diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index a2df13e1c2..6bc2ace78c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ on:
     branches:
       - develop
       - dev-[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+
+    types:
+      # defaults + 'edited', to handle changes to flags like ___REQUIRES_GATEWAY_PR___ in the PR body
+      [ opened, synchronize, reopened, edited ]
   push:
     branches:
       - develop
@@ -27,6 +30,7 @@ env:
   SCHEDULER_PASSWORD: "${{secrets.SCHEDULER_PASSWORD}}"
   SEQUENCING_USERNAME: "${{secrets.SEQUENCING_USERNAME}}"
   SEQUENCING_PASSWORD: "${{secrets.SEQUENCING_PASSWORD}}"
+  PR_BODY: "${{github.event.pull_request.body}}"
 
 jobs:
   unit-test:
@@ -62,6 +66,12 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Repo
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Extract Aerie gateway docker tag from PR body
+        # look in the PR body for the string ___REQUIRES_GATEWAY_PR___=9999, extract the number if so & save to env var
+        # if gateway PR is labeled correctly, it will publish a docker tag called 'pr-9999' to use in tests
+        if: ${{ contains(env.PR_BODY, '___REQUIRES_GATEWAY_PR___=') }}
+        run: |
+          echo "GATEWAY_IMAGE_TAG=pr-$(echo $PR_BODY | sed -n 's/.*___REQUIRES_GATEWAY_PR___=\"\([0-9]\+\)\".*/\1/p')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - name: Setup Java
         uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
@@ -81,9 +91,10 @@ jobs:
         run: ./gradlew e2e-tests:buildAllSchedulingProcedureJars
       - name: Start Services
         run: |
-          docker compose -f ./e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml up -d --build
+          echo "GATEWAY_IMAGE_TAG: $GATEWAY_IMAGE_TAG"
+          docker compose -f ./e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml up -d --build --quiet-pull
           docker images
-          docker ps -a
+          docker ps -a --no-trunc
       - name: Sleep for 30 Seconds
         run: sleep 30s
         shell: bash
diff --git a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml
index 9abe98d772..66dc9c296b 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml
+++ b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ services:
       AERIE_DB_PORT: 5432
       GATEWAY_DB_USER: "${GATEWAY_USERNAME}"
       GATEWAY_DB_PASSWORD: "${GATEWAY_PASSWORD}"
-    image: "ghcr.io/nasa-ammos/aerie-gateway:develop"
+    image: 'ghcr.io/nasa-ammos/aerie-gateway:${GATEWAY_IMAGE_TAG:-develop}'
     ports: ["9000:9000"]
     restart: always
     volumes:
diff --git a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml
index f129cf67bd..16cb562f6a 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml
+++ b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ services:
       AERIE_DB_PORT: 5432
       GATEWAY_DB_USER: "${GATEWAY_USERNAME}"
       GATEWAY_DB_PASSWORD: "${GATEWAY_PASSWORD}"
-    image: 'ghcr.io/nasa-ammos/aerie-gateway:develop'
+    image: 'ghcr.io/nasa-ammos/aerie-gateway:${GATEWAY_IMAGE_TAG:-develop}'
     ports: ['9000:9000']
     restart: always
     volumes: