diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 3783768c7e..25c2ae904f 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 **/Dockerfile
 /k8s/
 /docs/
+!/docs/docs/guides/installation/run/docker-compose.yaml
 /console/node_modules/
 /console/src/app/proto/generated/
 /console/tmp/
diff --git a/.goreleaser.yaml b/.goreleaser.yaml
index 0e652407c1..ce2fb8fe6a 100644
--- a/.goreleaser.yaml
+++ b/.goreleaser.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ release:
 before:
   hooks:
     - docker build -f build/grpc/Dockerfile -t zitadel-base:local .
+    - docker build -f build/zitadel/Dockerfile . -t zitadel-test-base --target go-test
     - docker build -f build/zitadel/Dockerfile . -t zitadel-go-test --target go-codecov -o .artifacts/codecov
     - docker build -f build/zitadel/Dockerfile . -t zitadel-go-base --target go-copy -o .artifacts/grpc/go-client
     - sh -c "cp -r .artifacts/grpc/go-client/* ."
diff --git a/build/e2e/Dockerfile b/build/e2e/Dockerfile
index e52b5d2461..3144476a3d 100644
--- a/build/e2e/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/e2e/Dockerfile
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
-ARG GO_VERSION=1.17
-
 #######################
 ##  run initialize setup step for ZITADEL tests
 #######################
-FROM golang:${GO_VERSION}
-WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/zitadel/zitadel
+FROM zitadel-test-base
+
+# Invalidate caches when only test code changes
+COPY ./docs/docs/guides/installation/run/docker-compose.yaml ./docs/docs/guides/installation/run/docker-compose.yaml
+COPY ./cmd/e2e-setup ./cmd/e2e-setup
+COPY ./e2e ./e2e
 
 # copy setup
-COPY . .
-RUN e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh
+CMD e2e/e2e-setup.sh
diff --git a/console/cypress.sh b/console/cypress.sh
index ac7046a935..4cd4a0228f 100755
--- a/console/cypress.sh
+++ b/console/cypress.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ shift
 
 export projectRoot=".."
 
-set -a; source $ENVFILE; set +a
+if [ -z ${ENVFILE:x} ]; then
+    echo "Not sourcing any env file"
+else
+    set -a; source $ENVFILE; set +a
+fi
 
 NPX=""
 if ! command -v cypress &> /dev/null; then
diff --git a/e2e/compose.env b/e2e/compose.env
index 72b76dd0f9..af809c8cf2 100644
--- a/e2e/compose.env
+++ b/e2e/compose.env
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ ZITADEL_E2E_LOGINPOLICYUSERPW=Password1!
 ZITADEL_E2E_MACHINEKEYPATH="${projectRoot}/.keys/e2e.json"
 ZITADEL_E2E_BASEURL="http://zitadel:8080"
 ZITADEL_E2E_OTHERZITADELIDPINSTANCE=false
-ZITADEL_E2E_ZITADELPROJECTRESOURCEID="bignumber-$(echo -n $(${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose.sh exec --no-TTY db cockroach sql --database zitadel --insecure --execute "select aggregate_id from eventstore.events where event_type = 'project.added' and event_data = '{\"name\": \"ZITADEL\"}';" --format tsv) | cut -d " " -f 2)"
-ZITADEL_E2E_INSTANCEID="$(echo -n $(${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose.sh exec --no-TTY db cockroach sql --database zitadel --insecure --execute "select aggregate_id from eventstore.events where event_type = 'instance.added' and event_data = '{\"name\": \"Localhost\"}';" --format tsv) | cut -d " " -f 2)"
+ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN=zitadel
+ZITADEL_S3DEFAULTINSTANCE_CUSTOMDOMAIN=zitadel
diff --git a/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml b/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml
index 9bbb966a66..ee5720c091 100644
--- a/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml
+++ b/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml
@@ -1,12 +1,37 @@
 services:
   zitadel:
     image: 'zitadel:${BUILD_DATE}'
+    environment:
+      # TODO: ugly
+      ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN: zitadel
+      ZITADEL_S3DEFAULTINSTANCE_CUSTOMDOMAIN: zitadel
+      
+  e2e-setup: 
+    command: ./e2e/e2e-setup.sh
+    build:
+      dockerfile: ./build/e2e/Dockerfile
+      context: ..
+    container_name: e2e-setup
+    env_file:
+    - ./compose.env
+    environment:
+      ZITADEL_DATABASE_HOST: db
+    depends_on:
+      zitadel:
+        condition: service_started
+    networks:
+      - 'zitadel'
+#       TODO: See PR #3816
+#       condition: 'service_healthy'
+
   e2e:
     image: cypress/included:10.3.0
     #build: ./e2e
     container_name: cypress
     depends_on:
-      - zitadel
+      e2e-setup:
+        condition: 'service_completed_successfully'
+    command: ./cypress.sh run
     # note: inside e2e container, the network allows accessing
     # "zitadel" host under name "zitadel"
     # so "curl http://web" would return whatever the webserver
@@ -25,5 +50,6 @@ services:
     #     rebuild required).
     working_dir: /e2e
     volumes:
-      - /Users/christianjakob/caos/internal/zitadel/console:/e2e
-#      - ./console/cypress.config.js:/e2e/cypress.config.js
+      - ./console:/e2e
+    networks:
+      - 'zitadel'
diff --git a/e2e/docker-compose-workdir.yaml b/e2e/docker-compose-workdir.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66457347f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/docker-compose-workdir.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# By using this file as first --file argument to docker compose, compose uses this directory as working directory
+
+version: '3.8'
+
+
diff --git a/e2e/docker-compose.sh b/e2e/docker-compose.sh
index 5756d70678..dc43755c9f 100755
--- a/e2e/docker-compose.sh
+++ b/e2e/docker-compose.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-COMPOSE_DOCKER_CLI_BUILD=1 docker compose --file ${projectRoot}/docs/docs/guides/installation/run/docker-compose.yaml --file ${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml "$@"
+COMPOSE_DOCKER_CLI_BUILD=1 docker compose --file ${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose-workdir.yaml --file ${projectRoot}/docs/docs/guides/installation/run/docker-compose.yaml --file ${projectRoot}/e2e/docker-compose-overwrite.yaml --env-file ${projectRoot}/e2e/compose.env "$@"
diff --git a/e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh b/e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 63ed3a3ced..0000000000
--- a/e2e/e2e-setup-compose.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -ex
-
-export projectRoot="."
-
-set -a
-source ./e2e/compose.env
-set +a
-
-go run ./cmd/e2e-setup/*.go "$@"
diff --git a/e2e/e2e-setup.sh b/e2e/e2e-setup.sh
index 87424d89ae..2573f32d88 100755
--- a/e2e/e2e-setup.sh
+++ b/e2e/e2e-setup.sh
@@ -4,8 +4,14 @@ set -ex
 
 export projectRoot="."
 
-set -a
-source ./e2e/local.env
-set +a
+ENVFILE=$1
+
+if [ -z ${ENVFILE:x} ]; then
+    echo "Not sourcing any env file"
+else
+    set -a; source $ENVFILE; set +a
+fi
+
+env
 
 go run ./cmd/e2e-setup/*.go "$@"
diff --git a/e2e/install.sh b/e2e/install.sh
index 827f7ad757..5fb83446f0 100755
--- a/e2e/install.sh
+++ b/e2e/install.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# TODO: ONLY BUILD HERE AND PRINT BUILT IMAGE TO STDOUT?
+
 set -e
 
 export projectRoot="."