diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c64ba84133..a706e7ed2a 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ image-build-builder/ubuntu/bionic:
 image-build-tests-runner:
   extends: .image-build
 
+image-build-boardfarm-ci:
+  extends: .image-build
+
 .in-prplmesh-builder:
   image:
     name: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/prplmesh-builder-ubuntu-bionic:$CI_PIPELINE_ID
@@ -213,6 +216,21 @@ run-tests:
     - job: image-build-tests-runner
     - job: image-build-runner
 
+boardfarm-tests:
+  stage: test
+  image: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/prplmesh-boardfarm-ci:$CI_PIPELINE_ID
+  script:
+    - export USER=''
+    - tests/run_bf.sh
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - logs
+      - results
+  needs:
+    - job: build-in-docker
+  tags:
+    - boardfarm
+
 .build-for-openwrt:
   stage: build
   script:
diff --git a/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_base.py b/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_base.py
index 227e8cd27b..700c5c2863 100644
--- a/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_base.py
+++ b/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_base.py
@@ -8,14 +8,23 @@
 from boardfarm.devices import linux
 
 
+class CommandError(Exception):
+    """Raised on failed execution"""
+    pass
+
+
 class PrplMeshBase(linux.LinuxDevice):
     """PrplMesh abstract device."""
 
     def _run_shell_cmd(self, cmd: str = "", args: list = None, timeout: int = 30):
         """Wrapper that executes command with specified args on host machine and logs output."""
 
-        res = pexpect.run(cmd, args=args, timeout=timeout, encoding="utf-8")
+        res, exitstatus = pexpect.run(cmd, args=args, timeout=timeout, encoding="utf-8",
+                                      withexitstatus=1)
         entry = " ".join((cmd, " ".join(args)))
+        if exitstatus != 0:
+            raise CommandError("Error executing {}:\n{}".format(entry, res))
+
         self.log_calls += entry
         self.log += "$ " + entry + "\r\n" + res
 
diff --git a/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_docker.py b/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_docker.py
index ae46897104..7e890c800d 100644
--- a/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_docker.py
+++ b/tests/boardfarm_plugins/boardfarm_prplmesh/devices/prplmesh_docker.py
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ def check_status(self):
         It is used by boardfarm to indicate that spawned device instance is ready for test
         and also after test - to insure that device still operational.
         """
-        self._run_shell_cmd(os.path.join(rootdir, "tools", "docker", "test.sh"),
-                            ["-v", "-n", self.name])
+        self._run_shell_cmd("printf",
+                            ["device_get_info", "|", "nc", "-w", "1", "controller-rme", "8002"])
 
     def isalive(self):
         """Method required by boardfarm.
diff --git a/tests/run_bf.sh b/tests/run_bf.sh
index 8c71953b2f..0dbbea4d12 100755
--- a/tests/run_bf.sh
+++ b/tests/run_bf.sh
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ else
 fi
 export PYTHONPATH
 
-exec python3 "${bf_dir}"/bft -c "${bf_plugins_dir}"/boardfarm_prplmesh/prplmesh_config.json -n prplmesh_docker -x test_flows
+exec bft -c "${bf_plugins_dir}"/boardfarm_prplmesh/prplmesh_config.json -n prplmesh_docker -x test_flows
diff --git a/tools/docker/boardfarm-ci/Dockerfile b/tools/docker/boardfarm-ci/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..67fd3ed294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/docker/boardfarm-ci/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+FROM python:3.8-slim-buster
+
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    apt-transport-https \
+    ca-certificates curl \
+    curl \
+    gcc \
+    git \
+    gnupg \
+    gnupg-agent \
+    libsnmp-dev \
+    netcat \
+    software-properties-common \
+    wireshark-common \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+COPY requirements.txt /app/requirements.txt
+
+WORKDIR app
+RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+
+# TODO: what needs this?
+#RUN pip3 install jsonschema distro
+
+
+RUN curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | apt-key add -
+RUN add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    docker-ce \
+    docker-ce-cli \
+    containerd.io \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.26.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
+RUN chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
+
+RUN git clone https://github.com/mattsm/boardfarm.git \
+    && cd boardfarm \
+    && git checkout 100521fde1fb67536682cafecc2f91a6e2e8a6f8 \
+    && python3 setup.py install
diff --git a/tools/docker/boardfarm-ci/requirements.txt b/tools/docker/boardfarm-ci/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aaaea868c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/docker/boardfarm-ci/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+aenum
+argparse
+beautifulsoup4
+boto3
+cdrouter
+debtcollector
+distro
+dlipower
+dnspython
+docutils<0.16
+easysnmp
+elasticsearch>=1.0.0
+Faker
+future
+ipaddress
+jira
+jsonschema
+marshmallow<3
+matplotlib
+nested_lookup==0.2.19
+netaddr
+pexpect
+pre-commit
+psutil
+pycountry
+pycryptodome
+pyflakes
+pymongo
+pyserial
+pysmi
+pysnmp
+pytest==5.3.5
+pytest-html
+pytest-mock
+pytest-randomly
+pyvirtualdisplay
+requests
+retry
+selenium
+simplejson
+six
+sphinx
+termcolor
+unittest2
+xmltodict
+xvfbwrapper
+yapf
+zeep