diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 6ee947e85..e99bce2e4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -34,8 +34,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           go-version-file: 'go.mod'
       
-      - run: go mod download
-      
       - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v3
         id: filter
         with:
@@ -62,10 +60,9 @@ jobs:
         env:
           DOCKER_DEV_CI_MODE: 1
           DOCKER_QUIET_BUILD: 1
-        run: |
-          DOCKER_DEV_RUN_OPTS="-v ~/go/pkg/mod/:/project/pkg/mod/"
+        run: |          
           DOCKER_BUILD_OPTS="--build-arg UBUNTU_VERSION=${{ matrix.os-version }} --build-arg UBUNTU_NAME=${{ matrix.os-name }}" \
-          make -C utils/docker run-dev DOCKER_DEV_OPTIONAL_CMD='env IS_CI_RUNNING=true \
+          make -C utils/docker run-dev PACKAGE_MOUNT='-v ~/go/pkg/mod/:/project/pkg/mod/' DOCKER_DEV_OPTIONAL_CMD='env IS_CI_RUNNING=true \
                                                                 make all'
       #
       # continue only if we push to main and rebuild docker images
diff --git a/utils/docker/Makefile b/utils/docker/Makefile
index fa44db6b7..fb54ab555 100644
--- a/utils/docker/Makefile
+++ b/utils/docker/Makefile
@@ -78,11 +78,15 @@ endif
 # allows to override with `buildx build`
 DOCKER_BUILD_CMD ?= build
 
+# allows docker to look for packages mounted on the host
+PACKAGE_MOUNT ?=
 
 # Docker run options
 # ------------------
 DOCKER_DEV_RUN_OPTS ?=
 DOCKER_DEV_RUN_OPTS += --rm
+# - mount local packages from the host to activate caching
+DOCKER_DEV_RUN_OPTS += $(PACKAGE_MOUNT)
 # - import docker daemon socket (so dev container can run docker)
 DOCKER_DEV_RUN_OPTS += -v "$(DOCKER_DAEMON_SOCKET)":"$(DOCKER_SOCKET)"
 # - mount local fpc repo into the dev container so development inside container is