diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/main.go b/cmd/image-builder/main.go
index 2158772..b2ba2ce 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/main.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/main.go
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
 	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/arch"
-	"github.com/osbuild/images/pkg/blueprint"
 
+	"github.com/osbuild/image-builder-cli/internal/blueprintload"
 	"github.com/osbuild/image-builder-cli/internal/manifestgen"
 )
 
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ func cmdManifest(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	blueprintPath, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("blueprint")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
 	distroStr := args[0]
 	imgTypeStr := args[1]
@@ -65,8 +69,12 @@ func cmdManifest(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	var bp blueprint.Blueprint
-	return mg.Generate(&bp, res.Distro, res.ImgType, res.Arch, nil)
+	bp, err := blueprintload.Load(blueprintPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return mg.Generate(bp, res.Distro, res.ImgType, res.Arch, nil)
 }
 
 func run() error {
@@ -107,7 +115,8 @@ operating sytsems like centos and RHEL with easy customizations support.`,
 		Args:         cobra.MinimumNArgs(2),
 		Hidden:       true,
 	}
-	// XXX: add blueprint switch
+	// XXX: share with build
+	manifestCmd.Flags().String("blueprint", "", `pass a blueprint file`)
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(manifestCmd)
 
 	return rootCmd.Execute()
diff --git a/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go b/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
index 757557c..e4d9245 100644
--- a/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/image-builder/main_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
@@ -132,6 +133,24 @@ func hasDepsolveDnf() bool {
 	return err == nil
 }
 
+var testBlueprint = `{
+  "customizations": {
+    "user": [
+      {
+	"name": "alice"
+      }
+    ]
+  }
+}`
+
+func makeTestBlueprint(t *testing.T, testBlueprint string) string {
+	tmpdir := t.TempDir()
+	blueprintPath := filepath.Join(tmpdir, "blueprint.json")
+	err := os.WriteFile(blueprintPath, []byte(testBlueprint), 0644)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	return blueprintPath
+}
+
 // XXX: move to pytest like bib maybe?
 func TestManifestIntegrationSmoke(t *testing.T) {
 	if testing.Short() {
@@ -145,7 +164,9 @@ func TestManifestIntegrationSmoke(t *testing.T) {
 	defer restore()
 
 	restore = main.MockOsArgs([]string{
-		"manifest", "centos-9", "qcow2"},
+		"manifest",
+		"--blueprint", makeTestBlueprint(t, testBlueprint),
+		"centos-9", "qcow2"},
 	)
 	defer restore()
 
@@ -159,4 +180,7 @@ func TestManifestIntegrationSmoke(t *testing.T) {
 	pipelineNames, err := manifesttest.PipelineNamesFrom(fakeStdout.Bytes())
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Contains(t, pipelineNames, "qcow2")
+
+	// XXX: provide helpers in manifesttest to extract this in a nicer way
+	assert.Contains(t, fakeStdout.String(), `{"type":"org.osbuild.users","options":{"users":{"alice":{}}}}`)
 }