diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5264ecc8e5..dc577f2542 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 .project
 bazel*
 .idea
-*.iml
\ No newline at end of file
+*.iml
diff --git a/cmd/crane/cmd/rebase.go b/cmd/crane/cmd/rebase.go
index 4226223f7b..c70ff16524 100644
--- a/cmd/crane/cmd/rebase.go
+++ b/cmd/crane/cmd/rebase.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import (
 	"log"
 
 	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/crane"
-	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/v1/mutate"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
@@ -30,33 +29,31 @@ func NewCmdRebase(options *[]crane.Option) *cobra.Command {
 	rebaseCmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "rebase",
 		Short: "Rebase an image onto a new base image",
-		Args:  cobra.NoArgs,
-		Run: func(*cobra.Command, []string) {
-			origImg, err := crane.Pull(orig, *options...)
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Fatalf("pulling %s: %v", orig, err)
+		Args:  cobra.MaximumNArgs(1),
+		Run: func(_ *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+			if orig == "" {
+				orig = args[0]
+			} else if len(args) != 0 || args[0] != "" {
+				log.Fatalf("cannot use --original with positional argument")
 			}
-
-			oldBaseImg, err := crane.Pull(oldBase, *options...)
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Fatalf("pulling %s: %v", oldBase, err)
+			if orig == "" {
+				log.Fatal("--old_base or positional arg is required")
 			}
 
-			newBaseImg, err := crane.Pull(newBase, *options...)
+			rebasedImg, err := crane.Rebase(orig, oldBase, newBase)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Fatalf("pulling %s: %v", newBase, err)
+				log.Fatalf("rebasing image: %v", err)
 			}
 
-			img, err := mutate.Rebase(origImg, oldBaseImg, newBaseImg)
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Fatalf("rebasing: %v", err)
+			if rebased == "" {
+				log.Println("pushing rebased image as", orig)
+				rebased = orig
 			}
-
-			if err := crane.Push(img, rebased, *options...); err != nil {
+			if err := crane.Push(rebasedImg, rebased, *options...); err != nil {
 				log.Fatalf("pushing %s: %v", rebased, err)
 			}
 
-			digest, err := img.Digest()
+			digest, err := rebasedImg.Digest()
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Fatalf("digesting rebased: %v", err)
 			}
@@ -67,10 +64,5 @@ func NewCmdRebase(options *[]crane.Option) *cobra.Command {
 	rebaseCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&oldBase, "old_base", "", "", "Old base image to remove")
 	rebaseCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&newBase, "new_base", "", "", "New base image to insert")
 	rebaseCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&rebased, "rebased", "", "", "Tag to apply to rebased image")
-
-	rebaseCmd.MarkFlagRequired("original")
-	rebaseCmd.MarkFlagRequired("old_base")
-	rebaseCmd.MarkFlagRequired("new_base")
-	rebaseCmd.MarkFlagRequired("rebased")
 	return rebaseCmd
 }
diff --git a/pkg/crane/rebase.go b/pkg/crane/rebase.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..26d7d8b1eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/crane/rebase.go
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+// Copyright 2021 Google LLC All Rights Reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package crane
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"log"
+
+	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/name"
+	v1 "github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/v1"
+	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/v1/mutate"
+	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/v1/remote"
+)
+
+const (
+	// TODO: better annotations
+	baseDigestAnnotation = "base-digest"
+	baseTagAnnotation    = "base-tag"
+)
+
+// Rebase parses the references and uses them to perform a rebase.
+//
+// If oldBase or newBase are "", Rebase attempts to derive them using
+// annotations in the original image. If those annotations are not found,
+// Rebase returns an error.
+//
+// If rebasing is successful, base image annotations are set on the resulting
+// image to facilitate implicit rebasing next time.
+func Rebase(orig, oldBase, newBase string, opt ...Option) (v1.Image, error) {
+	o := makeOptions(opt...)
+	origRef, err := name.ParseReference(orig, o.name...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parsing tag %q: %v", origRef, err)
+	}
+	origImg, err := remote.Image(origRef, o.remote...)
+
+	m, err := origImg.Manifest()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if newBase == "" && m.Annotations != nil {
+		newBase = m.Annotations[baseTagAnnotation]
+		if newBase != "" {
+			log.Printf("Detected new base from %q annotation: %s", baseTagAnnotation, newBase)
+		}
+	}
+	if newBase == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("either newBase or %q annotation is required", baseTagAnnotation)
+	}
+	newBaseRef, err := name.ParseReference(newBase, o.name...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if oldBase == "" && m.Annotations != nil {
+		oldBase = m.Annotations[baseDigestAnnotation]
+		if oldBase != "" {
+			oldBase = newBaseRef.Context().Digest(oldBase).String()
+			log.Printf("Detected old base from %q annotation: %s", baseDigestAnnotation, oldBase)
+		}
+	}
+	if oldBase == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("either oldBase or %q annotation is required", baseDigestAnnotation)
+	}
+
+	oldBaseRef, err := name.ParseReference(oldBase, o.name...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	oldBaseImg, err := remote.Image(oldBaseRef, o.remote...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	newBaseImg, err := remote.Image(newBaseRef, o.remote...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	rebased, err := mutate.Rebase(origImg, oldBaseImg, newBaseImg)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	m, err = rebased.Manifest()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Update base image annotations for the new image manifest.
+	// - base-digest is the new base image digest.
+	// - base-tag is the new base image by tag.
+	d, err := newBaseImg.Digest()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	newDigest := d.String()
+	newTag := newBaseRef.String()
+	log.Printf("Set annotation %q: %s", baseDigestAnnotation, newDigest)
+	log.Printf("Set annotation %q: %s", baseTagAnnotation, newTag)
+	return mutate.Annotations(rebased, map[string]string{
+		baseDigestAnnotation: newDigest,
+		baseTagAnnotation:    newTag,
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/v1/mutate/mutate_test.go b/pkg/v1/mutate/mutate_test.go
index a19e94232c..bfa0a53ec2 100644
--- a/pkg/v1/mutate/mutate_test.go
+++ b/pkg/v1/mutate/mutate_test.go
@@ -644,3 +644,35 @@ func (m mockLayer) Compressed() (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 func (m mockLayer) Uncompressed() (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 	return ioutil.NopCloser(strings.NewReader("uncompressed")), nil
 }
+
+func TestAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
+	img, err := random.Image(10, 10)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	old, err := img.Manifest()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	newimg, err := mutate.Annotations(img, map[string]string{
+		"foo":   "bar",
+		"hello": "world",
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	newmf, err := newimg.Manifest()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	if d := cmp.Diff(old, newmf); d == "" {
+		t.Fatal("no changes")
+	}
+	if err := validate.Image(newimg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/v1/mutate/rebase.go b/pkg/v1/mutate/rebase.go
index a86a65243b..96b1f668ee 100644
--- a/pkg/v1/mutate/rebase.go
+++ b/pkg/v1/mutate/rebase.go
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ func Rebase(orig, oldBase, newBase v1.Image) (v1.Image, error) {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get digest of layer %d of %q: %v", i, orig, err)
 		}
 		if oldLayerDigest != origLayerDigest {
+			// TODO: this is a bad error message...
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("image %q is not based on %q (layer %d mismatch)", orig, oldBase, i)
 		}
 	}
@@ -142,3 +143,30 @@ func createAddendums(startHistory, startLayer int, history []v1.History, layers
 
 	return adds
 }
+
+func Annotations(base v1.Image, anns map[string]string) (v1.Image, error) {
+	mf, err := base.Manifest()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	mf = mf.DeepCopy()
+
+	if mf.Annotations == nil {
+		mf.Annotations = map[string]string{}
+	}
+	for k, v := range anns {
+		mf.Annotations[k] = v
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := base.ConfigFile()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return &image{
+		base:       base,
+		configFile: cfg.DeepCopy(),
+		manifest:   mf,
+		computed:   true,
+	}, nil
+}