diff --git a/.docker/aiida-core-base/Dockerfile b/.docker/aiida-core-base/Dockerfile
index 47f517d2fe..7de1ddb5bd 100644
--- a/.docker/aiida-core-base/Dockerfile
+++ b/.docker/aiida-core-base/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
 
 # Inspired by jupyter's docker-stacks-fundation image:
-# https://github.com/jupyter/docker-stacks/blob/main/docker-stacks-foundation/Dockerfile
+# https://github.com/jupyter/docker-stacks/tree/main/images/docker-stacks-foundation/Dockerfile
 
 ARG BASE=ubuntu:22.04
 
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ RUN sed -i 's/^#force_color_prompt=yes/force_color_prompt=yes/' /etc/skel/.bashr
    # Add call to conda init script see https://stackoverflow.com/a/58081608/4413446
    echo 'eval "$(command conda shell.bash hook 2> /dev/null)"' >> /etc/skel/.bashrc
 
-# Create SYSTEM_USER with name jovyan user with UID=1000 and in the 'users' group
+# Create $SYSTEM_USER user with UID=1000 and 'users' group
 # and make sure these dirs are writable by the `users` group.
 RUN echo "auth requisite pam_deny.so" >> /etc/pam.d/su && \
     sed -i.bak -e 's/^%admin/#%admin/' /etc/sudoers && \
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ ARG MAMBA_VERSION
 #   Similar projects using Micromamba:
 #     - Micromamba-Docker: <https://github.com/mamba-org/micromamba-docker>
 #     - repo2docker: <https://github.com/jupyterhub/repo2docker>
-# Install Python, Mamba and jupyter_core
+# Install Python, Mamba
 # Cleanup temporary files and remove Micromamba
 # Correct permissions
 # Do all this in a single RUN command to avoid duplicating all of the
diff --git a/.docker/docker-bake.hcl b/.docker/docker-bake.hcl
index 533995af8d..0785e27190 100644
--- a/.docker/docker-bake.hcl
+++ b/.docker/docker-bake.hcl
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ variable "ORGANIZATION" {
 }
 
 variable "REGISTRY" {
-  default = "docker.io/"
+  default = "ghcr.io/"
 }
 
 variable "PLATFORMS" {
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ variable "TARGETS" {
 function "tags" {
   params = [image]
   result = [
-    "${REGISTRY}${ORGANIZATION}/${image}:newly-baked"
+    "${REGISTRY}${ORGANIZATION}/${image}"
   ]
 }
 
diff --git a/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-base.yml b/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-base.yml
index 4524938065..478d752db4 100644
--- a/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-base.yml
+++ b/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-base.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ services:
       retries: 10
 
   aiida:
-    image: ${REGISTRY:-}${BASE_IMAGE:-aiidateam/aiida-core-base}:${TAG:-latest}
+    image: ${REGISTRY:-}${AIIDA_CORE_BASE_IMAGE:-aiidateam/aiida-core-base}${TAG:-}
     environment:
       RMQHOST: messaging
       TZ: Europe/Zurich
diff --git a/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-dev.yml b/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-dev.yml
index c07fb3a5cf..b59f6484a5 100644
--- a/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-dev.yml
+++ b/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-dev.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ version: '3.4'
 services:
 
   aiida:
-    image: ${REGISTRY:-}${BASE_IMAGE:-aiidateam/aiida-core-dev}:${TAG:-latest}
+    image: ${REGISTRY:-}${AIIDA_CORE_DEV_IMAGE:-aiidateam/aiida-core-dev}${TAG:-}
     environment:
       TZ: Europe/Zurich
       SETUP_DEFAULT_AIIDA_PROFILE: 'true'
diff --git a/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-with-services.yml b/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-with-services.yml
index 445259b428..73cf83e7e3 100644
--- a/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-with-services.yml
+++ b/.docker/docker-compose.aiida-core-with-services.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ version: '3.4'
 services:
 
   aiida:
-    image: ${REGISTRY:-}${BASE_IMAGE:-aiidateam/aiida-core-with-services}:${TAG:-latest}
+    image: ${REGISTRY:-}${AIIDA_CORE_WITH_SERVICES_IMAGE:-aiidateam/aiida-core-with-services}${TAG:-}
     environment:
       TZ: Europe/Zurich
       SETUP_DEFAULT_AIIDA_PROFILE: 'true'
diff --git a/.docker/pytest.ini b/.docker/pytest.ini
index d1e7877377..e6c356c3eb 100644
--- a/.docker/pytest.ini
+++ b/.docker/pytest.ini
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [pytest]
 minversion = 7.0
-addopts = -ra -q
+addopts = -ra -q --strict-markers
 testpaths =
     tests
diff --git a/.docker/requirements.txt b/.docker/requirements.txt
index 3ba15482bb..6c84d9fa30 100644
--- a/.docker/requirements.txt
+++ b/.docker/requirements.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
-docker
-pre-commit
-pytest
-requests
-tabulate
-pytest-docker
-docker-compose
-pyyaml<=5.3.1
+docker~=7.0.0
+pytest~=8.2.0
+requests~=2.32.0
+pytest-docker~=3.1.0
diff --git a/.docker/tests/conftest.py b/.docker/tests/conftest.py
index 9eb79ddede..968e941b29 100644
--- a/.docker/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/.docker/tests/conftest.py
@@ -3,21 +3,33 @@
 
 import pytest
 
+TARGETS = ('aiida-core-base', 'aiida-core-with-services', 'aiida-core-dev')
 
-@pytest.fixture(
-    scope='session',
-    params=[
-        'aiida-core-base',
-        'aiida-core-with-services',
-        'aiida-core-dev',
-    ],
-)
-def variant(request):
-    return request.param
+
+def target_checker(value):
+    msg = f"Invalid image target '{value}', must be one of: {TARGETS}"
+    if value not in TARGETS:
+        raise pytest.UsageError(msg)
+    return value
+
+
+def pytest_addoption(parser):
+    parser.addoption(
+        '--variant',
+        action='store',
+        required=True,
+        help='target (image name) of the docker-compose file to use.',
+        type=target_checker,
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='session')
+def variant(pytestconfig):
+    return pytestconfig.getoption('variant')
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope='session')
-def docker_compose_file(pytestconfig, variant):
+def docker_compose_file(variant):
     return f'docker-compose.{variant}.yml'
 
 
diff --git a/.github/actions/create-dev-env/action.yml b/.github/actions/create-dev-env/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 8ad3a4a125..0000000000
--- a/.github/actions/create-dev-env/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-name: Build environment
-description: Create build environment
-
-inputs:
-  architecture:
-    description: architecture to be run on
-    required: true
-    type: string
-
-runs:
-  using: composite
-  steps:
-    # actions/setup-python doesn't support Linux arm64 runners
-    # See: https://github.com/actions/setup-python/issues/108
-    # python3 is manually preinstalled in the arm64 VM self-hosted runner
-  - name: Set Up Python 🐍
-    uses: actions/setup-python@v5
-    with:
-      python-version: 3.x
-    if: ${{ inputs.architecture == 'amd64' }}
-
-  - name: Install Dev Dependencies 📦
-    run: |
-      pip install --upgrade pip
-      pip install --upgrade -r .docker/requirements.txt
-    shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/actions/install-aiida-core/action.yml b/.github/actions/install-aiida-core/action.yml
index aacbe774a4..700e565034 100644
--- a/.github/actions/install-aiida-core/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/install-aiida-core/action.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ runs:
   - name: Install uv installer
     run: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://${{ env.UV_URL }} | sh
     env:
-      UV_VERSION: 0.1.35
+      UV_VERSION: 0.1.44
       UV_URL: github.com/astral-sh/uv/releases/download/$UV_VERSION/uv-installer.sh
     shell: bash
 
diff --git a/.github/actions/load-image/action.yml b/.github/actions/load-image/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6598424fdd..0000000000
--- a/.github/actions/load-image/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-name: Load Docker image
-description: Download image tar and load it to docker
-
-inputs:
-  image:
-    description: Image name
-    required: true
-    type: string
-  architecture:
-    description: Image architecture
-    required: true
-    type: string
-
-runs:
-  using: composite
-  steps:
-  - name: Download built image 📥
-    uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-    with:
-      name: ${{ inputs.image }}-${{ inputs.architecture }}
-      path: /tmp/
-  - name: Load downloaded image to docker 📥
-    run: |
-      docker load --input /tmp/${{ inputs.image }}-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-      docker image ls --all
-    shell: bash
-  - name: Delete the file 🗑️
-    run: rm -f /tmp/${{ inputs.image }}-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-    shell: bash
-    if: always()
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-build-test-upload.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-build-test-upload.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 3195206afa..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-build-test-upload.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,83 +0,0 @@
-name: Build image and then upload the image, tags and manifests to GitHub artifacts
-
-env:
-  OWNER: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
-
-on:
-  workflow_call:
-    inputs:
-      architecture:
-        description: Image architecture, e.g. amd64, arm64
-        required: true
-        type: string
-      runsOn:
-        description: GitHub Actions Runner image
-        required: true
-        type: string
-
-jobs:
-  build-test-upload:
-    runs-on: ${{ inputs.runsOn }}
-    defaults:
-      run:
-        shell: bash
-        working-directory: .docker
-
-    steps:
-    - name: Checkout Repo ⚡️
-      uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-    - name: Create dev environment 📦
-      uses: ./.github/actions/create-dev-env
-      with:
-        architecture: ${{ inputs.architecture }}
-
-    # Self-hosted runners share a state (whole VM) between runs
-    # Also, they might have running or stopped containers,
-    # which are not cleaned up by `docker system prun`
-    - name: Reset docker state and cleanup artifacts 🗑️
-      if: ${{ inputs.platform != 'x86_64' }}
-      run: |
-        docker kill $(docker ps --quiet) || true
-        docker rm $(docker ps --all --quiet) || true
-        docker system prune --all --force
-        rm -rf /tmp/aiida-core/
-      shell: bash
-
-    - name: Build aiida-core images
-      # The order of the buildx bake files is important, as the second one will overwrite the first one
-      run: docker buildx bake -f docker-bake.hcl -f build.json --set *.platform=linux/${{ inputs.architecture }} --load
-      env:
-        # Full logs for CI build
-        BUILDKIT_PROGRESS: plain
-
-    - name: Run tests ✅
-      run: TAG=newly-baked python -m pytest -s tests
-
-    - name: Save images as tar for later use 💾
-      run: |
-        mkdir -p /tmp/aiida-core
-        docker save ${{ env.OWNER }}/aiida-core-base -o /tmp/aiida-core/aiida-core-base-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-        docker save ${{ env.OWNER }}/aiida-core-with-services -o /tmp/aiida-core/aiida-core-with-services-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-        docker save ${{ env.OWNER }}/aiida-core-dev -o /tmp/aiida-core/aiida-core-dev-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-
-    - name: Upload aiida-core-base image as artifact 💾
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: aiida-core-base-${{ inputs.architecture }}
-        path: /tmp/aiida-core/aiida-core-base-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-        retention-days: 3
-
-    - name: Upload aiida-core-with-services image as artifact 💾
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: aiida-core-with-services-${{ inputs.architecture }}
-        path: /tmp/aiida-core/aiida-core-with-services-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-        retention-days: 3
-
-    - name: Upload aiida-core-dev image as artifact 💾
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: aiida-core-dev-${{ inputs.architecture }}
-        path: /tmp/aiida-core/aiida-core-dev-${{ inputs.architecture }}.tar
-        retention-days: 3
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fcc3da6e63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+name: Build Docker images and upload them to ghcr.io
+
+env:
+  BUILDKIT_PROGRESS: plain
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      runsOn:
+        description: GitHub Actions Runner image
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      platforms:
+        description: Target platforms for the build (linux/amd64 and/or linux/arm64)
+        required: true
+        type: string
+    outputs:
+      images:
+        description: Images identified by digests
+        value: ${{ jobs.build.outputs.images }}
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    name: ${{ inputs.platforms }}
+    runs-on: ${{ inputs.runsOn }}
+    timeout-minutes: 60
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        # Make sure we fail if any command in a piped command sequence fails
+        shell: bash -e -o pipefail {0}
+
+    outputs:
+      images: ${{ steps.bake_metadata.outputs.images }}
+
+    steps:
+
+    - name: Checkout Repo ⚡️
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    - name: Set up QEMU
+      if: ${{ inputs.platforms != 'linux/amd64' }}
+      uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3
+
+    - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+      uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+
+    - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry 🔑
+      uses: docker/login-action@v3
+      with:
+        registry: ghcr.io
+        username: ${{ github.actor }}
+        password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+    - name: Build and upload to ghcr.io 📤
+      id: build
+      uses: docker/bake-action@v4
+      with:
+        push: true
+        workdir: .docker/
+        # Using provenance to disable default attestation so it will build only desired images:
+        # https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/45969
+        provenance: false
+        set: |
+          *.platform=${{ inputs.platforms }}
+          *.output=type=registry,push-by-digest=true,name-canonical=true
+          *.cache-to=type=gha,scope=${{ github.workflow }},mode=max
+          *.cache-from=type=gha,scope=${{ github.workflow }}
+        files: |
+          docker-bake.hcl
+          build.json
+
+    - name: Set output variables
+      id: bake_metadata
+      run: |
+        .github/workflows/extract-docker-image-names.sh | tee -a "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+      env:
+        BAKE_METADATA: ${{ steps.build.outputs.metadata }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-merge-tags.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-merge-tags.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index e82661e376..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-merge-tags.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-name: Download images tags from GitHub artifacts and create multi-platform manifests
-
-on:
-  workflow_call:
-    inputs:
-      registry:
-        description: Docker registry, e.g. ghcr.io, docker.io
-        required: true
-        type: string
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME:
-        required: true
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN:
-        required: true
-
-
-jobs:
-  merge-tags:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    strategy:
-      matrix:
-        image: [aiida-core-base, aiida-core-with-services, aiida-core-dev]
-    permissions:
-      packages: write
-
-    steps:
-    - name: Checkout Repo ⚡️
-      uses: actions/checkout@v4
-    - name: Create dev environment 📦
-      uses: ./.github/actions/create-dev-env
-      with:
-        architecture: amd64
-
-    - name: Download amd64 tags file 📥
-      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: ${{ inputs.registry }}-${{ matrix.image }}-amd64-tags
-        path: /tmp/aiida-core
-    - name: Download arm64 tags file 📥
-      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: ${{ inputs.registry }}-${{ matrix.image }}-arm64-tags
-        path: /tmp/aiida-core
-
-    - name: Login to Container Registry 🔑
-      uses: docker/login-action@v2
-      with:
-        registry: ${{ inputs.registry }}
-        username: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}
-        password: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_TOKEN }}
-
-    - name: Merge tags for the images of different arch 🔀
-      run: |
-        for arch_tag in $(cat /tmp/aiida-core/${{ matrix.image }}-amd64-tags.txt); do
-          tag=$(echo $arch_tag | sed "s/:amd64-/:/")
-          docker manifest create $tag --amend $arch_tag
-          docker manifest push $tag
-        done
-
-        for arch_tag in $(cat /tmp/aiida-core/${{ matrix.image }}-arm64-tags.txt); do
-          tag=$(echo $arch_tag | sed "s/:arm64-/:/")
-          docker manifest create $tag --amend $arch_tag
-          docker manifest push $tag
-        done
-      shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ca383c6e57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+name: Publish images to Docker container registries
+
+env:
+    # https://github.com/docker/metadata-action?tab=readme-ov-file#environment-variables
+  DOCKER_METADATA_PR_HEAD_SHA: true
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      runsOn:
+        description: GitHub Actions Runner image
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      images:
+        description: Images built in build step
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      registry:
+        description: Docker container registry
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+jobs:
+
+  release:
+    runs-on: ${{ inputs.runsOn }}
+    timeout-minutes: 30
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: true
+      matrix:
+        target: [aiida-core-base, aiida-core-with-services, aiida-core-dev]
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        # Make sure we fail if any command in a piped command sequence fails
+        shell: bash -e -o pipefail {0}
+        working-directory: .docker
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry 🔑
+      uses: docker/login-action@v3
+      with:
+        registry: ghcr.io
+        username: ${{ github.actor }}
+        password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+    - name: Login to DockerHub 🔑
+      uses: docker/login-action@v3
+      if: inputs.registry == 'docker.io'
+      with:
+        registry: docker.io
+        username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
+        password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
+
+    - name: Read build variables
+      id: build_vars
+      run: |
+        vars=$(cat build.json | jq -c '[.variable | to_entries[] | {"key": .key, "value": .value.default}] | from_entries')
+        echo "vars=$vars" | tee -a "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+
+    - name: Docker meta
+      id: meta
+      uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
+      env: ${{ fromJSON(steps.build_vars.outputs.vars) }}
+      with:
+        images: ${{ inputs.registry }}/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ matrix.target }}
+        tags: |
+          type=ref,event=pr
+          type=edge,enable={{is_default_branch}}
+          type=raw,value=aiida-${{ env.AIIDA_VERSION }},enable=${{ github.ref_type == 'tag'  && startsWith(github.ref_name, 'v') }}
+          type=raw,value=python-${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }},enable=${{ github.ref_type == 'tag' && startsWith(github.ref_name, 'v') }}
+          type=raw,value=postgresql-${{ env.PGSQL_VERSION }},enable=${{ github.ref_type == 'tag' && startsWith(github.ref_name, 'v') }}
+          type=match,pattern=v(\d{4}\.\d{4}(-.+)?),group=1
+
+    - name: Determine source image
+      id: images
+      run: |
+        src=$(echo '${{ inputs.images }}'| jq -cr '.[("${{ matrix.target }}"|ascii_upcase|sub("-"; "_"; "g")) + "_IMAGE"]')
+        echo "src=$src" | tee -a "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+
+    - name: Push image
+      uses: akhilerm/tag-push-action@v2.2.0
+      with:
+        src: ${{ steps.images.outputs.src }}
+        dst: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-push.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-push.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 912738dcd9..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-push.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,96 +0,0 @@
-name: Download Docker image and its tags from GitHub artifacts, apply them and push the image to container registry
-
-env:
-  OWNER: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
-
-on:
-  workflow_call:
-    inputs:
-      architecture:
-        description: Image architecture
-        required: true
-        type: string
-      registry:
-        description: Docker registry
-        required: true
-        type: string
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME:
-        required: true
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN:
-        required: true
-
-jobs:
-  tag-push:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    strategy:
-      matrix:
-        image: [aiida-core-base, aiida-core-with-services, aiida-core-dev]
-    defaults:
-      run:
-        shell: bash
-        working-directory: .docker
-    permissions:
-      packages: write
-
-    steps:
-    - name: Checkout Repo ⚡️
-      uses: actions/checkout@v4
-    - name: Create dev environment 📦
-      uses: ./.github/actions/create-dev-env
-      with:
-        architecture: ${{ inputs.architecture }}
-    - name: Load image to Docker 📥
-      uses: ./.github/actions/load-image
-      with:
-        image: ${{ matrix.image }}
-        architecture: ${{ inputs.architecture }}
-
-    - name: Read build variables
-      id: build_vars
-      run: |
-        vars=$(cat build.json | jq -c '[.variable | to_entries[] | {"key": .key, "value": .value.default}] | from_entries')
-        echo "vars=$vars" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
-
-    - name: Docker meta 📝
-      id: meta
-      uses: docker/metadata-action@v4
-      env: ${{ fromJson(steps.build_vars.outputs.vars) }}
-      with:
-        images: |
-          name=${{ inputs.registry }}/${{ env.OWNER }}/${{ matrix.image }}
-        tags: |
-          type=edge,enable={{is_default_branch}}
-          type=sha,enable=${{ github.ref_type != 'tag' }}
-          type=ref,event=pr
-          type=match,pattern=v(\d+\.\d+.\d+),group=1
-          type=raw,value={{tag}},enable=${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v') }}
-          type=raw,value=python-${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }},enable=${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v') }}
-          type=raw,value=postgresql-${{ env.PGSQL_VERSION }},enable=${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v') }}
-
-    - name: Login to Container Registry 🔑
-      uses: docker/login-action@v2
-      with:
-        registry: ${{ inputs.registry }}
-        username: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}
-        password: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_TOKEN }}
-
-    - name: Set tags for image and push 🏷️📤💾
-      run: |
-        declare -a arr=(${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }})
-        for tag in "${arr[@]}"; do
-            arch_tag=$(echo ${tag} | sed "s/:/:${{ inputs.architecture }}-/")
-            docker tag ${{ env.OWNER }}/${{ matrix.image }}:newly-baked ${arch_tag}
-            docker push ${arch_tag}
-
-            # write tag to file
-            mkdir -p /tmp/aiida-core
-            echo ${arch_tag} >> /tmp/aiida-core/${{ matrix.image }}-${{ inputs.architecture }}-tags.txt
-        done
-
-    - name: Upload tags file 📤
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: ${{ inputs.registry }}-${{ matrix.image }}-${{ inputs.architecture }}-tags
-        path: /tmp/aiida-core/${{ matrix.image }}-${{ inputs.architecture }}-tags.txt
-        retention-days: 3
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-test.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-test.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..652c459102
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-test.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+name: Test newly built images
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      runsOn:
+        description: GitHub Actions Runner image
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      images:
+        description: Images built in build step
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      target:
+        description: Target image for testing
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+jobs:
+
+  test:
+    runs-on: ${{ inputs.runsOn }}
+    timeout-minutes: 20
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        working-directory: .docker
+
+    steps:
+
+    - name: Checkout Repo ⚡️
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry 🔑
+      uses: docker/login-action@v3
+      with:
+        registry: ghcr.io
+        username: ${{ github.actor }}
+        password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+    - name: Set Up Python 🐍
+      if: ${{ startsWith(inputs.runsOn, 'ubuntu') }}
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: '3.11'
+        cache: pip
+
+    - name: Install dependencies 📦
+      run: pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+    - name: Run tests
+      run: pytest -s --variant ${{ inputs.target }} tests/
+      env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.images) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker.yml b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
index 30a41ed5b0..5bb0a6147a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-name: Build, test and push Docker Images
+name: Docker Images
 
 on:
   pull_request:
     paths-ignore:
+    - '**.md'
+    - '**.txt'
     - docs/**
     - tests/**
   push:
@@ -12,6 +14,8 @@ on:
     tags:
     - v*
     paths-ignore:
+    - '**.md'
+    - '**.txt'
     - docs/**
     - tests/**
   workflow_dispatch:
@@ -22,80 +26,67 @@ concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
+env:
+  FORCE_COLOR: 1
+
 jobs:
-  amd64-build:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-build-test-upload.yml
+  # We build only amd64 first to catch failures faster.
+  build-amd64:
+    if: ${{ ! github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork }}
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
     with:
-      architecture: amd64
-      runsOn: ubuntu-latest
+      runsOn: ubuntu-22.04
+      platforms: linux/amd64
 
-  arm64-build:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-build-test-upload.yml
+  test-amd64:
+    needs: build-amd64
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-test.yml
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        target: [aiida-core-base, aiida-core-with-services, aiida-core-dev]
     with:
-      architecture: arm64
-      runsOn: ARM64
-    if: ${{ !github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork }}
+      runsOn: ubuntu-22.04
+      images: ${{ needs.build-amd64.outputs.images }}
+      target: ${{ matrix.target }}
 
-  amd64-push-ghcr:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-push.yml
+  build:
+    needs: test-amd64
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
     with:
-      architecture: amd64
-      registry: ghcr.io
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ github.actor }}
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-    needs: [amd64-build]
-    if: ${{ !github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork }}
-
-  arm64-push-ghcr:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-push.yml
-    with:
-      architecture: arm64
-      registry: ghcr.io
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ github.actor }}
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-    needs: [arm64-build]
-    if: ${{ !github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork }}
+      runsOn: ubuntu-22.04
+      platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
 
-  merge-tags-ghcr:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-merge-tags.yml
+  publish-ghcr:
+    needs: [build, test-amd64]
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
+    secrets: inherit
     with:
+      runsOn: ubuntu-22.04
+      images: ${{ needs.build.outputs.images }}
       registry: ghcr.io
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ github.actor }}
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-    needs: [amd64-push-ghcr, arm64-push-ghcr]
-    if: ${{ !github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork }}
 
-  amd64-push-dockerhub:
-    if: github.repository == 'aiidateam/aiida-core' && (github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v'))
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-push.yml
+  # IMPORTANT: To save arm64 runners resources,
+  # we run the test only when pushing to main.
+  # We also only test the aiida-core-dev image.
+  test-arm64:
+    needs: build
+    if: >-
+      github.repository == 'aiidateam/aiida-core'
+      && (github.ref_type == 'tag' || github.ref_name == 'main')
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-test.yml
     with:
-      architecture: amd64
-      registry: docker.io
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_TOKEN }}
-    needs: [amd64-build]
-
-  arm64-push-dockerhub:
-    if: github.repository == 'aiidateam/aiida-core' && (github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v'))
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-push.yml
-    with:
-      architecture: arm64
-      registry: docker.io
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_TOKEN }}
-    needs: [arm64-build]
+      runsOn: buildjet-4vcpu-ubuntu-2204-arm
+      images: ${{ needs.build.outputs.images }}
+      target: aiida-core-dev
 
-  merge-tags-dockerhub:
-    if: github.repository == 'aiidateam/aiida-core' && (github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v'))
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-merge-tags.yml
+  publish-dockerhub:
+    if: >-
+      github.repository == 'aiidateam/aiida-core'
+      && (github.ref_type == 'tag' || github.ref_name == 'main')
+    needs: [build, test-amd64, test-arm64, publish-ghcr]
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
+    secrets: inherit
     with:
+      runsOn: ubuntu-22.04
+      images: ${{ needs.build.outputs.images }}
       registry: docker.io
-    secrets:
-      REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
-      REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_TOKEN }}
-    needs: [amd64-push-dockerhub, arm64-push-dockerhub]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/extract-docker-image-names.sh b/.github/workflows/extract-docker-image-names.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8609f7c385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/extract-docker-image-names.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Extract image names together with their sha256 digests
+# from the docker/bake-action metadata output.
+# These together uniquely identify newly built images.
+#
+# The input to this script is a JSON string passed via BAKE_METADATA env variable
+# Here's example input (trimmed to relevant bits):
+# BAKE_METADATA: {
+#    "base": {
+#      "containerimage.descriptor": {
+#        "mediaType": "application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.v2+json",
+#        "digest": "sha256:8e57a52b924b67567314b8ed3c968859cad99ea13521e60bbef40457e16f391d",
+#        "size": 6170,
+#      },
+#      "containerimage.digest": "sha256:8e57a52b924b67567314b8ed3c968859cad99ea13521e60bbef40457e16f391d",
+#      "image.name": "ghcr.io/aiidalab/base"
+#    },
+#    "aiida-core-base": {
+#      "image.name": "ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-base"
+#       "containerimage.digest": "sha256:6753a809b5b2675bf4c22408e07c1df155907a465b33c369ef93ebcb1c4fec26",
+#       "...": ""
+#    }
+#    "aiida-core-with-services": {
+#      "image.name": "ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-with-services"
+#      "containerimage.digest": "sha256:85ee91f61be1ea601591c785db038e5899d68d5fb89e07d66d9efbe8f352ee48",
+#      "...": ""
+#    }
+#    "aiida-core-dev": {
+#      "image.name": "ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-with-services"
+#      "containerimage.digest": "sha256:4d9be090da287fcdf2d4658bb82f78bad791ccd15dac9af594fb8306abe47e97",
+#      "...": ""
+#    }
+#  }
+#
+# Example output (real output is on one line):
+#
+# images={
+#   "AIIDA_CORE_BASE_IMAGE": "ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-base@sha256:8e57a52b924b67567314b8ed3c968859cad99ea13521e60bbef40457e16f391d",
+#   "AIIDA_CORE_WITH_SERVICES_IMAGE": "ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-with-services@sha256:6753a809b5b2675bf4c22408e07c1df155907a465b33c369ef93ebcb1c4fec26",
+#   "AIIDA_CORE_DEV_IMAGE": "ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-dev@sha256:85ee91f61be1ea601591c785db038e5899d68d5fb89e07d66d9efbe8f352ee48",
+# }
+#
+# This json output is later turned to environment variables using fromJson() GHA builtin
+# (e.g. AIIDA_CORE_BASE_IMAGE=ghcr.io/aiidateam/aiida-core-base@sha256:8e57a52b...)
+# and these are in turn read in the docker-compose.<target>.yml files for tests.
+
+if [[ -z ${BAKE_METADATA-} ]];then
+    echo "ERROR: Environment variable BAKE_METADATA is not set!"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+images=$(echo "${BAKE_METADATA}" | jq -c '. as $base |[to_entries[] |{"key": (.key|ascii_upcase|sub("-"; "_"; "g") + "_IMAGE"), "value": [(.value."image.name"|split(",")[0]),.value."containerimage.digest"]|join("@")}] |from_entries')
+echo "images=$images"