diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-build-images.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-build-images.yaml
index a0f20fd..da4e0bf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-build-images.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-build-images.yaml
@@ -11,9 +11,39 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/define-build-linux-image.yaml
     secrets: inherit
 
-  push:
+  test-linux:
     needs: [build-linux]
     runs-on: [self-hosted, linux]
+    steps:
+    - name: lowercase github.repository
+      run: |
+        echo "IMAGE_NAME=`echo ${{github.repository}} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'`" >>${GITHUB_ENV}
+    - name: Download cached docker image
+      run: |
+        curl -X GET http://192.168.0.11:25000/attachments/gha-runner/1/image_ubuntu.tar -o /tmp/image_ubuntu.tar
+    - name: Load image
+      run: |
+        docker load --input /tmp/image_ubuntu.tar
+    - name: Run container with tests
+      if: failure()
+      run: |
+        docker run --name gha-runner --runtime sysbox-runc -e TEST_ONLY_RUN=yes -e REPO=Ableytner/docker-github-actions-runner -e TOKEN=XXXX ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:latest-ubuntu
+        if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
+          echo "tests failed!"
+          exit 1
+        fi
+    - name: Print out server container logs
+      if: failure()
+      run: |
+        docker logs gha-runner
+    - name: Stop and delete server container
+      if: always()
+      run: |
+        docker rm -f gha-runner
+
+  push:
+    needs: [test-linux]
+    runs-on: [self-hosted, linux]
     permissions:
       contents: read
       packages: write
diff --git a/linux/Dockerfile b/linux/Dockerfile
index 9bfa6e3..f3c6e3d 100644
--- a/linux/Dockerfile
+++ b/linux/Dockerfile
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ ARG RUNNER_VERSION="2.330.0" \
   DOCKER_VERSION="29.1.3" \
   BUILDX_VERSION="0.30.1" \
   COMPOSE_VERSION="2.40.3" \
+  SYSBOX_VERSION="0.6.7" \
   ARCH="amd64" \
   INSTRUCTION_SET="x64"
 
@@ -41,6 +42,9 @@ RUN apt-get update \
   unzip \
   wget
 
+# install systemd alternative
+RUN wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gdraheim/docker-systemctl-replacement/master/files/docker/systemctl3.py -O /usr/local/bin/systemctl
+
 # install gh cli
 RUN curl -L -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" https://api.github.com/repos/cli/cli/releases/latest \
   | jq -r '.tag_name' \
@@ -63,6 +67,7 @@ RUN mkdir -p /home/runner/tmp \
   && curl -L ${BASE_URL}/docker-ce-cli_${DOCKER_VERSION}-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy_${ARCH}.deb -o ./docker-ce-cli.deb \
   && curl -L ${BASE_URL}/docker-buildx-plugin_${BUILDX_VERSION}-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy_${ARCH}.deb -o ./docker-buildx-plugin.deb \
   && curl -L ${BASE_URL}/docker-compose-plugin_${COMPOSE_VERSION}-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy_${ARCH}.deb -o ./docker-compose-plugin.deb \
+  && curl -L https://downloads.nestybox.com/sysbox/releases/v${SYSBOX_VERSION}/sysbox-ce_${SYSBOX_VERSION}-0.linux_amd64.deb -o ./sysbox.deb \
   && apt-get install -y $(ls *.deb | sed -e "s/^/.\//") \
   && rm $(ls *.deb) \
   && sed -i 's/ulimit -Hn/# ulimit -Hn/g' /etc/init.d/docker \
diff --git a/linux/scripts/entrypoint.sh b/linux/scripts/entrypoint.sh
index 0d29111..565dde7 100644
--- a/linux/scripts/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/linux/scripts/entrypoint.sh
@@ -26,10 +26,17 @@ if [[ "$(service docker status)" == *"Docker is running"* ]]; then
     echo "Done!"
 else
     echo "Docker didn't start, status is:"
-    echo $(service docker status)
+    service docker status
     exit 1
 fi
 
+# [RUN TESTS]
+if [[ -v TEST_ONLY_RUN ]]; then
+    /run-tests.sh
+    echo "all tests succeeded!"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 # [START]
 
 echo "Registering runner..."
diff --git a/linux/scripts/run-tests.sh b/linux/scripts/run-tests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c764b92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/linux/scripts/run-tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -o nounset  # exit if unset variable is used
+set -e          # exit on command error
+
+docker container ls
+container_id=$(docker run -d hello-world)
+echo $container_id
+docker logs $container_id
+docker rm $container_id
+docker container ls