diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 47fa8e148..bc9a6d711 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
 
 ### Dev Stage
-FROM openmrs/openmrs-core:dev as dev
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM openmrs/openmrs-core:dev as dev
 WORKDIR /openmrs_distro
 
 ARG MVN_ARGS_SETTINGS="-s /usr/share/maven/ref/settings-docker.xml -U"
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ RUN mvn $MVN_ARGS_SETTINGS clean
 
 ### Run Stage
 # Replace 'nightly' with the exact version of openmrs-core built for production (if available)
-FROM openmrs/openmrs-core:nightly
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM openmrs/openmrs-core:nightly
 
 # Do not copy the war if using the correct openmrs-core image version
 COPY --from=dev /openmrs/distribution/openmrs_core/openmrs.war /openmrs/distribution/openmrs_core/
diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
index afbe7e8ae..aaef7c97f 100644
--- a/frontend/Dockerfile
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.3
-FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM node:18-alpine as dev
-
+ARG NODE_VERSION=18
 ARG APP_SHELL_VERSION=next
 
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM node:${NODE_VERSION}-alpine as dev
+
 RUN mkdir -p /app
 WORKDIR /app
 
@@ -11,23 +12,38 @@ COPY spa-build-config.json .
 ARG CACHE_BUST
 RUN npx --legacy-peer-deps openmrs@${APP_SHELL_VERSION:-next} assemble --manifest --mode config --config spa-build-config.json --target ./spa
 RUN npx --legacy-peer-deps openmrs@${APP_SHELL_VERSION:-next} build --build-config spa-build-config.json --target ./spa
-RUN if [ ! -f ./spa/index.html ]; then echo 'Build failed. Please check the logs above for details. This may have happened because of an update to a library that OpenMRS depends on.'; exit 1; fi
+RUN if [ ! -f ./spa/index.html ]; then echo 'Build failed. Please check the logs above for details. This may have happened because of an update to a library that OpenMRS depends on.' >&2 ; exit 1; fi
 
-FROM nginx:1.25-alpine
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM nginx:1.25-alpine
 
 RUN apk update && \
     apk upgrade && \
     # add more utils for sponge to support our startup script
-    apk add --no-cache moreutils
+    apk add --no-cache moreutils perl-utils
 
 # clear any default files installed by nginx
 RUN rm -rf /usr/share/nginx/html/*
 
+ENV APP_SHELL_VERSION ${APP_SHELL_VERSION:-next}
+
+# the default nginx image doesn't have Node or NPM, so we copy it from the dev image
+COPY --from=dev /usr/lib /usr/lib
+COPY --from=dev /usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib
+COPY --from=dev /usr/local/include /usr/local/include
+COPY --from=dev /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin
+
 COPY startup.sh /usr/local/bin/startup.sh
 RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/startup.sh
 
 COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
 
+# allow updating by overwriting spa-build-config.json
+RUN mkdir -p /openmrs
+COPY --from=dev /app/spa-build-config.json /openmrs/spa-build-config.json
+WORKDIR /openmrs
+RUN shasum -a 512 spa-build-config.json | tee spa-build-config.json.sha512sum
+WORKDIR /
+
 COPY --from=dev /app/spa /usr/share/nginx/html
 
 CMD ["/usr/local/bin/startup.sh"]
diff --git a/frontend/startup.sh b/frontend/startup.sh
index 7d170e4cf..98f1b35e6 100644
--- a/frontend/startup.sh
+++ b/frontend/startup.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,32 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
 
+rebuild_frontend() {
+  npx --legacy-peer-deps openmrs@${APP_SHELL_VERSION:-next} assemble --manifest --mode config --config spa-build-config.json --target ./spa
+  npx --legacy-peer-deps openmrs@${APP_SHELL_VERSION:-next} build --build-config spa-build-config.json --target ./spa
+  # we exit 0 below so that build failures do not stop the image
+  if [ ! -f ./spa/index.html ]; then echo 'Rebuild failed. Please check the logs above for details. This may have happened because of an update to a library that OpenMRS depends on.' >&2; popd; exit 0; fi
+  shasum -a 512 spa-build-config.json > spa-build-config.json.sha512sum
+
+  rm -rf /usr/share/nginx/html/*
+  cp -r spa/* /usr/share/nginx/html
+}
+
+if [ -d "/openmrs" ]; then
+  if [ -f "/openmrs/spa-build-config.json" ]; then
+    if [ -f "/openmrs/spa-build-config.json.sha512sum" ]; then
+      cd "/openmrs"
+      shasum -a 512 -c /openmrs/spa-build-config.json.sha512sum > /dev/null || {
+        echo "Checksum mismatch. Rebuilding frontend..."
+        rebuild_frontend
+      }
+    else
+      echo "Checksum file not found. Rebuilding frontend..."
+      rebuild_frontend
+    fi
+  fi
+fi
+
 # if we are using the $IMPORTMAP_URL environment variable, we have to make this useful,
 # so we change "importmap.json" into "$IMPORTMAP_URL" allowing it to be changed by envsubst
 if [ -n "${IMPORTMAP_URL}" ]; then
diff --git a/gateway/Dockerfile b/gateway/Dockerfile
index 3cf1bc00e..7e137ad34 100644
--- a/gateway/Dockerfile
+++ b/gateway/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.3
-FROM nginx:1.25-alpine
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM nginx:1.25-alpine
 
 ENV FRAME_ANCESTORS ""