diff --git a/app/build_containers.py b/app/build_containers.py
index f8edb0b3..c74df1e9 100644
--- a/app/build_containers.py
+++ b/app/build_containers.py
@@ -64,6 +64,13 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
     if verbose:
         print(f'Containers: {containers}')
 
+    # TODO: make this configurable
+    container_build_env = {
+        "CERC_NPM_URL": "http://gitea.local:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/",
+        "CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": os.environ["CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN"],
+        "CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR": dev_root_path
+    }
+
     def process_container(container):
         if not quiet:
             print(f"Building: {container}")
@@ -85,7 +92,7 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
         if not dry_run:
             if verbose:
                 print(f"Executing: {build_command}")
-            build_result = subprocess.run(build_command, shell=True, env={'CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR': dev_root_path})
+            build_result = subprocess.run(build_command, shell=True, env=container_build_env)
             # TODO: check result in build_result.returncode
             print(f"Result is: {build_result}")
         else:
diff --git a/app/build_npms.py b/app/build_npms.py
index 2bce43f3..e00c0734 100644
--- a/app/build_npms.py
+++ b/app/build_npms.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
         repo_dir = package
         repo_full_path = os.path.join(dev_root_path, repo_dir)
         # TODO: make the npm registry url configurable.
-        build_command = ["sh", "-c", "cd /workspace && build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh http://host.docker.internal:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/"]
+        build_command = ["sh", "-c", "cd /workspace && build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh http://gitea.local:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/"]
         if not dry_run:
             if verbose:
                 print(f"Executing: {build_command}")
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
                                       tty=True,
                                       user=f"{os.getuid()}:{os.getgid()}",
                                       envs=envs,
-                                      add_hosts=[("host.docker.internal", "host-gateway")],
+                                      add_hosts=[("gitea.local", "host-gateway")],
                                       volumes=[(repo_full_path, "/workspace")],
                                       command=build_command
                                       )
diff --git a/app/data/container-image-list.txt b/app/data/container-image-list.txt
index c697fe21..48d5bc04 100644
--- a/app/data/container-image-list.txt
+++ b/app/data/container-image-list.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ cerc/ipld-eth-beacon-db
 cerc/ipld-eth-beacon-indexer
 cerc/ipld-eth-server
 cerc/laconicd
-cerc/laconic-cns-cli
+cerc/laconic-registry-cli
 cerc/fixturenet-eth-geth
 cerc/fixturenet-eth-lighthouse
 cerc/watcher-mobymask
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/README.md b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/README.md
index da784efa..e77136f8 100644
--- a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/README.md
+++ b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/README.md
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ it is possible to build packages manually by invoking `docker run` , for example
 
 
 ```
-$ docker run --rm -it --add-host host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
+$ docker run --rm -it --add-host gitea.local:host-gateway \
   -v ${HOME}/cerc/laconic-registry-cli:/workspace cerc/builder-js  \
   sh -c 'cd /workspace && CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN=6613572a28ebebaee20ccd90064251fa8c2b94f6 \
-  build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh http://host.docker.internal:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/ 0.1.8'
+  build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh http://gitea.local:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/ 0.1.8'
 ```
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
index 89308bc8..9c9ac580 100755
--- a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
+++ b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ npm config set @cerc-io:registry ${local_npm_registry_url}
 npm config set -- ${local_npm_registry_url}:_authToken ${CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}
 # First check if the version of this package we're trying to build already exists in the registry
 package_exists=$( yarn info --json ${package_name}@${package_publish_version} | jq -r .data.dist.tarball )
-if [[ -n "$package_exists" ]]; then
+if [[ ! -z "$package_exists" && "$package_exists" != "null" ]]; then
     echo "${package_publish_version} of ${package_name} already exists in the registry, skipping build"
     exit 0
 fi
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/yarn-local-registry-fixup.sh b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/yarn-local-registry-fixup.sh
index e6d9b793..987fcbc2 100755
--- a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/yarn-local-registry-fixup.sh
+++ b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/yarn-local-registry-fixup.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ package_tarball=$(echo $yarn_info_output | jq -r .data.dist.tarball)
 # so we need to check if that has happened and fix the URL if so.
 if ! [[ "${package_tarball}" =~ ^${local_npm_registry_url}.* ]]; then
     # HACK: I've hard-wired the host names below. Replace with proper implementation
-    package_tarball=$( echo ${package_tarball} | sed -e 's/localhost/host.docker.internal/g' )
+    # TODO: remove the hack when proven no longer necessary
+    package_tarball=$( echo ${package_tarball} | sed -e 's/localhost/gitea.local/g' )
 fi
 package_integrity=$(echo $yarn_info_output | jq -r .data.dist.integrity)
 package_shasum=$(echo $yarn_info_output | jq -r .data.dist.shasum)
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-laconic-cns-cli/Dockerfile b/container-build/cerc-laconic-cns-cli/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index dab45c26..00000000
--- a/container-build/cerc-laconic-cns-cli/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-# TODO: move this into the cerc-io/laconic-sdk (aka client) repo
-FROM node:16.17.1-alpine3.16
-
-ARG NPM_AUTH_TOKEN
-WORKDIR /app
-
-COPY . .
-
-RUN echo //npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=$NPM_AUTH_TOKEN > ~/.npmrc
-
-RUN apk --update --no-cache add git && yarn && yarn build
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/app/bin/laconic"]
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-laconic-cns-cli/build.sh b/container-build/cerc-laconic-cns-cli/build.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index a4a8de41..00000000
--- a/container-build/cerc-laconic-cns-cli/build.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-# Build cerc/laconic-cns-cli
-
-# See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/246128/1701505
-SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
-
-docker build -t cerc/laconic-cns-cli:local -f ${SCRIPT_DIR}/Dockerfile --build-arg NPM_AUTH_TOKEN=$(NPM_AUTH_TOKEN) ${CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR}/laconic-cns-cli
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3341da79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# Originally from: https://github.com/devcontainers/images/blob/main/src/javascript-node/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+# [Choice] Node.js version (use -bullseye variants on local arm64/Apple Silicon): 18, 16, 14, 18-bullseye, 16-bullseye, 14-bullseye, 18-buster, 16-buster, 14-buster
+ARG VARIANT=16-bullseye
+FROM node:${VARIANT}
+
+ARG USERNAME=node
+ARG NPM_GLOBAL=/usr/local/share/npm-global
+
+# This container pulls npm packages from a local registry configured via these env vars
+ARG CERC_NPM_URL
+ARG CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN
+
+# Add NPM global to PATH.
+ENV PATH=${NPM_GLOBAL}/bin:${PATH}
+
+RUN \
+    # Configure global npm install location, use group to adapt to UID/GID changes
+    if ! cat /etc/group | grep -e "^npm:" > /dev/null 2>&1; then groupadd -r npm; fi \
+    && usermod -a -G npm ${USERNAME} \
+    && umask 0002 \
+    && mkdir -p ${NPM_GLOBAL} \
+    && touch /usr/local/etc/npmrc \
+    && chown ${USERNAME}:npm ${NPM_GLOBAL} /usr/local/etc/npmrc \
+    && chmod g+s ${NPM_GLOBAL} \
+    && npm config -g set prefix ${NPM_GLOBAL} \
+    && su ${USERNAME} -c "npm config -g set prefix ${NPM_GLOBAL}" \
+    # Install eslint
+    && su ${USERNAME} -c "umask 0002 && npm install -g eslint" \
+    && npm cache clean --force > /dev/null 2>&1
+
+# [Optional] Uncomment this section to install additional OS packages.
+RUN apt-get update && export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+    && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends jq
+
+# [Optional] Uncomment if you want to install an additional version of node using nvm
+# ARG EXTRA_NODE_VERSION=10
+# RUN su node -c "source /usr/local/share/nvm/nvm.sh && nvm install ${EXTRA_NODE_VERSION}"
+
+# [Optional] Uncomment if you want to install more global node modules
+# RUN su node -c "npm install -g <your-package-list-here>"
+
+# Configure the local npm registry
+RUN npm config set @lirewine:registry ${CERC_NPM_URL} \
+    && npm config set @cerc-io:registry ${CERC_NPM_URL} \
+    && npm config set @lirewine:registry ${CERC_NPM_URL} \
+    && npm config set -- ${CERC_NPM_URL}:_authToken ${CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}
+
+# TODO: the image at this point could be made a base image for several different CLI images
+# that install different Node-based CLI commands
+
+# DEBUG, remove
+RUN yarn info @cerc-io/laconic-registry-cli
+
+# Globally install the cli package
+RUN yarn global add @cerc-io/laconic-registry-cli
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["laconic"]
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..ea157dac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Build cerc/laconic-registry-cli
+
+# See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/246128/1701505
+SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
+
+docker build -t cerc/laconic-registry-cli:local -f ${SCRIPT_DIR}/Dockerfile \
+  --add-host gitea.local:host-gateway \
+  --build-arg CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN --build-arg CERC_NPM_URL ${SCRIPT_DIR}