diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ac02c7f..fb3c5bc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export HELM_PLUGINS := $(BUILD_DIR)/helm-plugins
 
 GORELEASER_VERSION ?= v1.9.2
 GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION ?= v1.51.2
-# TODO: fix e2e tests and docu to make newer kpt versions work
+# TODO: update kpt when panic is fixed: https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/kpt/issues/3868
 KPT_VERSION ?= v1.0.0-beta.20
 KUSTOMIZE_VERSION ?= v4.5.5
 BATS_VERSION = v1.7.0
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ install:
 	chmod +x /usr/local/bin/khelm
 
 install-kustomize-plugin:
-	mkdir -p $${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$$HOME/.config}/kustomize/plugin/khelm.mgoltzsche.github.com/v1/chartrenderer
-	cp $(BUILD_DIR)/bin/khelm $${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$$HOME/.config}/kustomize/plugin/khelm.mgoltzsche.github.com/v1/chartrenderer/ChartRenderer
+	mkdir -p $${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$$HOME/.config}/kustomize/plugin/khelm.mgoltzsche.github.com/v2/chartrenderer
+	cp $(BUILD_DIR)/bin/khelm $${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$$HOME/.config}/kustomize/plugin/khelm.mgoltzsche.github.com/v2/chartrenderer/ChartRenderer
 
 image: khelm
 	$(DOCKER) build --force-rm -t $(IMAGE) -f ./Dockerfile $(BIN_DIR)
diff --git a/e2e/cli-tests.bats b/e2e/cli-tests.bats
index c1951ee..3eefd64 100755
--- a/e2e/cli-tests.bats
+++ b/e2e/cli-tests.bats
@@ -37,4 +37,13 @@ teardown() {
 		--debug
 	[ -f "$OUT_DIR/manifest.yaml" ]
 	grep -q myreleasex "$OUT_DIR/manifest.yaml"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+@test "CLI should support oci registry" {
+	docker run --rm -u $(id -u):$(id -g) -v "$OUT_DIR:/out" "$IMAGE" template myreleasex oci://public.ecr.aws/karpenter/karpenter \
+		--version v0.27.0 \
+		--output /out/manifest.yaml \
+		--debug
+	[ -f "$OUT_DIR/manifest.yaml" ]
+	grep -q myreleasex "$OUT_DIR/manifest.yaml"
+}
diff --git a/e2e/kustomize-krm-fn-tests.bats b/e2e/kustomize-krm-fn-tests.bats
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/example/oci-image/generator.yaml b/example/oci-image/generator.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92dcecf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/oci-image/generator.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+apiVersion: khelm.mgoltzsche.github.com/v2
+kind: ChartRenderer
+metadata:
+  name: karpenter
+  namespace: kube-system
+repository: "oci://public.ecr.aws/karpenter"
+chart: karpenter
+version: 0.27.0
diff --git a/example/oci-image/kustomization.yaml b/example/oci-image/kustomization.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..318ffad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/oci-image/kustomization.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+generators:
+- generator.yaml
diff --git a/pkg/helm/load.go b/pkg/helm/load.go
index e9d7f6a..56fe1ae 100644
--- a/pkg/helm/load.go
+++ b/pkg/helm/load.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/cli"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/downloader"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/getter"
+	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/registry"
 )
 
 // loadChart loads chart from local or remote location
@@ -29,6 +30,8 @@ func (h *Helm) loadChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.ChartConfig) (*chart.C
 	if cfg.Repository == "" {
 		if fileExists {
 			return h.buildAndLoadLocalChart(ctx, cfg)
+		} else if registry.IsOCI(cfg.Chart) {
+			return h.loadOCIChart(ctx, cfg)
 		} else if l := strings.Split(cfg.Chart, "/"); len(l) == 2 && l[0] != "" && l[1] != "" && l[0] != ".." && l[0] != "." {
 			cfg.Repository = "@" + l[0]
 			cfg.Chart = l[1]
@@ -39,6 +42,14 @@ func (h *Helm) loadChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.ChartConfig) (*chart.C
 	return h.loadRemoteChart(ctx, cfg)
 }
 
+func (h *Helm) loadOCIChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.ChartConfig) (*chart.Chart, error) {
+	chartPath, err := locateChart(ctx, &cfg.LoaderConfig, nil, &h.Settings, h.Getters)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return loader.Load(chartPath)
+}
+
 func (h *Helm) loadRemoteChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.ChartConfig) (*chart.Chart, error) {
 	repoURLs := map[string]struct{}{cfg.Repository: {}}
 	repos, err := reposForURLs(repoURLs, h.TrustAnyRepository, &h.Settings, h.Getters)
diff --git a/pkg/helm/locate.go b/pkg/helm/locate.go
index 516b401..87f97f5 100644
--- a/pkg/helm/locate.go
+++ b/pkg/helm/locate.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/cli"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/downloader"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/getter"
+	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/registry"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/repo"
 )
 
@@ -21,37 +22,62 @@ import (
 // (derived from https://github.com/helm/helm/blob/fc9b46067f8f24a90b52eba31e09b31e69011e93/pkg/action/install.go#L621 -
 // with efficient caching)
 func locateChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.LoaderConfig, repos repositoryConfig, settings *cli.EnvSettings, getters getter.Providers) (string, error) {
-	name := cfg.Chart
+	name := strings.TrimSpace(cfg.Chart)
+	version := strings.TrimSpace(cfg.Version)
+	digest := "none"
+	chartURL := name
 
 	if filepath.IsAbs(name) || strings.HasPrefix(name, ".") {
 		return name, errors.Errorf("path %q not found", name)
 	}
 
-	repoEntry, err := repos.Get(cfg.Repository)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+	dl := downloader.ChartDownloader{
+		Out:              log.Writer(),
+		Keyring:          cfg.Keyring,
+		Getters:          getters,
+		RepositoryConfig: settings.RepositoryConfig,
+		RepositoryCache:  settings.RepositoryCache,
 	}
 
-	cv, err := repos.ResolveChartVersion(ctx, name, cfg.Version, repoEntry.URL)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+	if cfg.Repository != "" {
+		repoEntry, err := repos.Get(cfg.Repository)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+
+		cv, err := repos.ResolveChartVersion(ctx, name, cfg.Version, repoEntry.URL)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+
+		chartURL, err = repo.ResolveReferenceURL(repoEntry.URL, cv.URLs[0])
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to make chart URL absolute")
+		}
+
+		name = cv.Name
+		version = cv.Version
+		digest = cv.Digest
+		dl.Options = []getter.Option{
+			getter.WithBasicAuth(repoEntry.Username, repoEntry.Password),
+			getter.WithTLSClientConfig(repoEntry.CertFile, repoEntry.KeyFile, repoEntry.CAFile),
+			getter.WithInsecureSkipVerifyTLS(repoEntry.InsecureSkipTLSverify),
+		}
 	}
 
-	chartURL, err := repo.ResolveReferenceURL(repoEntry.URL, cv.URLs[0])
+	err := ctx.Err()
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to make chart URL absolute")
+		return "", err
 	}
 
+	log.Printf("Downloading chart %s %s from repo %s", cfg.Chart, version, cfg.Repository)
+
 	chartCacheDir := filepath.Join(settings.RepositoryCache, "khelm")
-	cacheFile, err := cacheFilePath(chartURL, cv, chartCacheDir)
+	cacheFile, err := cacheFilePath(chartURL, name, version, digest, chartCacheDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "derive chart cache file")
 	}
 
-	if err = ctx.Err(); err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-
 	if _, err = os.Stat(cacheFile); err == nil {
 		cacheFile, err = filepath.EvalSymlinks(cacheFile)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -66,19 +92,15 @@ func locateChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.LoaderConfig, repos repository
 		return cacheFile, nil
 	}
 
-	log.Printf("Downloading chart %s %s from repo %s", cfg.Chart, cv.Version, repoEntry.URL)
-
-	dl := downloader.ChartDownloader{
-		Out:     log.Writer(),
-		Keyring: cfg.Keyring,
-		Getters: getters,
-		Options: []getter.Option{
-			getter.WithBasicAuth(repoEntry.Username, repoEntry.Password),
-			getter.WithTLSClientConfig(repoEntry.CertFile, repoEntry.KeyFile, repoEntry.CAFile),
-			getter.WithInsecureSkipVerifyTLS(repoEntry.InsecureSkipTLSverify),
-		},
-		RepositoryConfig: settings.RepositoryConfig,
-		RepositoryCache:  settings.RepositoryCache,
+	if registry.IsOCI(name) {
+		registryClient, err := registry.NewClient(
+			registry.ClientOptEnableCache(true),
+		)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		dl.RegistryClient = registryClient
+		dl.Options = append(dl.Options, getter.WithRegistryClient(registryClient))
 	}
 	if cfg.Verify {
 		dl.Verify = downloader.VerifyAlways
@@ -86,7 +108,8 @@ func locateChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.LoaderConfig, repos repository
 
 	destDir := filepath.Dir(cacheFile)
 	destParentDir := filepath.Dir(destDir)
-	if err = os.MkdirAll(destParentDir, 0750); err != nil {
+	err = os.MkdirAll(destParentDir, 0750)
+	if err != nil {
 		return "", errors.WithStack(err)
 	}
 	tmpDestDir, err := os.MkdirTemp(destParentDir, fmt.Sprintf(".tmp-%s-", filepath.Base(destDir)))
@@ -105,9 +128,9 @@ func locateChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.LoaderConfig, repos repository
 				_ = os.RemoveAll(tmpDestDir)
 			}
 		}()
-		_, _, err = dl.DownloadTo(chartURL, cv.Version, tmpDestDir)
+		_, _, err = dl.DownloadTo(chartURL, version, tmpDestDir)
 		if err != nil {
-			err = errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to download chart %q with version %q", cfg.Chart, cv.Version)
+			err = errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to download chart %q with version %q", cfg.Chart, version)
 			return
 		}
 		err = os.Rename(tmpDestDir, destDir)
@@ -127,7 +150,7 @@ func locateChart(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.LoaderConfig, repos repository
 	}
 }
 
-func cacheFilePath(chartURL string, cv *repo.ChartVersion, cacheDir string) (string, error) {
+func cacheFilePath(chartURL, name, version, digest, cacheDir string) (string, error) {
 	u, err := url.Parse(chartURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", errors.Wrapf(err, "parse chart URL %q", chartURL)
@@ -141,14 +164,20 @@ func cacheFilePath(chartURL string, cv *repo.ChartVersion, cacheDir string) (str
 	if strings.Contains(path, "..") {
 		return "", errors.Errorf("get %s: path %q points outside the cache dir", chartURL, path)
 	}
-	digest := "none"
-	if len(cv.Digest) < 16 {
+	if len(digest) < 16 {
 		// not all the helm repository implementations populate the digest field (e.g. Nexus 3)
-		log.Printf("WARNING: repo index entry for chart %q does not specify a digest", cv.Name)
+		if digest == "" {
+			log.Printf("WARNING: repo index entry for chart %q does not specify a digest", name)
+		}
+		digest = "none"
 	} else {
-		digest = cv.Digest[:16]
+		digest = digest[:16]
 	}
 	hostSegment := strings.ReplaceAll(u.Host, ":", "_")
-	digestSegment := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s", cv.Name, cv.Version, digest)
-	return filepath.Join(cacheDir, hostSegment, filepath.Dir(path), digestSegment, filepath.Base(path)), nil
+	digestSegment := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s", name, version, digest)
+	fileName := filepath.Base(path)
+	if u.Scheme == "oci" {
+		fileName = fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s.tgz", fileName, version)
+	}
+	return filepath.Join(cacheDir, hostSegment, filepath.Dir(path), digestSegment, fileName), nil
 }