diff --git a/app/build_npms.py b/app/build_npms.py
index 83f87ede..877916be 100644
--- a/app/build_npms.py
+++ b/app/build_npms.py
@@ -116,7 +116,11 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
         if not dry_run:
             if verbose:
                 print(f"Executing: {build_command}")
-            envs = {"CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": npm_registry_url_token} | ({"CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG": "true"} if debug else {})
+            # Originally we used the PEP 584 merge operator:
+            # envs = {"CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": npm_registry_url_token} | ({"CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG": "true"} if debug else {})
+            # but that isn't available in Python 3.8 (default in Ubuntu 20) so for now we use dict.update:
+            envs = {"CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": npm_registry_url_token}
+            envs.update({"CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG": "true"} if debug else {})
             try:
                 docker.run(builder_js_image_name,
                            remove=True,
diff --git a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/Dockerfile b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/Dockerfile
index 9f460375..9a1cf680 100644
--- a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/Dockerfile
+++ b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/Dockerfile
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ RUN mkdir /scripts
 COPY build-npm-package.sh /scripts
 COPY yarn-local-registry-fixup.sh /scripts
 COPY build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh /scripts
+COPY fixup-for-uid.sh /scripts
 ENV PATH="${PATH}:/scripts"
 
 COPY entrypoint.sh .
diff --git a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/entrypoint.sh b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/entrypoint.sh
index 311cb8cb..cfbce454 100755
--- a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/entrypoint.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+/scripts/fixup-for-uid.sh
 exec "$@"
diff --git a/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/fixup-for-uid.sh b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/fixup-for-uid.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..04089d08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/data/container-build/cerc-builder-js/fixup-for-uid.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Make the container usable for uid/gid != 1000
+if [[ -n "$CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG" ]]; then
+    set -x
+fi
+current_uid=$(id -u)
+current_gid=$(id -g)
+user_name="hostuser"
+# First check the current uid. If == 1000 then exit, nothing needed because that uid already exists
+if [[ ${current_uid} == 1000 ]]; then
+    exit 0
+fi
+# Also exit for root
+if [[ ${current_uid} == 0 ]]; then
+    exit 0
+fi
+# Create the user with home dir
+useradd -m -d /home/${user_name} -s /bin/bash -g ${current_gid} -u ${current_uid} ${user_name}