diff --git a/docs/content/en/docs/pipeline-stages/builders/ko.md b/docs/content/en/docs/pipeline-stages/builders/ko.md
index c5969414676..0ba5656a6c6 100644
--- a/docs/content/en/docs/pipeline-stages/builders/ko.md
+++ b/docs/content/en/docs/pipeline-stages/builders/ko.md
@@ -213,6 +213,11 @@ Useful tips for existing `ko` users:
   [`default-repo` functionality]({{< relref "/docs/environment/image-registries" >}}).
   The ko builder does _not_ read the `KO_DOCKER_REPO` environment variable.
 
+- Image naming follows the
+  [Skaffold image naming strategy]({{< relref "/docs/environment/image-registries" >}}).
+  Skaffold removes the `ko://` prefix, if present, before determining the image
+  name.
+
 - The ko builder supports reading
   [base image configuration](https://github.com/google/ko#overriding-base-images)
   from the `.ko.yaml` file. If you already configure your base images using
@@ -242,8 +247,6 @@ Useful tips for existing `ko` users:
   cat << EOF >> skaffold.yaml
     local:
       concurrency: 0
-    tagPolicy:
-      sha256: {}
   deploy:
     kubectl:
       manifests:
@@ -279,6 +282,23 @@ To achieve the same using Skaffold's ko builder, use the `flags` field in
 skaffold build
 ```
 
+#### Capturing image name from `stdout`
+
+If you want Skaffold to print out the full image name and digest (and nothing
+else) to `stdout`, similar to what `ko build` does, use the
+[`--quiet` and `--output` flags]({{< relref "/docs/references/cli#skaffold-build" >}}).
+These flags enable you to capture the full image references in an environment
+variable or redirect to a file, e.g.:
+
+```shell
+skaffold build --quiet --output='{{range .Builds}}{{.Tag}}{{end}}' > out.txt
+```
+
+Note that Skaffold produces a JSON file with the image names if you run
+`skaffold build` with the `--file-output` flag. You can then use this flag as
+input to `skaffold render` to render Kubernetes manifests. For details on how
+to do this, see the next section.
+
 #### Rendering Kubernetes manifests
 
 When you use the Skaffold ko builder, Skaffold takes care of replacing the
@@ -311,7 +331,7 @@ Or you can perform the action as two steps: first `build` the images, then
 
 ```shell
 skaffold build --file-output artifacts.json --push
-skaffold render --build-artifacts artifacts.json --offline --output out.yaml
+skaffold render --build-artifacts artifacts.json --digest-source none --offline --output out.yaml
 ```
 
 Specify the location of your Kubernetes manifests in `skaffold.yaml`:
diff --git a/integration/ko_test.go b/integration/ko_test.go
index a35b6a454ee..d4d43169171 100644
--- a/integration/ko_test.go
+++ b/integration/ko_test.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 package integration
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
@@ -25,10 +24,8 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
-	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
 	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/crane"
 	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/registry"
 	"github.com/google/go-containerregistry/pkg/v1/random"
@@ -60,7 +57,6 @@ func TestBuildAndPushKoImageProgrammatically(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Build the artifact
 	b := ko.NewArtifactBuilder(nil, true, config.RunModes.Build, nil)
-	var imageFullNameBuffer bytes.Buffer
 	artifact := &latestV1.Artifact{
 		ArtifactType: latestV1.ArtifactType{
 			KoArtifact: &latestV1.KoArtifact{
@@ -70,16 +66,10 @@ func TestBuildAndPushKoImageProgrammatically(t *testing.T) {
 		Workspace: exampleAppDir,
 	}
 	imageName := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", registryAddr, "skaffold-ko")
-	digest, err := b.Build(context.Background(), &imageFullNameBuffer, artifact, imageName)
+	_, err = b.Build(context.Background(), nil, artifact, imageName)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("b.Build(): %+v", err)
 	}
-
-	wantImageFullName := fmt.Sprintf("%s@%s", imageName, digest)
-	gotImageFullName := strings.TrimSuffix(imageFullNameBuffer.String(), "\n")
-	if diff := cmp.Diff(wantImageFullName, gotImageFullName); diff != "" {
-		t.Errorf("image name mismatch (-want +got):\n%s", diff)
-	}
 }
 
 // registryServerWithImage starts a local registry and pushes a random image.
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build.go b/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build.go
index 7d826d9254f..6417bb0d521 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build.go
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ func (b *Builder) Build(ctx context.Context, out io.Writer, a *latestV1.Artifact
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("could not build and publish ko image %q: %w", a.ImageName, err)
 	}
-	fmt.Fprintln(out, imageRef.Name())
 
 	return b.getImageIdentifier(ctx, imageRef, ref)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build_test.go b/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build_test.go
index 30c5c87b345..54a325cbd54 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build_test.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/build/ko/build_test.go
@@ -17,9 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package ko
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"context"
-	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/client"
@@ -34,32 +32,32 @@ import (
 )
 
 // TestBuild doesn't actually build (or publish) any container images, because
-// it's a unit test. Instead, it only verifies that the Build() function prints
-// the image name to the out io.Writer and returns the image identifier.
+// it's a unit test. Instead, it only verifies that the Build() returns the
+// image identifier.
 func TestBuild(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		description             string
 		pushImages              bool
-		expectedRef             string
+		imageRef                string
 		expectedImageIdentifier string
 	}{
 		{
 			description:             "pushed image with tag",
 			pushImages:              true,
-			expectedRef:             "registry.example.com/repo/image1:tag1",
+			imageRef:                "registry.example.com/repo/image1:tag1",
 			expectedImageIdentifier: "tag1",
 		},
 		{
 			description:             "sideloaded image",
 			pushImages:              false,
-			expectedRef:             "registry.example.com/repo/image2:any",
+			imageRef:                "registry.example.com/repo/image2:any",
 			expectedImageIdentifier: "ab737430e80b",
 		},
 	}
 	for _, test := range tests {
 		testutil.Run(t, test.description, func(t *testutil.T) {
 			importPath := "ko://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/pkg/skaffold/build/ko" // this package
-			b := stubKoArtifactBuilder(test.expectedRef, test.expectedImageIdentifier, test.pushImages, importPath)
+			b := stubKoArtifactBuilder(test.imageRef, test.expectedImageIdentifier, test.pushImages, importPath)
 
 			artifact := &latestV1.Artifact{
 				ArtifactType: latestV1.ArtifactType{
@@ -67,12 +65,8 @@ func TestBuild(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				ImageName: importPath,
 			}
-			var outBuffer bytes.Buffer
-			gotImageIdentifier, err := b.Build(context.Background(), &outBuffer, artifact, test.expectedRef)
+			gotImageIdentifier, err := b.Build(context.Background(), nil, artifact, test.imageRef)
 			t.CheckNoError(err)
-
-			imageNameOut := strings.TrimSuffix(outBuffer.String(), "\n")
-			t.CheckDeepEqual(test.expectedRef, imageNameOut)
 			t.CheckDeepEqual(test.expectedImageIdentifier, gotImageIdentifier)
 		})
 	}