diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 0be996c..446b6a7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   test:
     name: test
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        os: [alpine, ubuntu-20.04, ubuntu-23.04, ubuntu-24.04]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
       contents: read
@@ -47,4 +50,4 @@ jobs:
         run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | docker login ghcr.io -u ${{ github.actor }} --password-stdin
         if: github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
       - name: Run tests
-        run: earthly --ci -P --push +test
+        run: earthly --ci -P --push +test --OS=${{ matrix.os }}
diff --git a/Earthfile b/Earthfile
index 4f9bc27..ba76935 100644
--- a/Earthfile
+++ b/Earthfile
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ VERSION --wildcard-builds 0.8
 
 PROJECT earthly-technologies/core
 
-# test runs tests for all defined dind images in this repo
+# test runs tests for for the given OS image (os/*/Earthfile) in this repo
 test:
-    BUILD --pass-args ./os/*+test-build
+    ARG --required OS
+    BUILD --pass-args ./os/$OS+test-build
 
 # release expects to get a renovate branch in the form of renovate/<os>-dind-image, extracts the os and then kicks off its +release target
 # this is meant to be run by a github workflow