diff --git a/.github/workflows/rootski-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/rootski-ci.yml
index 101ec1b6..d40d0e82 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rootski-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rootski-ci.yml
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: cache dependencies
       uses: actions/cache@v2
       with:
-        path: ${{ env.pythonLocation }}
+        path: |
+          ${{ env.pythonLocation }}
+          /tmp/.buildx-cache
         key: ${{ env.pythonLocation }}-${{ hashFiles('**/aws-cdk/**/setup.py', '**/rootski_api/setup.py')}}
 
     # cache the python environment for faster pre-commit
@@ -66,6 +68,17 @@ jobs:
         # install docker-compose because it is needed to run the tests
         make install-docker-compose
 
+    - name: Build production image
+      uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+      with:
+        context: .
+        builder: ${{ steps.buildx.outputs.name }}
+        file: ./rootski_api/tests/ci/Dockerfile
+        push: false
+        tags: api_build
+        cache-from: type=local,src=/tmp/.buildx-cache
+        cache-to: type=local,dest=/tmp/.buildx-cache-new
+
     - name: checkout trunk and current branches
       run: |
         # these steps are necessary for darker to compare diffs properly
@@ -81,7 +94,7 @@ jobs:
         # check the code quality across the entire project (formatting, linting, static code checks)
         make check-code-quality-ci
 
-        # run the backend tests
+        # run the backend tests, commenting this out so we can have githubactions handle it for us
         cd rootski_api
         make full-test-ci
 
diff --git a/rootski_api/setup.py b/rootski_api/setup.py
index f79d97c5..b5005932 100644
--- a/rootski_api/setup.py
+++ b/rootski_api/setup.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #     return: version of the form ``X.X.X``
 #     """
 #     return ".dirty" if version.dirty else ""
+#     adding comment to trigger cache
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     setup(
diff --git a/rootski_api/tests/ci/Dockerfile b/rootski_api/tests/ci/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..28c819ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rootski_api/tests/ci/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# The context for this file needs to be path/to/rootski_api
+FROM python:3.9.6-slim-buster
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get -y install git make
+# RUN apt-get -y install git
+WORKDIR /usr/src/rootski_api
+COPY . .
+RUN make install
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rootski_api/tests/ci/docker-compose.yml b/rootski_api/tests/ci/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1bd4b6c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rootski_api/tests/ci/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+version: "3.9"
+
+services:
+
+  rootski:
+    command: py.test tests/functional_tests/main/endpoints -xv
+#    command: tail -f /dev/null
+    image: rootski-api
+    build:
+      context: ../.. # rootski_api/
+      dockerfile: ./tests/ci/Dockerfile
+    env_file:
+      - test.env
+    volumes:
+      - ../..:/usr/src/rootski_api
+    depends_on:
+      postgres:
+        condition: service_healthy
+
+  # (1) this database intentionally has no volumes; the database for tests should be fresh
+  # (2) we run it on port 8432 to avoid accidentally wiping databases running on 5432
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:9.6
+    command: "-p 8432"
+    env_file:
+      - test.env
+    ports:
+      - "8432:8432"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: [ "CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready --username test-user --dbname test_db --port 8432" ]
+      interval: 1s
+      timeout: 1s
+      retries: 6