diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-staged-images.yml b/.github/workflows/build-staged-images.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd8db7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-staged-images.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,230 @@
+name: Build chunkah-staged bootc base images
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+    paths:
+      - 'staged-images/**'
+      - '.github/workflows/build-staged-images.yml'
+  schedule:
+    # Rebuild weekly to pick up upstream base image updates
+    - cron: '0 6 * * 1'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+env:
+  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
+
+jobs:
+  # Mirror upstream source images to GHCR so we have our own copy.
+  # Upstream registries (quay.io) may delete old manifests, breaking
+  # digest-pinned pulls.  skopeo copy --all preserves the full
+  # multi-arch manifest list.
+  mirror:
+    name: Mirror ${{ matrix.upstream_name }}:${{ matrix.tag }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      packages: write
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - upstream_name: fedora/fedora-bootc
+            tag: "43"
+            mirror_name: fedora-bootc-source
+            # renovate: datasource=docker depName=quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc
+            source: quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc:43@sha256:60900cb506936af583704955830c72de1d7fc2622a92a9a3039442871a798260
+          - upstream_name: fedora/fedora-bootc
+            tag: "44"
+            mirror_name: fedora-bootc-source
+            # renovate: datasource=docker depName=quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc
+            source: quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc:44@sha256:33811dcc3d56e69a810fab88e8af08a121db2897625eec859b004b869a2d3d4e
+          - upstream_name: centos-bootc/centos-bootc
+            tag: stream9
+            mirror_name: centos-bootc-source
+            # renovate: datasource=docker depName=quay.io/centos-bootc/centos-bootc
+            source: quay.io/centos-bootc/centos-bootc:stream9@sha256:2b96ee6f7157ed79c0f3db4d2c56686444e61733cabddc6229711c6a6b5dd673
+          - upstream_name: centos-bootc/centos-bootc
+            tag: stream10
+            mirror_name: centos-bootc-source
+            # renovate: datasource=docker depName=quay.io/centos-bootc/centos-bootc
+            source: quay.io/centos-bootc/centos-bootc:stream10@sha256:43d2199dc2b147905ff3970b77957ac4775554b5ee6973abb577243a3fa28614
+    steps:
+      - name: Set up podman
+        uses: bootc-dev/actions/bootc-ubuntu-setup@main
+
+      - name: Log in to GHCR
+        run: |
+          echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | \
+            podman login -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
+
+      - name: Mirror image
+        id: mirror
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          dest="${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ matrix.mirror_name }}:${{ matrix.tag }}"
+          # skopeo doesn't support tag@digest references, so strip the
+          # tag and use the digest-only form for the source.
+          src="${{ matrix.source }}"
+          src_by_digest="${src%%:*}@${src##*@}"
+          echo "Mirroring ${src_by_digest} -> ${dest}"
+          skopeo copy --all --retry-times 3 \
+            "docker://${src_by_digest}" \
+            "docker://${dest}"
+          echo "Mirrored ${dest}"
+
+  build:
+    name: Build ${{ matrix.name }}:${{ matrix.tag }} (${{ matrix.arch }})
+    needs: mirror
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runner }}
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      packages: write
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          # fedora-bootc-staged:43
+          - name: fedora-bootc-staged
+            tag: "43"
+            mirror_name: fedora-bootc-source
+            arch: amd64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04
+          - name: fedora-bootc-staged
+            tag: "43"
+            mirror_name: fedora-bootc-source
+            arch: arm64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04-arm
+          # fedora-bootc-staged:44
+          - name: fedora-bootc-staged
+            tag: "44"
+            mirror_name: fedora-bootc-source
+            arch: amd64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04
+          - name: fedora-bootc-staged
+            tag: "44"
+            mirror_name: fedora-bootc-source
+            arch: arm64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04-arm
+          # centos-bootc-staged:stream9
+          - name: centos-bootc-staged
+            tag: stream9
+            mirror_name: centos-bootc-source
+            arch: amd64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04
+          - name: centos-bootc-staged
+            tag: stream9
+            mirror_name: centos-bootc-source
+            arch: arm64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04-arm
+          # centos-bootc-staged:stream10
+          - name: centos-bootc-staged
+            tag: stream10
+            mirror_name: centos-bootc-source
+            arch: amd64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04
+          - name: centos-bootc-staged
+            tag: stream10
+            mirror_name: centos-bootc-source
+            arch: arm64
+            runner: ubuntu-24.04-arm
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Set up podman
+        uses: bootc-dev/actions/bootc-ubuntu-setup@main
+
+      - name: Log in to GHCR
+        run: |
+          echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | \
+            podman login -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
+
+      - name: Pull source image from mirror
+        id: source
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          source="${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ matrix.mirror_name }}:${{ matrix.tag }}"
+          podman pull "${source}"
+          echo "image=${source}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Write source image config to build context
+        working-directory: staged-images
+        run: podman inspect ${{ steps.source.outputs.image }} > source-config.json
+
+      - name: Build staged image
+        working-directory: staged-images
+        run: |
+          buildah build --skip-unused-stages=false \
+            --build-arg SOURCE_IMAGE=${{ steps.source.outputs.image }} \
+            --build-arg MAX_LAYERS=128 \
+            -f Containerfile.staged \
+            -t localhost/${{ matrix.name }}:latest \
+            .
+
+      - name: Verify image
+        run: |
+          echo "=== Image labels ==="
+          podman inspect localhost/${{ matrix.name }}:latest | jq '.[0].Config.Labels'
+          echo "=== Layer count ==="
+          podman inspect localhost/${{ matrix.name }}:latest | jq '.[0].RootFS.Layers | length'
+
+      - name: Push by digest
+        id: push
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          image="${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ matrix.name }}"
+          podman tag localhost/${{ matrix.name }}:latest "${image}:latest"
+          podman push --retry 3 --digestfile "${{ runner.temp }}/digestfile" "${image}:latest"
+          digest=$(cat "${{ runner.temp }}/digestfile")
+          echo "digest=${digest}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "Pushed ${image}@${digest} (${{ matrix.arch }})"
+
+      - name: Upload digest artifact
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p "${{ runner.temp }}/digests"
+          echo "${{ steps.push.outputs.digest }}" > "${{ runner.temp }}/digests/${{ matrix.arch }}"
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: staged-digests-${{ matrix.name }}-${{ matrix.tag }}-${{ matrix.arch }}
+          path: ${{ runner.temp }}/digests/*
+          if-no-files-found: error
+          retention-days: 1
+
+  manifest:
+    name: Manifest ${{ matrix.name }}:${{ matrix.tag }}
+    needs: build
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      packages: write
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - name: fedora-bootc-staged
+            tag: "43"
+          - name: fedora-bootc-staged
+            tag: "44"
+          - name: centos-bootc-staged
+            tag: stream9
+          - name: centos-bootc-staged
+            tag: stream10
+    steps:
+      - name: Set up podman
+        uses: bootc-dev/actions/bootc-ubuntu-setup@main
+
+      - name: Create and push manifest
+        uses: bootc-dev/actions/create-manifest@main
+        with:
+          image: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ matrix.name }}
+          tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ matrix.name }}:${{ matrix.tag }}
+          artifact-pattern: staged-digests-${{ matrix.name }}-${{ matrix.tag }}-*
+          registry-login-env: 'false'
diff --git a/renovate-shared-config.json b/renovate-shared-config.json
index 7ea7cfe..46d3c4c 100644
--- a/renovate-shared-config.json
+++ b/renovate-shared-config.json
@@ -57,6 +57,17 @@
         "# renovate: datasource=(?<datasource>[a-z-]+) depName=(?<depName>[^\\s]+)\\n\\s*(?:export )?\\w*VERSION=(?<currentValue>v?\\S+)"
       ]
     },
+    // Container image digest pinning in YAML workflows
+    // Matches patterns like:
+    //   # renovate: datasource=docker depName=quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc
+    //   source: quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc:43@sha256:abc123...
+    {
+      "customType": "regex",
+      "managerFilePatterns": ["**/*.yml", "**/*.yaml"],
+      "matchStrings": [
+        "# renovate: datasource=(?<datasource>docker) depName=(?<depName>[^\\s]+)\\n\\s*\\w+:\\s*\\S+:(?<currentValue>[^@\\s]+)@(?<currentDigest>sha256:[a-f0-9]+)"
+      ]
+    },
     // Git refs (commit SHA) tracking in Justfiles and YAML workflows
     // Justfile example:
     //   # renovate: datasource=git-refs depName=https://github.com/org/repo branch=main
@@ -134,6 +145,22 @@
       "groupName": "Docker",
       "enabled": true
     },
+    // Group staged bootc base image digest updates separately
+    //
+    // These are the upstream source images for chunkah-staged builds.
+    // Digest updates trigger a rebuild of the staged images, so they
+    // get their own PR. Must come after the Docker group rule so it
+    // takes precedence (Renovate applies all matching rules in order,
+    // later rules win).
+    {
+      "description": ["Staged bootc base image digest updates"],
+      "matchManagers": ["custom.regex"],
+      "matchDepNames": [
+        "quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc",
+        "quay.io/centos-bootc/centos-bootc"
+      ],
+      "groupName": "staged-images"
+    },
     // bcvk gets its own group so it isn't blocked by the weekly schedule
     // applied to other Docker group members. Without this, the Docker group
     // PR can only be created on Sundays (when all deps are in-schedule),
diff --git a/staged-images/.gitignore b/staged-images/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..465b9a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staged-images/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+source-config.json
+out.ociarchive
diff --git a/staged-images/Containerfile.staged b/staged-images/Containerfile.staged
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d67112
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staged-images/Containerfile.staged
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Containerfile.staged — Rechunk a bootc base image with chunkah
+#
+# Takes an upstream bootc image (fedora-bootc or centos-bootc), strips
+# the /sysroot (ostree data), and rechunks using chunkah for optimal
+# layer reuse across updates. The result is a "staged" base image
+# suitable for use as a FROM base in bootc development.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   podman pull quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc:44
+#   podman inspect quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc:44 > source-config.json
+#   buildah build --skip-unused-stages=false \
+#     --build-arg SOURCE_IMAGE=quay.io/fedora/fedora-bootc:44 \
+#     -f Containerfile.staged .
+
+ARG SOURCE_IMAGE
+ARG CHUNKAH=quay.io/jlebon/chunkah:latest
+ARG MAX_LAYERS=128
+
+FROM ${SOURCE_IMAGE} AS source
+
+FROM ${CHUNKAH} AS chunkah
+ARG MAX_LAYERS
+RUN --mount=type=bind,target=/run/src,rw \
+    --mount=from=source,target=/chunkah,ro \
+      chunkah build \
+        --config /run/src/source-config.json \
+        --prune /sysroot/ \
+        --max-layers "${MAX_LAYERS}" \
+        --label ostree.commit- \
+        --label ostree.final-diffid- \
+        > /run/src/out.ociarchive
+
+FROM oci-archive:out.ociarchive