diff --git a/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/containers.go b/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/containers.go
index aed796ea1..8e6589e38 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/containers.go
+++ b/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/containers.go
@@ -219,14 +219,7 @@ func ensureContainerStarted(ctx context.Context, dockerClient client.ContainerAP
 
 // CreateControllerContainer creates and starts a controller container.
 func CreateControllerContainer(ctx context.Context, dockerClient *client.Client, port uint16, host string, environment string, doNotTrack bool, gpu gpupkg.GPUSupport, modelStorageVolume string, printer StatusPrinter, engineKind types.ModelRunnerEngineKind) error {
-	// Determine the target image.
-	var imageName string
-	switch gpu {
-	case gpupkg.GPUSupportCUDA:
-		imageName = ControllerImage + ":" + controllerImageTagCUDA()
-	default:
-		imageName = ControllerImage + ":" + controllerImageTagCPU()
-	}
+	imageName := controllerImageName(gpu)
 
 	// Set up the container configuration.
 	portStr := strconv.Itoa(int(port))
diff --git a/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/controller_image.go b/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/controller_image.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2962e97b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/controller_image.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package standalone
+
+import (
+	"os"
+
+	gpupkg "github.com/docker/model-runner/cmd/cli/pkg/gpu"
+)
+
+const (
+	// ControllerImage is the image used for the controller container.
+	ControllerImage = "docker/model-runner"
+	// defaultControllerImageVersion is the image version used for the controller container
+	defaultControllerImageVersion = "latest"
+)
+
+func controllerImageVersion() string {
+	if version, ok := os.LookupEnv("MODEL_RUNNER_CONTROLLER_VERSION"); ok && version != "" {
+		return version
+	}
+	return defaultControllerImageVersion
+}
+
+func controllerImageVariant(detectedGPU gpupkg.GPUSupport) string {
+	if variant, ok := os.LookupEnv("MODEL_RUNNER_CONTROLLER_VARIANT"); ok {
+		if variant == "cpu" || variant == "generic" {
+			return ""
+		}
+		return variant
+	}
+	switch detectedGPU {
+	case gpupkg.GPUSupportCUDA:
+		return "cuda"
+	default:
+		return ""
+	}
+}
+
+func fmtControllerImageName(repo, version, variant string) string {
+	tag := repo + ":" + version
+	if len(variant) > 0 {
+		tag += "-" + variant
+	}
+	return tag
+}
+
+func controllerImageName(detectedGPU gpupkg.GPUSupport) string {
+	return fmtControllerImageName(ControllerImage, controllerImageVersion(), controllerImageVariant(detectedGPU))
+}
diff --git a/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/images.go b/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/images.go
index 4c9e8716e..48897b248 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/images.go
+++ b/cmd/cli/pkg/standalone/images.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"os"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/image"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/client"
@@ -13,41 +12,9 @@ import (
 	gpupkg "github.com/docker/model-runner/cmd/cli/pkg/gpu"
 )
 
-const (
-	// ControllerImage is the image used for the controller container.
-	ControllerImage = "docker/model-runner"
-	// defaultControllerImageTagCPU is the image tag used for the controller container
-	// when running with the CPU backend.
-	defaultControllerImageTagCPU = "latest"
-	// defaultControllerImageTagCUDA is the image tag used for the controller container
-	// when running with the CUDA GPU backend.
-	defaultControllerImageTagCUDA = "latest-cuda"
-)
-
-func controllerImageTagCPU() string {
-	if version, ok := os.LookupEnv("MODEL_RUNNER_CONTROLLER_VERSION"); ok && version != "" {
-		return version
-	}
-	return defaultControllerImageTagCPU
-}
-
-func controllerImageTagCUDA() string {
-	if version, ok := os.LookupEnv("MODEL_RUNNER_CONTROLLER_VERSION"); ok && version != "" {
-		return version + "-cuda"
-	}
-	return defaultControllerImageTagCUDA
-}
-
 // EnsureControllerImage ensures that the controller container image is pulled.
 func EnsureControllerImage(ctx context.Context, dockerClient client.ImageAPIClient, gpu gpupkg.GPUSupport, printer StatusPrinter) error {
-	// Determine the target image.
-	var imageName string
-	switch gpu {
-	case gpupkg.GPUSupportCUDA:
-		imageName = ControllerImage + ":" + controllerImageTagCUDA()
-	default:
-		imageName = ControllerImage + ":" + controllerImageTagCPU()
-	}
+	imageName := controllerImageName(gpu)
 
 	// Perform the pull.
 	out, err := dockerClient.ImagePull(ctx, imageName, image.PullOptions{})
@@ -80,13 +47,13 @@ func EnsureControllerImage(ctx context.Context, dockerClient client.ImageAPIClie
 // PruneControllerImages removes any unused controller container images.
 func PruneControllerImages(ctx context.Context, dockerClient client.ImageAPIClient, printer StatusPrinter) error {
 	// Remove the standard image, if present.
-	imageNameCPU := ControllerImage + ":" + controllerImageTagCPU()
+	imageNameCPU := fmtControllerImageName(ControllerImage, controllerImageVersion(), "")
 	if _, err := dockerClient.ImageRemove(ctx, imageNameCPU, image.RemoveOptions{}); err == nil {
 		printer.Println("Removed image", imageNameCPU)
 	}
 
 	// Remove the CUDA GPU image, if present.
-	imageNameCUDA := ControllerImage + ":" + controllerImageTagCUDA()
+	imageNameCUDA := fmtControllerImageName(ControllerImage, controllerImageVersion(), "cuda")
 	if _, err := dockerClient.ImageRemove(ctx, imageNameCUDA, image.RemoveOptions{}); err == nil {
 		printer.Println("Removed image", imageNameCUDA)
 	}