Publishing a container image does not make it pullable

A registry package inherits the visibility of the repository that published it, so a workflow can build, push, and report success while the artifact stays private -- and every install instruction you hand out then fails at docker pull with an unauthorized error rather than anything naming visibility. Verify with an anonymous pull, not the green workflow run: docker logout from the registry first, then docker manifest inspect the exact tag. Two follow-on traps. Changing package visibility needs write:packages, which an ordinary CLI login does not carry, so the fix requires re-authenticating with extra scope or a dashboard visit. And issuing consumers a read token instead is not equivalent: on GitHub, read:packages also permits listing every package in the organisation, so a token handed to one customer reveals the whole package inventory. Classic tokens have no per-package scope.