diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-emulator-build.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-emulator-build.yml
index 6a45a8d303..f8748ba321 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-emulator-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-emulator-build.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ on:
       - closed
     branches:
       - master
+    # Only create new build when seed data or functions update
+    # Ignore src-only changes as will populate conflicting docker image tag
     paths:
       - 'packages/emulators-docker/seed_data/**'
   # Allow manual trigger of build in case of broken/minor updates
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           images: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }},${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
           tags: |
-            type=raw,value=2022-10-30
+            type=raw,value=2022-12-04
           # TODO - would be nice to extract tags based on seed data provided automatically or consider other strategies
           # https://github.com/docker/metadata-action#tags-input
           flavor: |
@@ -80,6 +82,14 @@ jobs:
         run: export REACT_APP_PROJECT_VERSION=${GITHUB_SHA}
       - name: Prepare Build
         run: yarn workspace oa-emulators-docker prepare
+      # Populate the list of build args generated in the prepare script to local env as multi line string
+      # https://docs.github.com/en/github-ae@latest/actions/using-workflows/workflow-commands-for-github-actions#multiline-strings
+      - name: Set build args
+        run: |
+          BUILD_ARGS=$(cat packages/emulators-docker/build.args)
+          echo "BUILD_ARGS<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "$BUILD_ARGS" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       # Build and deploy
       # This will use the tags generate to identify target destination, by default pushing to both
@@ -94,3 +104,6 @@ jobs:
           labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
           cache-from: type=gha, scope=${{ github.workflow }}
           cache-to: type=gha, scope=${{ github.workflow }}, mode=max
+          # Ensure args pass as multiline string
+          build-args: |
+            ${{ env.BUILD_ARGS }}
diff --git a/packages/emulators-docker/.gitignore b/packages/emulators-docker/.gitignore
index d7205f9ac1..810b36ad96 100644
--- a/packages/emulators-docker/.gitignore
+++ b/packages/emulators-docker/.gitignore
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@ app
 seed_data/*
 # retain latest tar file
 !seed_data/pp-2022-12-04.tar.gz
-exports
\ No newline at end of file
+exports
+build.args
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/emulators-docker/seed_data/pp-2022-10-30.tar.gz b/packages/emulators-docker/seed_data/pp-2022-10-30.tar.gz
deleted file mode 100644
index db46ae50be..0000000000
Binary files a/packages/emulators-docker/seed_data/pp-2022-10-30.tar.gz and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/packages/emulators-docker/src/paths.ts b/packages/emulators-docker/src/paths.ts
index 7d5975d698..ec3d7d6467 100644
--- a/packages/emulators-docker/src/paths.ts
+++ b/packages/emulators-docker/src/paths.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ const dockerFile = path.resolve(workspaceDir, 'Dockerfile')
 
 const seedDataDir = path.resolve(workspaceDir, 'seed_data')
 
+const buildArgsFile = path.resolve(workspaceDir, 'build.args')
+
 const functionsDistIndex = path.resolve(
   rootDir,
   'functions',
@@ -24,4 +26,5 @@ export const PATHS = {
   dockerFile,
   functionsDistIndex,
   seedDataDir,
+  buildArgsFile,
 }
diff --git a/packages/emulators-docker/src/prepare.ts b/packages/emulators-docker/src/prepare.ts
index 00330be3c4..e1ba4aeafb 100644
--- a/packages/emulators-docker/src/prepare.ts
+++ b/packages/emulators-docker/src/prepare.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { spawnSync } from 'child_process'
+import { execSync, spawnSync } from 'child_process'
 import chalk from 'chalk'
 import fs from 'fs-extra'
 import { runtimeConfigTest } from 'functions/scripts/runtimeConfig/model'
@@ -220,6 +220,17 @@ function generateBuildArgs() {
   const functionsPackageJson = fs.readJsonSync(functionsPackageJsonPath)
   buildArgs.FIREBASE_TOOLS_VERSION =
     functionsPackageJson.dependencies['firebase-tools']
+  // assign date and git commit sha ref
+  buildArgs.BUILD_DATE = new Date().toISOString()
+  buildArgs.VCS_REF = execSync('git rev-parse HEAD').toString().trim()
+  // write args to file to read from dockerfile ci
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    PATHS.buildArgsFile,
+    Object.entries(buildArgs)
+      .map(([k, v]) => `${k}=${v}`)
+      .join('\n'),
+  )
+  console.table(buildArgs)
   return buildArgs
 }