diff --git a/plugins/00_dokku-standard/exec-app-json-scripts b/plugins/00_dokku-standard/exec-app-json-scripts
index 43a586676..6568df294 100755
--- a/plugins/00_dokku-standard/exec-app-json-scripts
+++ b/plugins/00_dokku-standard/exec-app-json-scripts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 source "$PLUGIN_CORE_AVAILABLE_PATH/common/functions"
+source "$PLUGIN_AVAILABLE_PATH/config/functions"
 
 get_phase_script() {
   declare desc="extracts app.json from app image and returns the appropriate json key/value"
@@ -26,29 +27,50 @@ execute_script() {
   local SCRIPT_CMD=$(get_phase_script "$IMAGE" "$PHASE_SCRIPT_KEY" 2>/dev/null)
   if [[ -n "$SCRIPT_CMD" ]];then
     dokku_log_info1 "Running '$SCRIPT_CMD' in app container"
-    local COMMAND="export HOME=/app ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" cd \$HOME ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" for file in /app/.profile.d/*; do source \$file; done ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" echo restoring installation cache... ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" rm -rf /tmp/cache || true ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" ln -sf /cache /tmp/cache || true ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" $SCRIPT_CMD ; RC=\$? ;"
-    local COMMAND+=" echo removing installation cache... ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" rm -f /tmp/cache || true ; "
-    local COMMAND+=" exit \$RC "
-    local CACHE_DIR="$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/cache"
+    local COMMAND
+    COMMAND="set -eo pipefail; [[ \$DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x ; "
+    COMMAND+=" if [[ -d '/app' ]]; then "
+    COMMAND+="   export HOME=/app ; "
+    COMMAND+="   cd \$HOME ; "
+    COMMAND+=" fi ; "
+    COMMAND+=" if [[ -d '/app/.profile.d' ]]; then "
+    COMMAND+="   for file in /app/.profile.d/*; do source \$file; done ; "
+    COMMAND+=" fi ; "
+    COMMAND+=" if [[ -d '/cache' ]]; then "
+    COMMAND+="   echo restoring installation cache... ; "
+    COMMAND+="   rm -rf /tmp/cache ; "
+    COMMAND+="   ln -sf /cache /tmp/cache ; "
+    COMMAND+=" fi ; "
+    COMMAND+=" $SCRIPT_CMD ;"
+    COMMAND+=" if [[ -d '/cache' ]]; then "
+    COMMAND+="   echo removing installation cache... ; "
+    COMMAND+="   rm -f /tmp/cache ; "
+    COMMAND+=" fi "
 
-    local DOCKER_ARGS_RESTART_RE="(.*)--restart=.+([\s,$])"
+    local CACHE_DIR="$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/cache"
     local DOCKER_ARGS=$(: | plugn trigger docker-args-deploy "$APP")
     # strip --restart args from DOCKER_ARGS
     local DOCKER_ARGS=$(sed -e "s/--restart=[[:graph:]]\+[[:blank:]]\?//g" <<< "$DOCKER_ARGS")
 
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-    local id=$(docker run "$DOKKU_GLOBAL_RUN_ARGS" --label=dokku_phase_script="${PHASE_SCRIPT_KEY}" -d -v "$CACHE_DIR:/cache" $DOCKER_ARGS "$IMAGE" /bin/bash -c "$COMMAND")
-    test "$(docker wait "$id")" -eq 0 || (dokku_container_log_verbose_quiet "$id"; exit 1)
-    dokku_container_log_verbose_quiet "$id"
-    if [[ "$PHASE_SCRIPT_KEY" != "postdeploy" ]];then
-      docker commit "$id" "$IMAGE" > /dev/null
+    local id=$(docker run "$DOKKU_GLOBAL_RUN_ARGS" -e DOKKU_TRACE="$DOKKU_TRACE" --label=dokku_phase_script="${PHASE_SCRIPT_KEY}" -d -v "$CACHE_DIR:/cache" $DOCKER_ARGS "$IMAGE" /bin/bash -c "$COMMAND")
+    if test "$(docker wait "$id")" -eq 0; then
+      dokku_container_log_verbose_quiet "$id"
+      if [[ "$PHASE_SCRIPT_KEY" != "postdeploy" ]];then
+        if ! is_image_herokuish_based "$IMAGE"; then
+          local DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT=$(config_get "$APP" DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT)
+          local DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CMD=$(config_get "$APP" DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CMD)
+          [[ -n "$DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT" ]] && local DOCKER_COMMIT_ENTRYPOINT_CHANGE_ARG="--change='$DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT'"
+          [[ -n "$DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CMD" ]] && local DOCKER_COMMIT_CMD_CHANGE_ARG="--change='$DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CMD'"
+
+          local DOCKER_COMMIT_ARGS="$DOCKER_COMMIT_ENTRYPOINT_CHANGE_ARG $DOCKER_COMMIT_CMD_CHANGE_ARG"
+        fi
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+        eval docker commit $DOCKER_COMMIT_ARGS "$id" "$IMAGE" > /dev/null
+      fi
+    else
+      dokku_container_log_verbose_quiet "$id"
+      dokku_log_fail "execution of '$SCRIPT_CMD' failed!"
     fi
   fi
 }
diff --git a/plugins/00_dokku-standard/subcommands/build b/plugins/00_dokku-standard/subcommands/build
index 1bbdc0fcc..b9ddbce63 100755
--- a/plugins/00_dokku-standard/subcommands/build
+++ b/plugins/00_dokku-standard/subcommands/build
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ dokku_build_cmd() {
       # extract first port from Dockerfile
       local DOCKERFILE_PORTS=$(get_dockerfile_exposed_ports Dockerfile)
       [[ -n "$DOCKERFILE_PORTS" ]] && config_set --no-restart "$APP" DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_PORTS="$DOCKERFILE_PORTS"
+
+      # extract ENTRYPOINT/CMD from Dockerfile
+      local DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT=$(extract_directive_from_dockerfile Dockerfile ENTRYPOINT)
+      [[ -n "$DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT" ]] && config_set --no-restart "$APP" DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT="$DOCKERFILE_ENTRYPOINT"
+      local DOCKERFILE_CMD=$(extract_directive_from_dockerfile Dockerfile CMD)
+      [[ -n "$DOCKERFILE_CMD" ]] && config_set --no-restart "$APP" DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CMD="$DOCKERFILE_CMD"
       plugn trigger pre-build-dockerfile "$APP"
 
       [[ "$DOKKU_DOCKERFILE_CACHE_BUILD" == "false" ]] && DOKKU_DOCKER_BUILD_OPTS="$DOKKU_DOCKER_BUILD_OPTS --no-cache"
diff --git a/plugins/common/functions b/plugins/common/functions
index a997eb815..b1ebcee79 100755
--- a/plugins/common/functions
+++ b/plugins/common/functions
@@ -571,6 +571,13 @@ get_dockerfile_exposed_ports() {
   echo "$DOCKERFILE_PORTS"
 }
 
+extract_directive_from_dockerfile() {
+  declare desc="return requested directive from passed file path"
+  local FILE_PATH="$1"; local SEARCH_STRING="$2"
+  local FOUND_LINE=$(egrep "^${SEARCH_STRING} " "$FILE_PATH" | tail -n1) || true
+  echo "$FOUND_LINE"
+}
+
 get_app_raw_tcp_ports() {
   declare desc="extracts raw tcp port numbers from DOCKERFILE_PORTS config variable"
   source "$PLUGIN_AVAILABLE_PATH/config/functions"
diff --git a/tests/apps/dockerfile-noexpose/CHECKS b/tests/apps/dockerfile-noexpose/CHECKS
index 6439da05f..034f4c73c 100644
--- a/tests/apps/dockerfile-noexpose/CHECKS
+++ b/tests/apps/dockerfile-noexpose/CHECKS
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
+WAIT=2 # wait 2 seconds
+TIMEOUT=5 # set timeout to 5 seconds
+ATTEMPTS=2 # try 2 times
+
 / Hello World!
diff --git a/tests/apps/dockerfile-procfile/CHECKS b/tests/apps/dockerfile-procfile/CHECKS
index f1d88bab3..068926825 100644
--- a/tests/apps/dockerfile-procfile/CHECKS
+++ b/tests/apps/dockerfile-procfile/CHECKS
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
+WAIT=2 # wait 2 seconds
+TIMEOUT=5 # set timeout to 5 seconds
+ATTEMPTS=2 # try 2 times
+
 / nodejs/express
diff --git a/tests/apps/dockerfile/CHECKS b/tests/apps/dockerfile/CHECKS
index 6439da05f..034f4c73c 100644
--- a/tests/apps/dockerfile/CHECKS
+++ b/tests/apps/dockerfile/CHECKS
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
+WAIT=2 # wait 2 seconds
+TIMEOUT=5 # set timeout to 5 seconds
+ATTEMPTS=2 # try 2 times
+
 / Hello World!
diff --git a/tests/apps/dockerfile/app.json b/tests/apps/dockerfile/app.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9b9aa95ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/apps/dockerfile/app.json
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+{
+  "name": "Sample node.js express app",
+  "description": "Used in dokku's test suite",
+  "keywords": [
+    "nodejs",
+    "express",
+    "testing"
+  ],
+  "website": "http://dokku.viewdocs.io/dokku/",
+  "repository": "https://github.com/dokku/dokku",
+  "logo": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dokku/dokku/master/docs/assets/dokku.png",
+  "scripts": {
+    "dokku": {
+      "predeploy": "touch /app/predeploy.test",
+      "postdeploy": "touch /app/postdeploy.test"
+    }
+  },
+  "env": {
+    "SECRET_TOKEN": {
+      "description": "A secret key for verifying the integrity of signed cookies.",
+      "value": "secret"
+    },
+    "WEB_CONCURRENCY": {
+      "description": "The number of processes to run.",
+      "generator": "echo 5"
+    }
+  },
+  "image": "gliderlabs/herokuish",
+  "addons": [
+    "dokku-postgres",
+    "dokku-redis"
+  ],
+  "buildpacks": [
+    {
+      "url": "https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-nodejs"
+    }
+  ]
+}