diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index d2d40f91e..b52ee6182 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -14,11 +14,16 @@ variables:
   # TODO: old vars; review and maybe remove
   AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE: "/etc/aws/credentials"
   TRANSFER_METER_FREQUENCY: "2s"
+  CONTAINER_REGISTRY: registry.uniworx.de/fradrive/fradrive/
 
 
 default:
   image:
-    name: registry.uniworx.de/fradrive/fradrive/debian-podman:latest
+    name: registry.uniworx.de/uniworx/containers/debian:12.5
+    entrypoint: [""]
+    docker:
+      platform: x86_64
+  #   name: registry.uniworx.de/fradrive/fradrive/debian-podman:latest
     # name: registry.uniworx.de/fradrive/fradrive/docker:dind
   #   name: registry.uniworx.de/fradrive/fradrive/fradrive-env:latest # Debian 12.5 Bookworm
   #   entrypoint: [""]
@@ -37,22 +42,63 @@ default:
 
 
 stages:
-  - build images
+  - containers
   - compile
   - lint
   - test
-  - push images
   - release # TODO
 
+# TODO: apply rules:changes for image jobs to only execute jobs when Dockerfiles change
+
 frontend image:
-  stage: build images
+  stage: containers
+  image: &buildah quay.io/buildah/stable:latest
   script:
-  # TODO: define make target for this?
-    - make -- --docker-build-frontend-build FRADRIVE_SERVICE=frontend CONTAINER_RUNNER=podman-compose
-    - podman image save frontend | gzip > docker/frontend/image.tar.gz
-  artifacts:
-    paths:
-      - docker/frontend/image.tar.gz
+    - buildah bud -t frontend docker/frontend/Dockerfile
+    - buildah push frontend $CONTAINER_REGISTRY/frontend
+    # - make -- --docker-build-frontend-build FRADRIVE_SERVICE=frontend CONTAINER_RUNNER=podman-compose
+  #   # - podman image save frontend | gzip > docker/frontend/image.tar.gz
+  # artifacts:
+  #   paths:
+  #     - docker/frontend/image.tar.gz
+
+# push frontend image:
+#   stage: containers
+#   needs:
+#     - job: build frontend image
+#       artifacts: true
+#   image: quay.io/skopeo/stable:latest
+#   script:
+#     - skopeo --insecure-policy copy --dest-creds "${CI_REGISTRY_USER}:${CI_JOB_TOKEN}" docker-archive://$(pwd)/docker/frontend/image.tar.gz docker://${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}:${VERSION}
+#     - skopeo --insecure-policy copy --src-creds "${CI_REGISTRY_USER}:${CI_JOB_TOKEN}" --dest-creds "${CI_REGISTRY_USER}:${CI_JOB_TOKEN}" docker://${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}:${VERSION} docker://${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}:latest
+#     #- *load-frontend-image
+#     # - docker image tag 
+#     - podman push frontend
+# #   variables:
+# #     GIT_STRATEGY: none
+
+backend image:
+  stage: containers
+  image: *buildah
+  script:
+    - buildah bud -t backend docker/backend/Dockerfile
+    - buildah push backend $CONTAINER_REGISTRY/backend
+  # script:
+  #   - make -- --docker-build-backend-build FRADRIVE_SERVICE=backend CONTAINER_RUNNER=podman-compose
+  #   - podman image save backend | gzip > docker/backend/image.tar.gz
+  # artifacts:
+  #   paths:
+  #     - docker/backend/image.tar.gz
+
+# push backend image:
+#   stage: containers
+#   needs:
+#     - job: backend image
+#       artifacts: true
+#   script:
+#     - *load-backend-image
+#     - podman push backend
+
 
 frontend build:
   stage: compile
@@ -96,30 +142,6 @@ frontend test:
 
   cache: *frontend-cache
 
-push frontend image:
-  stage: push images
-  needs:
-    - job: frontend image
-      artifacts: true
-    - job: frontend build
-      artifacts: false
-    - job: frontend test
-      artifacts: false
-  script:
-    - *load-frontend-image
-    # - docker image tag 
-    - podman push frontend
-
-backend image:
-  stage: build images
-  script:
-  # TODO: define make target for this?
-    - make -- --docker-build-backend-build FRADRIVE_SERVICE=backend CONTAINER_RUNNER=podman-compose
-    - podman image save backend | gzip > docker/backend/image.tar.gz
-  artifacts:
-    paths:
-      - docker/backend/image.tar.gz
-
 backend build:
   stage: compile
   needs:
@@ -158,19 +180,6 @@ backend test:
     - make -- --docker-run-backend-test FRADRIVE_SERVICE=backend CONTAINER_RUNNER=podman-compose
   cache: *backend-cache
 
-push backend image:
-  stage: push images
-  needs:
-    - job: backend image
-      artifacts: true
-    - job: backend build
-      artifacts: false
-    - job: backend test
-      artifacts: false
-  script:
-    - *load-backend-image
-    - podman push backend
-
 # frontend dependencies:
 #   stage: setup
 #   cache: