diff --git a/cmd/schedctl/run.go b/cmd/schedctl/run.go
index e1ed10c..ef0ad6c 100644
--- a/cmd/schedctl/run.go
+++ b/cmd/schedctl/run.go
@@ -31,11 +31,18 @@ func run(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string, attach bool) error {
 	driver := cmd.Flags().Lookup("driver").Value.String()
 	schedulerID := cmd.Flags().Args()[0]
 
-	image, err := schedulers.GetScheduler(schedulerID)
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler(schedulerID)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	switch result.Source {
+	case schedulers.SourceManifest:
+		_, _ = output.Out("Running scheduler '%s' from manifest: %s\n", schedulerID, result.ImageURI)
+	case schedulers.SourceDirect:
+		_, _ = output.Out("Running container image: %s\n", result.ImageURI)
+	}
+
 	if driver == constants.CONTAINERD {
 		// connect to rootful containerd
 		client, err := containerd.NewClient()
@@ -44,19 +51,19 @@ func run(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string, attach bool) error {
 		}
 		defer client.Close()
 
-		err = containerd.Run(client, image, schedulerID, attach, true)
+		err = containerd.Run(client, result.ImageURI, schedulerID, attach, true)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
 
 	if driver == constants.PODMAN {
-		err := podman.Run(image, schedulerID)
+		err := podman.Run(result.ImageURI, schedulerID)
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}
 
-		_, _ = output.Out("Container %s started successfully\n", image)
+		_, _ = output.Out("Container %s started successfully\n", result.ImageURI)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/internal/schedulers/schedulers.go b/internal/schedulers/schedulers.go
index 637f839..bb7f12f 100644
--- a/internal/schedulers/schedulers.go
+++ b/internal/schedulers/schedulers.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
+	"strings"
 
 	"schedctl/internal/output"
 )
@@ -17,6 +18,18 @@ type ManifestEntry struct {
 
 type Manifest map[string]ManifestEntry
 
+type ImageSource string
+
+const (
+	SourceManifest ImageSource = "manifest"
+	SourceDirect   ImageSource = "direct"
+)
+
+type SchedulerImage struct {
+	ImageURI string
+	Source   ImageSource
+}
+
 func List() Manifest {
 	var manifest Manifest
 
@@ -41,19 +54,65 @@ func List() Manifest {
 	return manifest
 }
 
-func GetScheduler(id string) (string, error) {
-	var image string
+// isContainerImage checks if a string looks like a container image URI.
+// Examples:
+//   - ghcr.io/user/repo
+//   - docker.io/nginx:latest
+//   - quay.io/org/image:v1.0
+//   - localhost:5000/myimage
+//   - nginx/alpine
+func isContainerImage(input string) bool {
+	if strings.Contains(input, "/") {
+		parts := strings.Split(input, "/")
+		firstPart := parts[0]
+
+		if strings.Contains(firstPart, ".") || strings.Contains(firstPart, ":") {
+			return true
+		}
+
+		if len(parts) >= 2 {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
+func ensureImageTag(image string) string {
+	if strings.Contains(image, "@") {
+		return image
+	}
+
+	parts := strings.Split(image, "/")
+	lastPart := parts[len(parts)-1]
+
+	// Check if the last part (repo name) has a tag
+	if !strings.Contains(lastPart, ":") {
+		return image + ":latest"
+	}
+
+	return image
+}
+
+func GetScheduler(id string) (SchedulerImage, error) {
+	var result SchedulerImage
 
-	for key, entry := range List() {
+	manifest := List()
+	for key, entry := range manifest {
 		if key == id {
-			// For the moment we just append the :latest tag to the image
-			image = entry.ImageURI + ":latest"
+			result.ImageURI = ensureImageTag(entry.ImageURI)
+			result.Source = SourceManifest
+			return result, nil
 		}
 	}
 
-	if len(image) == 0 {
-		return "", errors.New("scheduler not found")
+	if isContainerImage(id) {
+		result.ImageURI = ensureImageTag(id)
+		result.Source = SourceDirect
+		return result, nil
 	}
 
-	return image, nil
+	return result, errors.New(
+		"scheduler not found in manifest and input does not appear to be a valid container image URI",
+	)
 }
diff --git a/internal/schedulers/schedulers_test.go b/internal/schedulers/schedulers_test.go
index 2fc43eb..90a94ba 100644
--- a/internal/schedulers/schedulers_test.go
+++ b/internal/schedulers/schedulers_test.go
@@ -9,12 +9,55 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestSchedulerFound(t *testing.T) {
-	schedulerImage, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("scx_rusty")
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("scx_rusty")
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "ghcr.io/schedkit/scx_rusty:latest", schedulerImage)
+	assert.Equal(t, "ghcr.io/schedkit/scx_rusty:latest", result.ImageURI)
+	assert.Equal(t, schedulers.SourceManifest, result.Source)
 }
 
 func TestSchedulerNotFound(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("unknown")
 	assert.NotNil(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "scheduler not found")
+}
+
+func TestDirectImageWithRegistry(t *testing.T) {
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("ghcr.io/myorg/custom-scheduler")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "ghcr.io/myorg/custom-scheduler:latest", result.ImageURI)
+	assert.Equal(t, schedulers.SourceDirect, result.Source)
+}
+
+func TestDirectImageWithTag(t *testing.T) {
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("docker.io/nginx:alpine")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "docker.io/nginx:alpine", result.ImageURI)
+	assert.Equal(t, schedulers.SourceDirect, result.Source)
+}
+
+func TestDirectImageWithDigest(t *testing.T) {
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("quay.io/org/image@sha256:abc123")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "quay.io/org/image@sha256:abc123", result.ImageURI)
+	assert.Equal(t, schedulers.SourceDirect, result.Source)
+}
+
+func TestDirectImageLocalhost(t *testing.T) {
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("localhost:5000/myimage")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "localhost:5000/myimage:latest", result.ImageURI)
+	assert.Equal(t, schedulers.SourceDirect, result.Source)
+}
+
+func TestDirectImageDockerHub(t *testing.T) {
+	result, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("nginx/alpine")
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "nginx/alpine:latest", result.ImageURI)
+	assert.Equal(t, schedulers.SourceDirect, result.Source)
+}
+
+func TestInvalidInput(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := schedulers.GetScheduler("just-a-name")
+	assert.NotNil(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "scheduler not found")
 }