diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index ff85bf9..30442dc 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ vendor/
 tests/
 
 # Configuration
-Makefile
 .envrc
 *.yaml
 *.yml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
index 448a9fe..9315e28 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
@@ -60,7 +60,26 @@ jobs:
             # Tag with version string from 'make version'.
             type=raw,value=${{ steps.build-meta.outputs.version }}
 
-      - name: Build and push Docker image
+      - name: Build and push slim image
+        id: docker_build_slim
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
+        with:
+          context: .
+          platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
+          push: true
+          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}-slim
+          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
+          build-args: |
+            VERSION=${{ steps.build-meta.outputs.version }}
+            GIT_COMMIT=${{ steps.build-meta.outputs.git_commit }}
+            BUILD_DATE=${{ steps.build-meta.outputs.build_date }}
+            VARIANT=slim
+          cache-from: |
+            type=gha
+            type=registry,ref=${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:buildcache
+          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
+
+      - name: Build and push image
         id: docker_build
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
         with:
@@ -78,5 +97,8 @@ jobs:
             type=registry,ref=${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:buildcache
           cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
 
-      - name: Image digest
-        run: echo "Image pushed with digest ${{ steps.docker_build.outputs.digest }}"
+      - name: Images pushed
+        run: |
+          echo "Images pushed:"
+          echo "- ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}-slim:${{ steps.docker_build_slim.outputs.imageid }}"
+          echo "- ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}:${{ steps.docker_build.outputs.imageid }}"
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 56cde05..a3d7927 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -2,11 +2,26 @@
 # Produces a compact container image with roxie and all required dependencies
 # Supports multi-architecture builds (amd64, arm64)
 
-# Stage 1: Build roxie binary
-FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/go-toolset:1.25@sha256:2830e4bd1c394ed506c00a9abbb4d00445e2e72e8ef4e3cd51e0da0db66dee12 AS builder
+# Supports standard and slim variant.
+# Slim variant doesn't come with support for GKE gcloud authentication, Azure, AWS.
+# Useful for distributing roxie binaries via image registry.
+ARG VARIANT=standard
+
+# STAGE: builder-slim.
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/go-toolset:1.25@sha256:2830e4bd1c394ed506c00a9abbb4d00445e2e72e8ef4e3cd51e0da0db66dee12 AS builder-slim
+
+# # Install required tools via microdnf.
+# RUN microdnf install -y \
+#     podman fuse-overlayfs \
+#     # Core utilities
+#     tar \
+#     gzip \
+#     unzip \
+#     ca-certificates \
+#     # Clean up
+#     && microdnf clean all \
+#     && rm -rf /var/cache/yum
 
-# Build arguments for cross-compilation
-# These are automatically provided by Docker buildx
 ARG TARGETOS
 ARG TARGETARCH
 
@@ -20,14 +35,16 @@ RUN go mod download
 COPY . .
 
 # Build roxie binary with version info and cross-compilation support
-ARG VERSION=0.1
-ARG GIT_COMMIT=unknown
-ARG BUILD_DATE=unknown
-RUN echo "Building for ${TARGETOS}/${TARGETARCH}" && \
-    CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=${TARGETOS} GOARCH=${TARGETARCH} go build \
-    -ldflags "-w -s -X main.version=${VERSION} -X main.gitCommit=${GIT_COMMIT} -X main.buildDate=${BUILD_DATE}" \
-    -o roxie \
-    ./cmd
+ARG VERSION
+ARG BUILD_DATE
+ARG GIT_COMMIT
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 \
+    GOOS=${TARGETOS} \
+    GOARCH=${TARGETARCH} \
+    VERSION=${VERSION} \
+    BUILD_DATE=${BUILD_DATE} \
+    GIT_COMMIT=${GIT_COMMIT} \
+    make build && cp /build/roxie /usr/local/bin/roxie
 
 # Download gcloud SDK in builder stage to avoid UBI filesystem restrictions
 # Latest version including checksums can be found at:
@@ -155,29 +172,44 @@ RUN ARCH=${TARGETARCH:-amd64} && \
     echo "${ROXCTL_SHA256}  /usr/local/bin/roxctl" | sha256sum -c - && \
     chmod +x /usr/local/bin/roxctl
 
-# Install podman (required for extracting operator bundles)
-# fuse-overlayfs provides better performance but vfs driver is more compatible
-RUN microdnf install -y podman fuse-overlayfs \
-    && microdnf clean all
+# Install kubectl - architecture-aware
+ARG KUBECTL_VERSION=v1.35.3
+RUN ARCH=${TARGETARCH:-amd64} && \
+    echo "Installing kubectl for ${ARCH}" && \
+    curl -fsSLo /usr/local/bin/kubectl "https://dl.k8s.io/release/${KUBECTL_VERSION}/bin/linux/${ARCH}/kubectl"
 
-# Install common kubectl credential plugins for cloud provider authentication
-# This enables kubectl to work with GKE, EKS, AKS, and OpenShift clusters
-# without requiring users to manage different auth plugins
+COPY scripts/roxcurl /usr/local/bin/roxcurl
 
-# 1. Google Cloud (GKE) - gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
-# Copy gcloud SDK from builder stage (extracted there to avoid UBI filesystem restrictions)
-COPY --from=builder /tmp/google-cloud-sdk /opt/google-cloud-sdk
-RUN ln -s /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud /usr/local/bin/gcloud && \
-    ln -s /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gke-gcloud-auth-plugin /usr/local/bin/gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/*
+
+# STAGE: builder-standard (based on builder-slim).
+
+FROM builder-slim AS builder-standard
+
+ARG TARGETARCH
+
+# Default python 3.9 from the go-toolset image is not supported by the gcloud SDK.
+RUN dnf install -y python312 && alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.12 1
+# Download gcloud SDK in builder stage to avoid UBI filesystem restrictions.
+ARG GCLOUD_VERSION=561.0.0
+RUN ARCH=${TARGETARCH:-amd64} && \
+    if [ "${ARCH}" = "amd64" ]; then \
+        GCLOUD_ARCH="x86_64"; \
+    elif [ "${ARCH}" = "arm64" ]; then \
+        GCLOUD_ARCH="arm"; \
+    else \
+        echo "ERROR: Unsupported architecture: ${ARCH}"; exit 1; \
+    fi && \
+    curl -fsSL "https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-${GCLOUD_VERSION}-linux-${GCLOUD_ARCH}.tar.gz" | \
+    tar -xz -C /tmp && \
+    /tmp/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud components install gke-gcloud-auth-plugin --quiet
 
 # 2. AWS (EKS) - aws-iam-authenticator
 # Using GitHub releases for latest version (AWS S3 bucket has outdated versions)
 ARG AWS_IAM_AUTH_VERSION=0.7.12
 RUN ARCH=${TARGETARCH:-amd64} && \
     echo "Installing aws-iam-authenticator v${AWS_IAM_AUTH_VERSION} for ${ARCH}" && \
-    curl -fsSLo /usr/local/bin/aws-iam-authenticator \
-    "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/aws-iam-authenticator/releases/download/v${AWS_IAM_AUTH_VERSION}/aws-iam-authenticator_${AWS_IAM_AUTH_VERSION}_linux_${ARCH}" && \
-    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/aws-iam-authenticator
+    curl -fsSLo /usr/local/bin/aws-iam-authenticator "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/aws-iam-authenticator/releases/download/v${AWS_IAM_AUTH_VERSION}/aws-iam-authenticator_${AWS_IAM_AUTH_VERSION}_linux_${ARCH}"
 
 # 3. Azure (AKS) - kubelogin
 RUN ARCH=${TARGETARCH:-amd64} && \
@@ -187,13 +219,26 @@ RUN ARCH=${TARGETARCH:-amd64} && \
     -o /tmp/kubelogin.zip && \
     unzip -q /tmp/kubelogin.zip -d /tmp && \
     mv /tmp/bin/linux_${ARCH}/kubelogin /usr/local/bin/kubelogin && \
-    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/kubelogin && \
     rm -rf /tmp/kubelogin.zip /tmp/bin
 
-# Copy roxie binary and scripts from builder
-COPY --from=builder /build/roxie /usr/local/bin/roxie
-COPY scripts/roxcurl /usr/local/bin/roxcurl
-RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/roxcurl
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/*
+
+# STAGE: runtime-slim (copies from builder-slim).
+FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi-minimal:latest@sha256:83006d535923fcf1345067873524a3980316f51794f01d8655be55d6e9387183 AS runtime-slim
+
+ARG VARIANT=standard
+
+USER 0
+
+RUN microdnf install -y \
+    podman fuse-overlayfs \
+    # Core utilities
+    tar \
+    gzip \
+    unzip \
+    ca-certificates && \
+    # Clean up
+    microdnf clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/yum
 
 # Create non-root user with / as home directory for simplified volume mounting
 # This allows users to mount credentials directly at their standard paths:
@@ -213,13 +258,17 @@ RUN mkdir -p /etc/containers && \
     echo 'graphroot = "/.local/share/containers/storage"' >> /etc/containers/storage.conf && \
     chmod 644 /etc/containers/storage.conf /etc/containers/registries.conf
 
-# Set working directory
-WORKDIR /workspace
+LABEL maintainer="StackRox" \
+    description="roxie - Advanced Cluster Security deployment tool with all dependencies" \
+    io.k8s.description="Deploy and manage Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security on Kubernetes clusters" \
+    io.k8s.display-name="roxie ACS Deployment Tool (${VARIANT} variant)"
+
+# Copy executables from builder.
+COPY --from=builder-slim /usr/local/bin/* /usr/local/bin
 
-# Switch to non-root user (users can override with --user root if needed)
 USER roxie
+WORKDIR /
 
-# Set environment variables
 ENV HOME=/ \
     KUBECONFIG=/kubeconfig \
     PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
@@ -227,3 +276,30 @@ ENV HOME=/ \
 # Display version information on container start
 ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/roxie"]
 CMD ["--help"]
+
+FROM runtime-slim AS runtime-standard
+
+USER 0
+
+# Install required tools via microdnf.
+RUN microdnf install -y python312 && \
+    alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.12 1 && \
+    microdnf clean all && \
+    rm -rf /var/cache/yum
+
+# Copy executables from builder.
+COPY --from=builder-slim --chown=0:0 /usr/local/bin/* /usr/local/bin
+
+# Install common kubectl credential plugins for cloud provider authentication
+# This enables kubectl to work with GKE, EKS, AKS, and OpenShift clusters
+# without requiring users to manage different auth plugins
+
+# 1. Google Cloud (GKE) - gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
+# Copy gcloud SDK from builder stage (extracted there to avoid UBI filesystem restrictions)
+COPY --from=builder-standard /tmp/google-cloud-sdk /opt/google-cloud-sdk
+RUN ln -s /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud /usr/local/bin/gcloud && \
+    ln -s /opt/google-cloud-sdk/bin/gke-gcloud-auth-plugin /usr/local/bin/gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
+
+USER roxie
+
+FROM runtime-${VARIANT} AS final
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 916e8c6..24901a1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -191,24 +191,36 @@ CONTAINER_RUNTIME ?= $(shell command -v podman 2>/dev/null || command -v docker
 PLATFORMS ?= linux/amd64,linux/arm64
 BUILD_PLATFORM := $(shell uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/amd64/' | sed 's/aarch64/arm64/')
 
+VARIANT ?= standard
+
 .PHONY: docker-build
 docker-build: ## Build roxie Docker image for current platform
-	@echo "🐳 Building roxie container image for current platform..."
+	@echo "🐳 Building roxie container image for current platform (variant: $(VARIANT))..."
 	@if [ -z "$(CONTAINER_RUNTIME)" ]; then \
 		echo "❌ No container runtime found. Please install docker or podman."; \
 		exit 1; \
 	fi
+	@VARIANT_SUFFIX=""; \
+	if [ "$(VARIANT)" != "standard" ]; then \
+		VARIANT_SUFFIX="-$(VARIANT)"; \
+	fi; \
+	LATEST_TAG="$(IMAGE_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_NAME):latest$$VARIANT_SUFFIX"; \
+	VERSION_TAG="$(IMAGE_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE_NAME):$(VERSION)$$VARIANT_SUFFIX"; \
 	$(CONTAINER_RUNTIME) build \
+		--build-arg VARIANT=$(VARIANT) \
 		--build-arg VERSION=$(VERSION) \
 		--build-arg GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) \
 		--build-arg BUILD_DATE=$(BUILD_DATE) \
-		-t $(IMAGE_LATEST_TAG) \
-		-t $(IMAGE_VERSION_TAG) \
-		-f Dockerfile .
-	@echo "✅ Built container images:"
-	@echo "   - $(IMAGE_LATEST_TAG)"
-	@echo "   - $(IMAGE_VERSION_TAG)"
-
+		-t $$LATEST_TAG \
+		-t $$VERSION_TAG \
+		-f Dockerfile . && \
+	echo "✅ Built container images:" && \
+	echo "   - $$LATEST_TAG" && \
+	echo "   - $$VERSION_TAG"
+
+.PHONY: docker-build-slim
+docker-build-slim: VARIANT=slim
+docker-build-slim: docker-build
 
 .PHONY: docker-build-arm64
 docker-build-arm64: ## Build roxie Docker image for arm64