diff --git a/Sources/tart/Commands/Pull.swift b/Sources/tart/Commands/Pull.swift
index 02c5e29..d14bc9b 100644
--- a/Sources/tart/Commands/Pull.swift
+++ b/Sources/tart/Commands/Pull.swift
@@ -47,5 +47,8 @@ struct Pull: AsyncParsableCommand {
     defaultLogger.appendNewLine("pulling \(remoteName)...")
 
     try await VMStorageOCI().pull(remoteName, registry: registry, concurrency: concurrency, deduplicate: deduplicate)
+
+    // to explicitly set the image as being accessed so it won't get pruned immediately
+    _ = try VMStorageOCI().open(remoteName)
   }
 }