diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-the-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/run-the-tests.yml
index d68add98..080a9557 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-the-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-the-tests.yml
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Start containers
-        run: ./start_containers.sh
+        run: ./start_containers.sh "${{ matrix.python }}"
 
       - name: run test
         run: |
           client_container=$(docker ps --format "{{.Names}}"|grep python.client)
-          docker exec -it "$(client_container)" /repo/docker-testing/run_tests.sh
+          docker exec -it "$(client_container)" /repo_root/docker-testing/run_tests.sh
 
       - name: Stop containers
         if: always()
diff --git a/docker-testing/harness-docker-compose.yml b/docker-testing/harness-docker-compose.yml
index f82cc5ed..bfeae7de 100644
--- a/docker-testing/harness-docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-testing/harness-docker-compose.yml
@@ -14,13 +14,12 @@ services:
     python-client:
         args:
             - python_version
-            - repo_external
         build:
             context: python_client
         command:
             tail -f /dev/null
         volumes:
-            ${repo_external}:/repo:ro
+            ${repo_external}:/repo_root:ro
 
     irods-catalog-provider:
         build:
diff --git a/docker-testing/irods_catalog_provider/Dockerfile b/docker-testing/irods_catalog_provider/Dockerfile
index a18ccbf9..2a574169 100644
--- a/docker-testing/irods_catalog_provider/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker-testing/irods_catalog_provider/Dockerfile
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
         python3-requests \
         rsyslog \
         unixodbc \
+        gawk \
     && \
     apt-get clean && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /tmp/*
diff --git a/docker-testing/python_client/Dockerfile b/docker-testing/python_client/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ca8559b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-testing/python_client/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+ARG python_version
+FROM python:${python_version}
diff --git a/docker-testing/repo b/docker-testing/repo
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..a96aa0ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-testing/repo
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+..
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-testing/run_tests.sh b/docker-testing/run_tests.sh
index e13316b6..b149bccb 100755
--- a/docker-testing/run_tests.sh
+++ b/docker-testing/run_tests.sh
@@ -5,5 +5,10 @@ cd "$DIR"
 ./recv_oneshot -h irods-provider -p 8888 -t 360
 REPO="$(realpath ./repo)"
 python -m pip install "$REPO[tests]"
-./iinit.py host irods-provider port 1247 user rods password rods zone tempZone 
-python $REPO/irods/test/runner.py
+./iinit.py \
+    host irods-provider \
+    port 1247 \
+    user rods \
+    password rods \
+    zone tempZone
+python "$REPO"/irods/test/runner.py
diff --git a/docker-testing/start_containers.sh b/docker-testing/start_containers.sh
index c90d2c10..f4ceef74 100755
--- a/docker-testing/start_containers.sh
+++ b/docker-testing/start_containers.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 DIR=$(dirname "$0")
 cd "${DIR}"
 echo "python_version=${1}" >.env
-echo "repo_external=$(realpath "${DIR}/repo")" >>.env
-docker-compose -f harness-docker-compose.yml up -d
+echo "repo_external=$(realpath ./repo)" >>.env
+docker-compose -f harness-docker-compose.yml up -d --build