diff --git a/automation/build/alpine/qubes-hw-runner.dockerfile b/automation/build/alpine/qubes-hw-runner.dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b11164872
--- /dev/null
+++ b/automation/build/alpine/qubes-hw-runner.dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
+FROM --platform=linux/arm64/v8 alpine:3.24
+LABEL maintainer.name="The Xen Project"
+LABEL maintainer.email="xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org"
+
+RUN apk --no-cache add bash
+
+RUN <<EOF
+#!/bin/bash
+    set -eu
+
+    DEPS=(
+          expect
+          openssh-client
+    )
+
+    apk add --no-cache "${DEPS[@]}"
+EOF
+
+USER root
+WORKDIR /build
diff --git a/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml b/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
index c375c97309..eed379cbb4 100644
--- a/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
+++ b/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@
   extends: .test-jobs-common
   variables:
     # the test controller runs on RPi4
-    CONTAINER: alpine:3.18-arm64v8
+    CONTAINER: alpine:qubes-hw-runner
     LOGFILE: smoke-test.log
     PCIDEV: "03:00.0"
     PCIDEV_INTR: "MSI-X"