rules_oci (and bunch of rules_* under bazelbuild / bazel-contrib org on GitHub) is Bazel recommeded rule sets.

I don't agree with your parent comment about Bazel, but your comment is not fair too. Bazel tries to be better build tool so it took on responsibility on registry / rules_* and get critics for it is a fair game.

The "bloated Bazel" blame is not fair too, but I think somewhat understandable. If you ever going to only do JavaScript, bun or other package manager is enough and "lighter-weight". Same goes to uv + Python bundle. Bazel only shines if you are dealing with your C++ mess and even there, people prefer CMake for reasons beyond me.