diff --git a/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests.yml
index 8e8ec9d2f..e1cc28841 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ on:
     branches:
       - 'develop'
 
+env:
+  MIZU_CI_IMAGE: mizu/ci:0.0
+
 jobs:
   run-acceptance-tests:
     name: Run acceptance tests
@@ -21,6 +24,19 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check out code into the Go module directory
         uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
+      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1
+
+      - name: Build
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        with:
+          context: .
+          push: false
+          load: true
+          tags: ${{ env.MIZU_CI_IMAGE }}
+          cache-from: type=gha
+          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
+
       - name: Setup acceptance test
         run: ./acceptanceTests/setup.sh
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests_on_pr.yml b/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests_on_pr.yml
index 8fc357fba..d9ee4da0e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests_on_pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/acceptance_tests_on_pr.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ name: Acceptance tests on PR
 
 on: push
 
+env:
+  MIZU_CI_IMAGE: mizu/ci:0.0
+
 concurrency:
   group: acceptance-tests-on-pr-${{ github.ref }}
   cancel-in-progress: true
@@ -21,6 +24,19 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check out code into the Go module directory
         uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
+      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1
+
+      - name: Build
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        with:
+          context: .
+          push: false
+          load: true
+          tags: ${{ env.MIZU_CI_IMAGE }}
+          cache-from: type=gha
+          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
+
       - name: Setup acceptance test
         run: ./acceptanceTests/setup.sh
 
diff --git a/acceptanceTests/setup.sh b/acceptanceTests/setup.sh
index 3cec12efb..ef1836087 100755
--- a/acceptanceTests/setup.sh
+++ b/acceptanceTests/setup.sh
@@ -57,11 +57,16 @@ kubectl expose deployment rabbitmq --type=LoadBalancer --port=5672 -n mizu-tests
 echo "Starting proxy"
 kubectl proxy --port=8080 &
 
-echo "Setting minikube docker env"
-eval $(minikube docker-env)
+if [[ -z "${CI}" ]]; then
+  echo "Setting env var of mizu ci image"
+  export MIZU_CI_IMAGE="mizu/ci:0.0"
+  echo "Build agent image"
+  docker build -t "${MIZU_CI_IMAGE}" .
+else
+  echo "not building docker image in CI because it is created as separate step"
+fi
 
-echo "Build agent image"
-docker build -t mizu/ci:0.0 .
+minikube image load "${MIZU_CI_IMAGE}"
 
 echo "Build cli"
 cd cli && make build GIT_BRANCH=ci SUFFIX=ci
diff --git a/acceptanceTests/testsUtils.go b/acceptanceTests/testsUtils.go
index 8a1885369..245ccc201 100644
--- a/acceptanceTests/testsUtils.go
+++ b/acceptanceTests/testsUtils.go
@@ -212,9 +212,10 @@ func DeleteKubeFile(kubeContext string, namespace string, filename string) error
 }
 
 func getDefaultCommandArgs() []string {
+	agentImageValue := os.Getenv("MIZU_CI_IMAGE")
 	setFlag := "--set"
 	telemetry := "telemetry=false"
-	agentImage := "agent-image=mizu/ci:0.0"
+	agentImage := fmt.Sprintf("agent-image=%s", agentImageValue)
 	imagePullPolicy := "image-pull-policy=IfNotPresent"
 	headless := "headless=true"