diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e10472
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# only used for bat-test.dockerfile
+
+*
+!/syntaxes/
+!/tests/docker/*regression.sh
+!/tests/source
diff --git a/tests/docker/bat-server.compose.yaml b/tests/docker/bat-server.compose.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index a15ef78..0000000
--- a/tests/docker/bat-server.compose.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-# usage: better run the regression scripts in tests/
-
-services:
-  bat-server:
-    build:
-      context: .
-      dockerfile: bat-server.dockerfile
-    container_name: bat-server
-    image: bat-server # name for the built image
-    volumes:
-      # source paths relative to tests/docker/
-      - ../../syntaxes:/root/.config/bat/syntaxes:ro
-      - ../source:/tests/source:ro
-      - ../highlighted:/tests/highlighted
-      - ../theme:/tests/theme
diff --git a/tests/docker/bat-server.dockerfile b/tests/docker/bat-server.dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 12ad08e..0000000
--- a/tests/docker/bat-server.dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-# usage: through the docker-compose service
-
-FROM curlimages/curl:latest as fetch-pkg
-LABEL keep=false
-ARG BAT_VERSION=0.21.0
-RUN curl -LJ \
-    https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases/download/v$BAT_VERSION/bat_${BAT_VERSION}_amd64.deb \
-    --output /tmp/bat.deb
-
-FROM debian:bullseye-slim
-COPY --from=fetch-pkg /tmp/bat.deb /tmp
-RUN dpkg --install /tmp/bat.deb
-ENV COLORTERM=truecolor
-COPY run_*_regression.sh /tests/
-CMD sleep infinity
diff --git a/tests/docker/bat-test.dockerfile b/tests/docker/bat-test.dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19850a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/docker/bat-test.dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# usage: through highlight_regression.sh and theme_regression.sh
+
+FROM curlimages/curl:latest AS fetch-pkg
+LABEL keep=false
+ARG BAT_VERSION=0.21.0
+RUN curl -LJ \
+    https://github.com/sharkdp/bat/releases/download/v$BAT_VERSION/bat_${BAT_VERSION}_amd64.deb \
+    --output /tmp/bat.deb
+
+FROM debian:bullseye-slim
+COPY --from=fetch-pkg  /tmp/bat.deb  /tmp
+RUN dpkg --install /tmp/bat.deb
+ENV COLORTERM=truecolor
+COPY ./tests/docker/*regression.sh  /tests/
+COPY ./tests/source  /tests/source
+COPY ./syntaxes/cmd-help.sublime-syntax  /root/.config/bat/syntaxes/
+RUN bat cache --build > /dev/null
+ENTRYPOINT /tests/run_highlight_regression.sh
diff --git a/tests/docker/run_highlight_regression.sh b/tests/docker/run_highlight_regression.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index f547190..281e617
--- a/tests/docker/run_highlight_regression.sh
+++ b/tests/docker/run_highlight_regression.sh
@@ -4,10 +4,8 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
 
-bat cache --build > /dev/null
-
 for source_path in source/* ; do
-    # this dir is only for theme_regression.sh
+    # this dir is only for run_theme_regression.sh
     [ "$source_path" = source/theme ] && continue
 
     filename=$(basename "$source_path")
diff --git a/tests/docker/run_theme_regression.sh b/tests/docker/run_theme_regression.sh
index 9a2d24d..9c81b61 100755
--- a/tests/docker/run_theme_regression.sh
+++ b/tests/docker/run_theme_regression.sh
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
 
-bat cache --build > /dev/null
-
 readarray -t themes <<< "$(bat --list-themes --color=never)"
 cmd_prefix="bat --no-config -fpl cmd-help source/theme/synthetic.txt"
 
diff --git a/tests/highlight_regression.sh b/tests/highlight_regression.sh
index 22cd636..2b9c45a 100755
--- a/tests/highlight_regression.sh
+++ b/tests/highlight_regression.sh
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
 
-docker compose -f docker/bat-server.compose.yaml up -d
+docker build --quiet -f docker/bat-test.dockerfile -t bat-test ..
 
-docker exec bat-server bash /tests/run_highlight_regression.sh
+volume="$PWD"/highlighted:/tests/highlighted
+docker run -v "$volume" bat-test
 
 # have git tell the effective difference between the version of the syntax
 # in staging/HEAD and the one in working dir, for all highlighted samples
diff --git a/tests/theme_regression.sh b/tests/theme_regression.sh
index b1b11cd..ad75dd6 100755
--- a/tests/theme_regression.sh
+++ b/tests/theme_regression.sh
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
 
-docker compose -f docker/bat-server.compose.yaml up -d
+docker build --quiet -f docker/bat-test.dockerfile -t bat-test ..
 
-docker exec bat-server bash /tests/run_theme_regression.sh
+volume="$PWD"/theme:/tests/theme
+docker run -v "$volume" \
+    --entrypoint /tests/run_theme_regression.sh \
+    bat-test
 
 # effective difference between HEAD/staging and working dir
 GIT_PAGER='LESS=R less' git diff -- theme/