diff --git a/cli/app/version.go b/cli/app/version.go
index 8ea3aa09..80d4f37f 100644
--- a/cli/app/version.go
+++ b/cli/app/version.go
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 package app
 
 import (
-	"strings"
-
 	"coopcloud.tech/abra/cli/internal"
 	"coopcloud.tech/abra/pkg/autocomplete"
 	"coopcloud.tech/abra/pkg/client"
@@ -22,9 +20,8 @@ func getImagePath(image string) (string, error) {
 	}
 
 	path := reference.Path(img)
-	if strings.Contains(path, "library") {
-		path = strings.Split(path, "/")[1]
-	}
+
+	path = recipe.StripTagMeta(path)
 
 	logrus.Debugf("parsed %s from %s", path, image)
 
diff --git a/cli/internal/recipe.go b/cli/internal/recipe.go
index c75407b3..30f13903 100644
--- a/cli/internal/recipe.go
+++ b/cli/internal/recipe.go
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ package internal
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"strings"
 
 	"coopcloud.tech/abra/pkg/recipe"
+	recipePkg "coopcloud.tech/abra/pkg/recipe"
 	"github.com/AlecAivazis/survey/v2"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
@@ -94,9 +94,7 @@ func GetMainAppImage(recipe recipe.Recipe) (string, error) {
 			}
 
 			path = reference.Path(img)
-			if strings.Contains(path, "library") {
-				path = strings.Split(path, "/")[1]
-			}
+			path = recipePkg.StripTagMeta(path)
 
 			return path, nil
 		}
diff --git a/cli/recipe/release.go b/cli/recipe/release.go
index 697284da..1a66afd0 100644
--- a/cli/recipe/release.go
+++ b/cli/recipe/release.go
@@ -138,9 +138,8 @@ func getImageVersions(recipe recipe.Recipe) (map[string]string, error) {
 		}
 
 		path := reference.Path(img)
-		if strings.Contains(path, "library") {
-			path = strings.Split(path, "/")[1]
-		}
+
+		path = recipePkg.StripTagMeta(path)
 
 		var tag string
 		switch img.(type) {
diff --git a/pkg/recipe/recipe.go b/pkg/recipe/recipe.go
index e697bc64..296913d0 100644
--- a/pkg/recipe/recipe.go
+++ b/pkg/recipe/recipe.go
@@ -165,6 +165,9 @@ func (r Recipe) UpdateLabel(pattern, serviceName, label string) error {
 // UpdateTag updates a recipe tag
 func (r Recipe) UpdateTag(image, tag string) error {
 	pattern := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s/compose**yml", config.RECIPES_DIR, r.Name)
+
+	image = StripTagMeta(image)
+
 	if err := compose.UpdateTag(pattern, image, tag, r.Name); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -973,9 +976,8 @@ func GetRecipeVersions(recipeName, registryUsername, registryPassword string) (R
 			}
 
 			path := reference.Path(img)
-			if strings.Contains(path, "library") {
-				path = strings.Split(path, "/")[1]
-			}
+
+			path = StripTagMeta(path)
 
 			var tag string
 			switch img.(type) {
@@ -1041,3 +1043,22 @@ func GetRecipeCatalogueVersions(recipeName string, catl RecipeCatalogue) ([]stri
 
 	return versions, nil
 }
+
+// StripTagMeta strips front-matter image tag data that we don't need for parsing.
+func StripTagMeta(image string) string {
+	originalImage := image
+
+	if strings.Contains(image, "docker.io") {
+		image = strings.Split(image, "/")[1]
+	}
+
+	if strings.Contains(image, "library") {
+		image = strings.Split(image, "/")[1]
+	}
+
+	if originalImage != image {
+		logrus.Debugf("stripped %s to %s for parsing", originalImage, image)
+	}
+
+	return image
+}