diff --git a/apps/cic-notify/.gitlab-ci.yml b/apps/cic-notify/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 5f29fa0f..a414b9bf 100644
--- a/apps/cic-notify/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/apps/cic-notify/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 .cic_notify_variables:
     variables:
         APP_NAME: cic-notify
-        DOCKERFILE_PATH: $APP_NAME/docker/Dockerfile
-        CONTEXT: apps/
+        DOCKERFILE_PATH: docker/Dockerfile_ci
+        CONTEXT: apps/$APP_NAME
 
 build-mr-cic-notify:
     extends:
@@ -14,6 +14,31 @@ build-mr-cic-notify:
           - apps/cic-notify/**/*
       when: always
 
+test-mr-cic-notify:
+    stage: test
+    extends:
+        - .cic_notify_variables
+    cache:
+        key:
+            files:
+                - test_requirements.txt
+        paths:
+        - /root/.cache/pip
+    image: $MR_IMAGE_TAG
+    script:
+        - cd apps/$APP_NAME/
+        - >
+          pip install --extra-index-url https://pip.grassrootseconomics.net:8433
+          --extra-index-url https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/27624814/packages/pypi/simple
+          -r test_requirements.txt 
+        - export PYTHONPATH=. && pytest -x --cov=cic_notify --cov-fail-under=90 --cov-report term-missing tests
+    needs: ["build-mr-cic-notify"]
+    rules:
+    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
+      changes:
+          - apps/cic-eth/**/*
+      when: always
+
 build-push-cic-notify:
     extends:
         - .py_build_push
diff --git a/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile b/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile
index ea00a238..36b09e18 100644
--- a/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,38 +1,30 @@
-FROM python:3.8.6-slim-buster
+# syntax = docker/dockerfile:1.2
+FROM registry.gitlab.com/grassrootseconomics/cic-base-images:python-3.8.6-dev-55da5f4e as dev
 
-RUN apt-get update && \
-	apt install -y gcc gnupg libpq-dev wget make g++ gnupg bash procps
+#RUN pip install $pip_extra_index_url_flag cic-base[full_graph]==0.1.2a62
 
-WORKDIR /usr/src/cic-notify
+ARG EXTRA_INDEX_URL="https://pip.grassrootseconomics.net:8433"
+ARG GITLAB_PYTHON_REGISTRY="https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/27624814/packages/pypi/simple"
+COPY requirements.txt .
 
-ARG pip_extra_index_url_flag='--index https://pypi.org/simple --extra-index-url https://pip.grassrootseconomics.net:8433'
-RUN pip install $pip_extra_index_url_flag cic-base[full_graph]==0.1.2a62
+RUN --mount=type=cache,mode=0755,target=/root/.cache/pip \
+    pip install --index-url https://pypi.org/simple  \
+	  --extra-index-url $GITLAB_PYTHON_REGISTRY --extra-index-url $EXTRA_INDEX_URL \
+    -r requirements.txt
 
-COPY cic-notify/setup.cfg \
-	 cic-notify/setup.py \
-     ./
+COPY . . 
 
-COPY cic-notify/cic_notify/ ./cic_notify/
+RUN python setup.py install
 
-COPY cic-notify/requirements.txt \
-	 cic-notify/test_requirements.txt \
-     ./
-
-COPY cic-notify/scripts/ scripts/
+# TODO please review..can this go into requirements?
 RUN pip install $pip_extra_index_url_flag .[africastalking,notifylog]
 
-COPY cic-notify/tests/ tests/
-COPY cic-notify/docker/db.sh \
-     cic-notify/docker/start_tasker.sh \
-	 /root/
-
-#RUN apk add postgresql-client
-#RUN apk add bash
+COPY docker/*.sh .
 
 # ini files in config directory defines the configurable parameters for the application
 # they can all be overridden by environment variables
 # to generate a list of environment variables from configuration, use: confini-dump -z <dir> (executable provided by confini package)
-COPY cic-notify/.config/ /usr/local/etc/cic-notify/
-COPY cic-notify/cic_notify/db/migrations/ /usr/local/share/cic-notify/alembic/
+COPY .config/ /usr/local/etc/cic-notify/
+COPY cic_notify/db/migrations/ /usr/local/share/cic-notify/alembic/
 
-WORKDIR /root
+ENTRYPOINT []
diff --git a/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile_ci b/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile_ci
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5c14c05d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile_ci
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# syntax = docker/dockerfile:1.2
+FROM registry.gitlab.com/grassrootseconomics/cic-base-images:python-3.8.6-dev-55da5f4e as dev
+
+#RUN pip install $pip_extra_index_url_flag cic-base[full_graph]==0.1.2a62
+
+ARG EXTRA_INDEX_URL="https://pip.grassrootseconomics.net:8433"
+ARG GITLAB_PYTHON_REGISTRY="https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/27624814/packages/pypi/simple"
+COPY requirements.txt .
+
+RUN pip install --index-url https://pypi.org/simple  \
+	  --extra-index-url $GITLAB_PYTHON_REGISTRY --extra-index-url $EXTRA_INDEX_URL \
+    -r requirements.txt
+
+COPY . . 
+
+RUN python setup.py install
+
+# TODO please review..can this go into requirements?
+RUN pip install $pip_extra_index_url_flag .[africastalking,notifylog]
+
+COPY docker/*.sh .
+
+# ini files in config directory defines the configurable parameters for the application
+# they can all be overridden by environment variables
+# to generate a list of environment variables from configuration, use: confini-dump -z <dir> (executable provided by confini package)
+COPY .config/ /usr/local/etc/cic-notify/
+COPY cic_notify/db/migrations/ /usr/local/share/cic-notify/alembic/
+
+ENTRYPOINT []
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index b8ed2162..d66e2a83 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -403,8 +403,8 @@ services:
 
   cic-notify-tasker:
     build:
-      context: apps/
-      dockerfile: cic-notify/docker/Dockerfile
+      context: apps/cic-notify
+      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile
     environment:
       DATABASE_USER: ${DATABASE_USER:-grassroots}
       DATABASE_HOST: ${DATABASE_HOST:-postgres}