diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yaml b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
index 2ae8ce5ff..ea2f418b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
@@ -119,14 +119,6 @@ jobs:
           outputs: type=docker,dest=${{ github.workspace }}/flagd-local.tar
           tags: flagd-local:test
 
-      - name: Load & run flagd image
-        run: |
-          docker load --input ${{ github.workspace }}/flagd-local.tar
-          docker run -d -p 8013:8013 -v ${{ github.workspace }}/test-harness/testing-flags.json:/testing-flags.json flagd-local:test start -f file:/testing-flags.json
-
-      - name: Integration tests
-        run: make integration-test
-
       - name: Run Trivy vulnerability scanner
         uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@master
         with:
@@ -140,3 +132,26 @@ jobs:
         uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@17573ee1cc1b9d061760f3a006fc4aac4f944fd5 # v2
         with:
           sarif_file: "trivy-results.sarif"
+
+  integration-test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@ac593985615ec2ede58e132d2e21d2b1cbd6127c # v3
+        with:
+          submodules: recursive
+
+      - name: Setup go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@6edd4406fa81c3da01a34fa6f6343087c207a568 # v3
+        with:
+          go-version: ${{ env.GO_VERSION }}
+
+      - name: Build flagd binary
+        run: make build
+
+      - name: Run flagd binary in background
+        run: ./flagd start -f file:${{ github.workspace }}/test-harness/symlink_testing-flags.json &
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: make integration-test
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5aa56cdc1..6e97011ed 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ build:
 	go build -ldflags "-X main.version=dev -X main.commit=$$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) -X main.date=$$(date +%FT%TZ)" -o flagd
 test:
 	go test -race -covermode=atomic -cover -short ./pkg/... -coverprofile=coverage.out
-integration-test: # dependent on: docker run -p 8013:8013 -v $PWD/test-harness/testing-flags.json:/testing-flags.json ghcr.io/open-feature/flagd:latest start -f file:/testing-flags.json
+integration-test: # dependent on: ./flagd start -f file:test-harness/symlink_testing-flags.json
 	go test -cover ./tests/integration $(ARGS)
 	cd test-harness; git restore testing-flags.json # reset testing-flags.json
 run:
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index f59030e3f..f7e8eb40b 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/golang/mock v1.6.0
 	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.13
 	github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/providers/flagd v0.1.7
-	github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/tests/flagd v1.1.0
+	github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/tests/flagd v1.2.0
 	github.com/open-feature/open-feature-operator v0.2.28
 	github.com/open-feature/schemas v0.2.8
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.14.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 946ae7cc6..85361d209 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -319,6 +319,8 @@ github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/providers/flagd v0.1.7 h1:0s8reX/EfCNV37P
 github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/providers/flagd v0.1.7/go.mod h1:dHB0hsYykZ1Un+CdnWErqLqUQswUADIvDg2VwDLx7gs=
 github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/tests/flagd v1.1.0 h1:lM+7hfFVwUxQPOyJ9rXn2UR4sCAfOQJKtCU29pU/B+4=
 github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/tests/flagd v1.1.0/go.mod h1:zw/xpuDy9ziBEKVA1t4VoQtzFc80btAAQCiZkX6y9oQ=
+github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/tests/flagd v1.2.0 h1:PBCaJIK6fb5+27m+yBEmjIkLRJ+yZx72mHjcrcy73+Y=
+github.com/open-feature/go-sdk-contrib/tests/flagd v1.2.0/go.mod h1:zw/xpuDy9ziBEKVA1t4VoQtzFc80btAAQCiZkX6y9oQ=
 github.com/open-feature/open-feature-operator v0.2.28 h1:qzzVq8v9G7aXO7luocO/wQCGnTJjtcQh75mDOqjnFxo=
 github.com/open-feature/open-feature-operator v0.2.28/go.mod h1:bQncVK7hvhj5QStPwexxQ1aArPwox2Y1vWrVei/qIFg=
 github.com/open-feature/schemas v0.2.8 h1:oA75hJXpOd9SFgmNI2IAxWZkwzQPUDm7Jyyh3q489wM=
diff --git a/test-harness b/test-harness
index 6660aa3e1..b59af3d55 160000
--- a/test-harness
+++ b/test-harness
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 6660aa3e11a4da38d0a66f8920ad674599a3b681
+Subproject commit b59af3d554781c35d75433167c6948f62c458953
diff --git a/tests/integration/README.md b/tests/integration/README.md
index 3a7069552..9d8394224 100644
--- a/tests/integration/README.md
+++ b/tests/integration/README.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ make build
 ```
 then run the `flagd` binary
 ```
-./flagd start -f file:test-harness/testing-flags.json
+./flagd start -f file:test-harness/symlink_testing-flags.json
 ```
 and finally run
 ```
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ make build
 ```
 then run the `flagd` binary with tls configuration
 ```
-./flagd start -f file:test-harness/testing-flags.json -c ./localhost.crt -k ./localhost.key
+./flagd start -f file:test-harness/symlink_testing-flags.json -c ./localhost.crt -k ./localhost.key
 ```
 finally, either run the tests with an explicit path to the certificate:
 ```
diff --git a/tests/integration/caching_test.go b/tests/integration/caching_test.go
index e843ad354..029f4e2c8 100644
--- a/tests/integration/caching_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/caching_test.go
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cucumber/godog"
 )
 
-const flagConfigurationPath = "../../test-harness/testing-flags.json"
+const (
+	flagConfigurationPath           = "../../test-harness/symlink_testing-flags.json"
+	flagConfigurationTargetFilePath = "../../test-harness/testing-flags.json"
+	flagConfigurationMutatedPath    = "../../test-harness/mutated-testing-flags.json"
+)
 
 func TestCaching(t *testing.T) {
 	if testing.Short() {
@@ -27,7 +31,8 @@ func TestCaching(t *testing.T) {
 		providerOptions = []flagd.ProviderOption{flagd.WithTLS(certPath)}
 	}
 
-	initializeCachingScenario, err := integration.InitializeCachingScenario(flagConfigurationPath, providerOptions...)
+	initializeCachingScenario, err := integration.InitializeCachingScenario(
+		flagConfigurationTargetFilePath, flagConfigurationPath, flagConfigurationMutatedPath, providerOptions...)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}