xws9oXOQQZyjljx8fwUC0k7L1pTE6eaCbjGeHmOkk=
-golang.org/x/tools v0.1.2/go.mod h1:o0xws9oXOQQZyjljx8fwUC0k7L1pTE6eaCbjGeHmOkk=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.7 h1:6j8CgantCy3yc8JGBqkDLMKWqZ0RDU2g1HVgacojGWQ=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.1.7/go.mod h1:LGqMHiF4EqQNHR1JncWGqT5BVaXmza+X+BDGol+dOxo=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20190410155217-1f06c39b4373/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
diff --git a/httptransport/indexer_v1.go b/httptransport/indexer_v1.go
index 944a90cad6..212bd49332 100644
--- a/httptransport/indexer_v1.go
+++ b/httptransport/indexer_v1.go
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"path"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/ldelossa/responserecorder"
+	oci "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/quay/claircore"
 	"github.com/quay/zlog"
@@ -90,8 +92,8 @@ func (h *IndexerV1) indexReport(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 			apiError(w, http.StatusInternalServerError, "could not retrieve indexer state: %v", err)
 			return
 		}
-		var m claircore.Manifest
-		if err := dec.Decode(&m); err != nil {
+		m, err := decodeManifest(ctx, r, dec)
+		if err != nil {
 			apiError(w, http.StatusBadRequest, "failed to deserialize manifest: %v", err)
 			return
 		}
@@ -109,9 +111,9 @@ func (h *IndexerV1) indexReport(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 			return
 		}
 
-		// TODO Do we need some sort of background context embedded in the HTTP
-		// struct?
-		report, err := h.srv.Index(ctx, &m)
+		// TODO(hank) We should switch on the content-type header and not send
+		// back the report if we've received an OCI manifest.
+		report, err := h.srv.Index(ctx, m)
 		if err != nil {
 			apiError(w, http.StatusInternalServerError, "failed to start scan: %v", err)
 			return
@@ -342,3 +344,84 @@ var indexerv1wrapper = &wrapper{
 		[]string{"handler"},
 	),
 }
+
+const (
+	// Known manifest types we ingest.
+	typeOCIManifest    = oci.MediaTypeImageManifest
+	typeNativeManifest = `application/vnd.projectquay.clair.mainfest.v1+json`
+)
+
+// DecodeManifest switches on the Request's Content-Type to consume the body.
+//
+// Defaults to expecting a native Claircore Manifest.
+func decodeManifest(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request, dec *codec.Decoder) (*claircore.Manifest, error) {
+	var m claircore.Manifest
+
+	t := r.Header.Get("content-type")
+	if i := strings.IndexByte(t, ';'); i != -1 {
+		t = strings.TrimSpace(t[:i])
+	}
+	switch t {
+	case typeOCIManifest:
+		var om oci.Manifest
+		if err := dec.Decode(&om); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if err := nativeFromOCI(&m, &om); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	case typeNativeManifest, "application/json", "":
+		if err := dec.Decode(&m); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown content-type %q", t)
+	}
+	return &m, nil
+}
+
+// These are the layer types we accept inside an OCI Manifest.
+var ociLayerTypes = map[string]struct{}{
+	oci.MediaTypeImageLayer:           {},
+	oci.MediaTypeImageLayerGzip:       {},
+	oci.MediaTypeImageLayer + "+zstd": {}, // The specs package doesn't have zstd, oddly.
+}
+
+// NativeFromOCI populates the Manifest from the OCI Manifest, reporting an
+// error if something is invalid.
+func nativeFromOCI(m *claircore.Manifest, o *oci.Manifest) error {
+	const header = `header:`
+	var err error
+
+	m.Hash, err = claircore.ParseDigest(o.Config.Digest.String())
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unable to parse manifest digest %q: %w", o.Config.Digest, err)
+	}
+
+	for _, u := range o.Layers {
+		if len(u.URLs) == 0 {
+			// Manifest is missing URLs.
+			// They're optional in the spec, but we need them for obvious reasons.
+			return fmt.Errorf("missing URLs for layer %q", u.Digest)
+		}
+		if _, ok := ociLayerTypes[u.MediaType]; !ok {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid media type for layer %q", u.Digest)
+		}
+		l := claircore.Layer{
+			URI: u.URLs[0],
+		}
+		l.Hash, err = claircore.ParseDigest(u.Digest.String())
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("unable to parse layer digest %q: %w", u.Digest, err)
+		}
+		for k, v := range u.Annotations {
+			if !strings.HasPrefix(k, header) {
+				continue
+			}
+			l.Headers[strings.TrimPrefix(k, header)] = []string{v}
+		}
+		m.Layers = append(m.Layers, &l)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/httptransport/indexer_v1_test.go b/httptransport/indexer_v1_test.go
index 6e32501a7e..61bc892331 100644
--- a/httptransport/indexer_v1_test.go
+++ b/httptransport/indexer_v1_test.go
@@ -11,12 +11,17 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
+	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp/cmpopts"
+	"github.com/opencontainers/go-digest"
+	oci "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
 	"github.com/quay/claircore"
 	"github.com/quay/zlog"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace"
 
 	"github.com/quay/clair/v4/indexer"
+	"github.com/quay/clair/v4/internal/codec"
 )
 
 func TestIndexerV1(t *testing.T) {
@@ -194,3 +199,229 @@ func TestIndexerV1(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	})
 }
+
+func TestNativeFromOCI(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	cmpOpts := cmp.Options{
+		cmp.Comparer(func(a, b claircore.Digest) bool { return a.String() == b.String() }),
+		cmpopts.IgnoreUnexported(claircore.Layer{}),
+	}
+	type testcase struct {
+		Name string
+		Want claircore.Manifest
+		In   oci.Manifest
+		Err  bool
+	}
+	Run := func(tc *testcase) func(*testing.T) {
+		return func(t *testing.T) {
+			var got claircore.Manifest
+
+			err := nativeFromOCI(&got, &tc.In)
+			if (err != nil) != tc.Err {
+				t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			if got, want := &got, &tc.Want; !cmp.Equal(got, want, cmpOpts) {
+				t.Error(cmp.Diff(got, want, cmpOpts))
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	tt := []testcase{
+		{
+			Name: "EmptyDigest",
+			In:   oci.Manifest{},
+			Err:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "BadDigest",
+			In: oci.Manifest{
+				Config: oci.Descriptor{
+					Digest: digest.Digest("xxx:yyy"),
+				},
+			},
+			Err: true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "BadURLs",
+			In: oci.Manifest{
+				Config: oci.Descriptor{
+					Digest: digest.FromString("good manifest"),
+				},
+				Layers: []oci.Descriptor{
+					{URLs: nil},
+				},
+			},
+			Want: claircore.Manifest{
+				Hash: claircore.MustParseDigest("sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"),
+			},
+			Err: true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "BadMediaType",
+			In: oci.Manifest{
+				Config: oci.Descriptor{
+					Digest: digest.FromString("good manifest"),
+				},
+				Layers: []oci.Descriptor{
+					{
+						MediaType: `fake/media-type`,
+						URLs:      []string{"http://localhost/real/layer"},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			Want: claircore.Manifest{
+				Hash: claircore.MustParseDigest("sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"),
+			},
+			Err: true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "BadLayerDigest",
+			In: oci.Manifest{
+				Config: oci.Descriptor{
+					Digest: digest.FromString("good manifest"),
+				},
+				Layers: []oci.Descriptor{
+					{
+						Digest:    digest.Digest("xxx:yyy"),
+						MediaType: oci.MediaTypeImageLayer,
+						URLs:      []string{"http://localhost/real/layer"},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			Want: claircore.Manifest{
+				Hash: claircore.MustParseDigest("sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"),
+			},
+			Err: true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "OK",
+			Want: claircore.Manifest{
+				Hash: claircore.MustParseDigest("sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"),
+				Layers: []*claircore.Layer{
+					{
+						Hash: claircore.MustParseDigest("sha256:ba54d2c66022c637137ad0896ba5fb790847755be51b08bc472ffab5fdd76b1b"),
+						URI:  "http://localhost/real/layer",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			In: oci.Manifest{
+				Config: oci.Descriptor{
+					Digest: digest.FromString("good manifest"),
+				},
+				Layers: []oci.Descriptor{
+					{
+						Digest:    digest.FromString("cool layer"),
+						MediaType: oci.MediaTypeImageLayer,
+						URLs:      []string{"http://localhost/real/layer"},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tt {
+		t.Run(tc.Name, Run(&tc))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDecodeManifest(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	type testcase struct {
+		Name string
+		In   *http.Request
+		Want claircore.Manifest
+		Err  bool
+	}
+	Run := func(tc *testcase) func(*testing.T) {
+		return func(t *testing.T) {
+			dec := codec.GetDecoder(tc.In.Body)
+			defer codec.PutDecoder(dec)
+			got, err := decodeManifest(ctx, tc.In, dec)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Log(err)
+			}
+			if (err != nil) != tc.Err {
+				t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+			_ = got
+		}
+	}
+
+	const (
+		goodOCI = `{
+		"mediaType":"` + oci.MediaTypeImageManifest + `",
+		"config":{"digest":"sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"},
+		"layers":[{
+			"mediaType":"` + oci.MediaTypeImageLayer + `",
+			"digest":"sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19",
+			"urls":["http://example.com/layer"]
+		}]}`
+		errorOCI = `{
+		"mediaType":"` + oci.MediaTypeImageManifest + `",
+		"config":{"digest":"sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"},
+		"layers":[{
+			"mediaType":"` + oci.MediaTypeImageLayer + `",
+			"digest":"sha256:a3114909b7f9d6c4a680e04c3f6eacaeb80c4d9d8d802f81e9b9cf0a29d26e19"
+		}]}`
+	)
+	tt := []testcase{
+		{
+			Name: "NoHeaders",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(`{}`)),
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "BadContentType",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(`{}`)),
+			Err:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "Default",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(`{}`)),
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "Default+Error",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(`""`)),
+			Err:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "Claircore",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(`{}`)),
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "OCIManifest",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(goodOCI)),
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "OCIManifest+DecodeError",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(`""`)),
+			Err:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "OCIManifest+TranslateError",
+			In:   httptest.NewRequest("", "/", strings.NewReader(errorOCI)),
+			Err:  true,
+		},
+	}
+	// Adjust headers
+	for _, tc := range tt {
+		switch tc.Name {
+		case "NoHeaders":
+		case "BadContentType":
+			tc.In.Header.Set(`content-type`, `text/plain; charset=UTF-8`)
+		case "OCIManifest", "OCIManifest+DecodeError", "OCIManifest+TranslateError":
+			tc.In.Header.Set(`content-type`, oci.MediaTypeImageManifest)
+		case "Claircore":
+			tc.In.Header.Set(`content-type`, `application/json; charset=UTF-8`)
+		default:
+			tc.In.Header.Set(`content-type`, `application/json; charset=UTF-8`)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tt {
+		t.Run(tc.Name, Run(&tc))
+	}
+}