diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 41fe25837..130247282 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -3,9 +3,16 @@ jobs:
   build:
     machine:
       image: ubuntu-1604:201903-01
+    environment:
+        DOKKU_HOST: dokku.me
+        DOKKU_PORT: 3022
     parallelism: 4
     steps:
       - checkout
+      - run: |
+          make ci-dependencies
+      - run: |
+          ./tests/ci/setup.sh
       - run: |
           if [[ "$(lsb_release -rs)" == "14.04" ]]; then
             # dokku.me now resolves to 10.0.0.2. add 10.0.0.2/24 to eth0
@@ -14,12 +21,6 @@ jobs:
             # dokku.me now resolves to 10.0.0.2. add 10.0.0.2/24 to ens4
             sudo ip a a 10.0.0.2/24 broadcast 10.0.0.255 dev ens4
           fi
-      - run: |
-          make ci-dependencies
-      - run: |
-          ./tests/ci/setup.sh
-      - run: |
-          echo 'export DOKKU_SKIP_CLEANUP=true' | sudo tee /home/dokku/.dokkurc/dokku_skip_cleanup
       - run: |
           case $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX in
             0) sudo -E make -e lint go-tests ci-go-coverage ;;
diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index a89678a7f..29e2c3436 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ contrib
 build
 docs
 tests
+!build/dokku.deb
 !contrib/dokku-installer.py
 !contrib/dokku-update
 !contrib/bash-completion
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 0032a9c75..3dc52667a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -10,43 +10,43 @@ ARG DOKKU_SKIP_KEY_FILE=true
 ARG DOKKU_VHOST_ENABLE=false
 ARG DOKKU_WEB_CONFIG=false
 
-RUN addgroup --gid $DOKKU_GID dokku && \
-    adduser --uid $DOKKU_UID --gid $DOKKU_GID --disabled-password --gecos "" "dokku"
+COPY ./build/dokku.deb /tmp/dokku.deb
 
-RUN echo "dokku dokku/hostname string $DOKKU_HOSTNAME" | debconf-set-selections && \
-    echo "dokku dokku/skip_key_file boolean $DOKKU_SKIP_KEY_FILE" | debconf-set-selections && \
-    echo "dokku dokku/vhost_enable boolean $DOKKU_VHOST_ENABLE" | debconf-set-selections && \
-    echo "dokku dokku/web_config boolean $DOKKU_WEB_CONFIG" | debconf-set-selections && \
-    curl -sSL https://packagecloud.io/dokku/dokku/gpgkey | apt-key add - && \
-    echo "deb https://packagecloud.io/dokku/dokku/ubuntu/ bionic main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dokku.list && \
-    apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade && apt-get --no-install-recommends -qq -y install \
-    dokku \
-    rsync && \
-    apt-get purge -y syslog-ng-core && \
-    apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
+RUN addgroup --gid $DOKKU_GID dokku \
+      && adduser --uid $DOKKU_UID --gid $DOKKU_GID --disabled-password --gecos "" "dokku"
+
+RUN echo "dokku dokku/hostname string $DOKKU_HOSTNAME" | debconf-set-selections \
+      && echo "dokku dokku/skip_key_file boolean $DOKKU_SKIP_KEY_FILE" | debconf-set-selections \
+      && echo "dokku dokku/vhost_enable boolean $DOKKU_VHOST_ENABLE" | debconf-set-selections \
+      && echo "dokku dokku/web_config boolean $DOKKU_WEB_CONFIG" | debconf-set-selections \
+      && curl -sSL https://packagecloud.io/dokku/dokku/gpgkey | apt-key add - \
+      && echo "deb https://packagecloud.io/dokku/dokku/ubuntu/ bionic main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dokku.list \
+      && apt-get update -qq \
+      && apt-get install --no-install-recommends --only-upgrade -y -qq openssl openssh-server \
+      && apt --no-install-recommends -qq -y install rsync /tmp/dokku.deb \
+      && apt-get purge -y -q syslog-ng-core \
+      && apt-get autoremove -y -q \
+      && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
 
 WORKDIR /tmp
 
 COPY ./docker .
 
 RUN \
-    rsync -a /tmp/ / && \
-    rm -rf /tmp/* && \
-    rm /etc/runit/runsvdir/default/sshd/down && \
-    chown -R dokku:dokku /home/dokku/ && \
-    mkdir -p /skel/etc /skel/home /skel/var/lib/dokku /var/log/services && \
-    mv /etc/ssh /skel/etc/ssh && \
-    mv /home/dokku /skel/home/dokku && \
-    mv /var/lib/dokku/config /skel/var/lib/dokku/config && \
-    mv /var/lib/dokku/data /skel/var/lib/dokku/data && \
-    ln -sf /mnt/dokku/etc/ssh /etc/ssh && \
-    ln -sf /mnt/dokku/home/dokku /home/dokku && \
-    ln -sf /mnt/dokku/var/lib/dokku/config /var/lib/dokku/config && \
-    ln -sf /mnt/dokku/var/lib/dokku/data /var/lib/dokku/data && \
-    mv /etc/my_init.d/00_regen_ssh_host_keys.sh \
-      /etc/my_init.d/15_regen_ssh_host_keys && \
-    rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default && \
-    rm /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html && \
-    rm /etc/my_init.d/10_syslog-ng.init && \
-    sed -i '/imklog/d' /etc/rsyslog.conf && \
-    rm /var/log/btmp /var/log/wtmp /var/log/*log /var/log/apt/* /var/log/dokku/* /var/log/nginx/*
+    rsync -a /tmp/ / \
+      && rm -rf /tmp/* \
+      && rm /etc/runit/runsvdir/default/sshd/down \
+      && chown -R dokku:dokku /home/dokku/ \
+      && mkdir -p /skel/etc /skel/home /skel/var/lib/dokku /var/log/services \
+      && mv /etc/ssh /skel/etc/ssh \
+      && mv /home/dokku /skel/home/dokku \
+      && mv /var/lib/dokku/config /skel/var/lib/dokku/config \
+      && mv /var/lib/dokku/data /skel/var/lib/dokku/data \
+      && ln -sf /mnt/dokku/etc/ssh /etc/ssh \
+      && ln -sf /mnt/dokku/home/dokku /home/dokku \
+      && ln -sf /mnt/dokku/var/lib/dokku/config /var/lib/dokku/config \
+      && ln -sf /mnt/dokku/var/lib/dokku/data /var/lib/dokku/data \
+      && mv /etc/my_init.d/00_regen_ssh_host_keys.sh /etc/my_init.d/15_regen_ssh_host_keys \
+      && rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html /etc/my_init.d/10_syslog-ng.init \
+      && sed -i '/imklog/d' /etc/rsyslog.conf \
+      && rm /var/log/btmp /var/log/wtmp /var/log/*log /var/log/apt/* /var/log/dokku/* /var/log/nginx/*
diff --git a/contrib/dokku-docker-bin.sh b/contrib/dokku-docker-bin.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f20ae5928
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/dokku-docker-bin.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -eo pipefail
+[[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x && DOKKU_DOCKER_ENV="--env DOKKU_TRACE=on"
+DOKKU_DOCKER_CONTAINER_NAME=${DOKKU_DOCKER_CONTAINER_NAME:=dokku}
+
+# TODO: handle cases where we need a tty
+DOCKER_CMD="docker exec $DOKKU_DOCKER_ENV -i $DOKKU_DOCKER_CONTAINER_NAME dokku $*"
+
+exec "$DOCKER_CMD"
diff --git a/contrib/release-dokku b/contrib/release-dokku
index 3fa7b3890..f56d4e564 100755
--- a/contrib/release-dokku
+++ b/contrib/release-dokku
@@ -319,6 +319,13 @@ fn-require-bin() {
   fi
 }
 
+fn-build-docker-image() {
+  declare desc="Builds the dokku docker image and tags it with the given version"
+  declare VERSION="$1"
+  docker build -t "dokku/dokku:$VERSION" .
+  docker push "dokku/dokku:$VERSION"
+}
+
 main() {
   declare RELEASE="$1"
   local CURRENT_VERSION NEXT_VERSION IS_RELEASE
@@ -360,14 +367,14 @@ main() {
   if [[ "$RELEASE" != "build" ]]; then
     fn-publish-package "$IS_RELEASE" "deb" "build/dokku_${NEXT_VERSION}_amd64.deb" || log-fail "Error publishing deb package"
     fn-publish-package "$IS_RELEASE" "rpm" "build/dokku-${NEXT_VERSION}-1.x86_64.rpm" || log-fail "Error publishing rpm package"
-    docker build -t "dokku/dokku:$NEXT_VERSION" .
-    docker push "dokku/dokku:$NEXT_VERSION"
+    fn-build-docker-image "$NEXT_VERSION" || log-fail "Error building docker image"
     fn-repo-push-tags "$IS_RELEASE"
   fi
 
   if [[ "$IS_RELEASE" != "true" ]]; then
     git reset -q HEAD plugins/*/plugin.toml
     git checkout -- plugins/*/plugin.toml
+    cp "build/dokku_${NEXT_VERSION}_amd64.deb" build/dokku.deb
   fi
 
   echo "build/dokku_${NEXT_VERSION}_amd64.deb" >build/deb-filename
diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst
index 014926a76..0cc555dda 100755
--- a/debian/postinst
+++ b/debian/postinst
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ case "$1" in
 
     egrep -i "^docker" /etc/group || groupadd docker
     usermod -aG docker dokku
+    mkdir -p ${DOKKU_ROOT}/.dokkurc
 
     echo "Setting up storage directories"
     mkdir -p ${DOKKU_LIB_ROOT}/data ${DOKKU_LIB_ROOT}/data/storage
diff --git a/rpm/dokku.postinst b/rpm/dokku.postinst
index 4658c75b1..182e645c0 100644
--- a/rpm/dokku.postinst
+++ b/rpm/dokku.postinst
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ setup-user() {
   touch "$DOKKU_ROOT/.ssh/authorized_keys"
   chown -R dokku:dokku "$DOKKU_ROOT/.ssh"
   usermod -aG docker dokku
+  mkdir -p "$DOKKU_ROOT/.dokkurc"
 }
 
 setup-storage() {
diff --git a/tests.mk b/tests.mk
index c42dc22b3..f93f97ae5 100644
--- a/tests.mk
+++ b/tests.mk
@@ -45,10 +45,9 @@ endif
 ci-dependencies: bats shellcheck shfmt xmlstarlet
 
 setup-deploy-tests:
-	mkdir -p /home/dokku
 ifdef ENABLE_DOKKU_TRACE
 	echo "-----> Enabling tracing"
-	echo "export DOKKU_TRACE=1" >> /home/dokku/dokkurc
+	docker exec -ti dokku bash -c 'echo "export DOKKU_TRACE=1" >> /home/dokku/dokkurc'
 endif
 	@echo "Setting dokku.me in /etc/hosts"
 	sudo /bin/bash -c "[[ `ping -c1 dokku.me >/dev/null 2>&1; echo $$?` -eq 0 ]] || echo \"127.0.0.1  dokku.me *.dokku.me www.test.app.dokku.me\" >> /etc/hosts"
@@ -61,33 +60,20 @@ endif
 
 	@echo "-----> Setting up ssh config..."
 ifneq ($(shell ls /root/.ssh/config >/dev/null 2>&1 ; echo $$?),0)
-	echo "Host dokku.me \\r\\n RequestTTY yes \\r\\n IdentityFile /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa" >> /root/.ssh/config
+	echo "Host dokku.me \\r\\n Port 3022 \\r\\n RequestTTY yes \\r\\n IdentityFile /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa" >> /root/.ssh/config
 	echo "Host 127.0.0.1 \\r\\n Port 22333 \\r\\n RequestTTY yes \\r\\n IdentityFile /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa" >> /root/.ssh/config
 else ifeq ($(shell grep dokku.me /root/.ssh/config),)
-	echo "Host dokku.me \\r\\n RequestTTY yes \\r\\n IdentityFile /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa" >> /root/.ssh/config
+	echo "Host dokku.me \\r\\n Port 3022 \\r\\n RequestTTY yes \\r\\n IdentityFile /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa" >> /root/.ssh/config
 	echo "Host 127.0.0.1 \\r\\n Port 22333 \\r\\n RequestTTY yes \\r\\n IdentityFile /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa" >> /root/.ssh/config
 endif
 
-ifneq ($(wildcard /etc/ssh/sshd_config),)
-	sed --in-place "s/^#Port 22$\/Port 22/g" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-ifeq ($(shell grep 22333 /etc/ssh/sshd_config),)
-	sed --in-place "s:^Port 22:Port 22 \\nPort 22333:g" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-endif
-	service ssh restart
-endif
-
 	@echo "-----> Installing SSH public key..."
-	sudo sshcommand acl-remove dokku test
-	cat /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa.pub | sudo sshcommand acl-add dokku test
+	docker exec -ti dokku bash -c "sshcommand acl-remove dokku test"
+	docker exec -ti dokku bash -c "echo `cat /root/.ssh/dokku_test_rsa.pub` | sshcommand acl-add dokku test"
 
 	@echo "-----> Intitial SSH connection to populate known_hosts..."
-	ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no dokku@dokku.me help >/dev/null
-	ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no dokku@127.0.0.1 help >/dev/null
-
-ifeq ($(shell grep dokku.me /home/dokku/VHOST 2>/dev/null),)
-	@echo "-----> Setting default VHOST to dokku.me..."
-	echo "dokku.me" > /home/dokku/VHOST
-endif
+	sudo ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no dokku@dokku.me help >/dev/null
+	sudo ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no dokku@127.0.0.1 help >/dev/null
 
 lint-setup:
 	@mkdir -p test-results/shellcheck tmp/shellcheck
diff --git a/tests/ci/setup.sh b/tests/ci/setup.sh
index 190f2812e..0eeeee7be 100755
--- a/tests/ci/setup.sh
+++ b/tests/ci/setup.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ set -eo pipefail
 readonly ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$(dirname "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")")" && pwd)"
 
 install_dependencies() {
+  echo "=====> install_dependencies on CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX: $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX"
+
   mkdir -p "$ROOT_DIR/build/"
   HEROKUISH_VERSION=$(grep HEROKUISH_VERSION "${ROOT_DIR}/deb.mk" | head -n1 | cut -d' ' -f3)
   HEROKUISH_PACKAGE_NAME="herokuish_${HEROKUISH_VERSION}_amd64.deb"
@@ -25,54 +27,59 @@ install_dependencies() {
   PROCFILE_UTIL_PACKAGE_NAME="procfile-util_${PROCFILE_VERSION}_amd64.deb"
   curl -L "https://packagecloud.io/dokku/dokku/packages/ubuntu/trusty/procfile-util_${PROCFILE_VERSION}_amd64.deb/download.deb" -o "$ROOT_DIR/build/${PROCFILE_UTIL_PACKAGE_NAME}"
 
-  sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:nginx/stable
-  sudo apt-get update
-  sudo apt-get -qq -y install cgroupfs-mount nginx
-  sudo cp "${ROOT_DIR}/tests/dhparam.pem" /etc/nginx/dhparam.pem
+  sudo dpkg -i "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$HEROKUISH_PACKAGE_NAME" \
+    "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$PLUGN_PACKAGE_NAME" \
+    "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$SSHCOMMAND_PACKAGE_NAME" \
+    "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$SIGIL_PACKAGE_NAME" \
+    "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$PROCFILE_UTIL_PACKAGE_NAME"
+}
 
-  sudo dpkg -i "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$HEROKUISH_PACKAGE_NAME"
-  sudo dpkg -i "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$PLUGN_PACKAGE_NAME"
-  sudo dpkg -i "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$SSHCOMMAND_PACKAGE_NAME"
-  sudo dpkg -i "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$SIGIL_PACKAGE_NAME"
-  sudo dpkg -i "${ROOT_DIR}/build/$PROCFILE_UTIL_PACKAGE_NAME"
+build_dokku() {
+  echo "=====> build_dokku on CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX: $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX"
+  "${ROOT_DIR}/contrib/release-dokku" build
+  docker build -t dokku/dokku:test .
+}
+
+run_dokku_container() {
+  echo "=====> run_dokku_container on CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX: $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX"
+  docker run -d \
+    --env DOKKU_HOSTNAME=dokku.me \
+    --name dokku \
+    --publish 3022:22 \
+    --publish 22333:22 \
+    --publish 80:80 \
+    --publish 443:443 \
+    --volume /var/lib/dokku:/mnt/dokku \
+    --volume /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
+    dokku/dokku:test
+
+  sleep 1 && docker logs dokku
 }
 
 install_dokku() {
+  echo "=====> install_dokku on CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX: $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX"
+
   if [[ "$FROM_SOURCE" == "true" ]]; then
     sudo -E CI=true make -e install
     return
   fi
 
-  "${ROOT_DIR}/contrib/release-dokku" build
+  build_dokku
+  run_dokku_container
 
-  echo "dokku dokku/hostname string dokku.me" | sudo debconf-set-selections
-  echo "dokku dokku/key_file string /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub" | sudo debconf-set-selections
-  echo "dokku dokku/nginx_enable boolean true" | sudo debconf-set-selections
-  echo "dokku dokku/skip_key_file boolean true" | sudo debconf-set-selections
-  echo "dokku dokku/vhost_enable boolean true" | sudo debconf-set-selections
-  echo "dokku dokku/web_config boolean false" | sudo debconf-set-selections
-  sudo dpkg -i "$(cat "${ROOT_DIR}/build/deb-filename")"
+  sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
+  sudo cp -v contrib/dokku-docker-bin.sh /usr/local/bin/dokku
 }
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2120
 setup_circle() {
   echo "=====> setup_circle on CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX: $CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX"
-  sudo -E CI=true make -e sshcommand
-  # need to add the dokku user to the docker group
-  sudo usermod -G docker dokku
-  [[ "$1" == "buildstack" ]] && BUILD_STACK=true make -e stack
 
   install_dependencies
   install_dokku
 
   sudo -E make -e setup-deploy-tests
-  bash --version
-  docker version
   lsb_release -a
-  # setup .dokkurc
-  sudo -E mkdir -p /home/dokku/.dokkurc
-  sudo -E chown dokku:ubuntu /home/dokku/.dokkurc
-  sudo -E chmod 775 /home/dokku/.dokkurc
   # pull node:4 image for testing
   sudo docker pull node:4
 }