diff --git a/.github/actions/run-ee-server/action.yml b/.github/actions/run-ee-server/action.yml
index 7df417e5e0..bf844dbeb8 100644
--- a/.github/actions/run-ee-server/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/run-ee-server/action.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ inputs:
   server-tag:
     required: true
     description: Specify Docker tag
-    default: 'latest'
+    default: latest
   # Github Composite Actions can't access secrets
   # so we need to pass them in as inputs
   docker-hub-username:
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ inputs:
     required: false
     description: 'docker-host, separate-docker-container, "remote-connection" via DOCKER_HOST'
     default: 'docker-host'
+  GITHUB_TOKEN:
+    required: true
+    description: GITHUB_TOKEN
 
 runs:
   using: "composite"
@@ -38,12 +41,18 @@ runs:
   - run: echo IMAGE_NAME=aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise${{ inputs.use-server-rc == 'true' && '-rc' || '' }}:${{ inputs.server-tag }} >> $GITHUB_ENV
     shell: bash
 
-  - run: echo NEW_IMAGE_NAME=${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}-python-client-testing >> $GITHUB_ENV
+  - run: docker pull $IMAGE_NAME
+    shell: bash
+
+  - run: echo REGISTRY=ghcr.io >> $GITHUB_ENV
+    shell: bash
+
+  - run: echo NEW_IMAGE_NAME=${{ env.REGISTRY }}/aerospike/aerospike-server-enterprise-python-client-testing >> $GITHUB_ENV
     shell: bash
 
   # macOS Github runners and Windows self-hosted runners don't have buildx installed by default
-  - if: ${{ runner.os == 'Windows' || runner.os == 'macOS' }}
-    uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+  # Also we want to use the docker-container driver so we can cache our custom server image
+  - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
 
   - run: echo CA_CERT_FILE_NAME="ca.cer" >> $GITHUB_ENV
     shell: bash
@@ -51,6 +60,12 @@ runs:
   - run: echo TLS_PORT="4333" >> $GITHUB_ENV
     shell: bash
 
+  - uses: docker/login-action@v3
+    with:
+      registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
+      username: ${{ github.actor }}
+      password: ${{ inputs.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
   - name: Build Aerospike server Docker image for testing
     # We enable TLS standard authentication to verify that the OpenSSL library bundled with the wheel works
     # You can manually verify this by enabling debug logging in the client and checking that the server certificate was verified
@@ -61,16 +76,18 @@ runs:
       build-args: |
         SERVER_IMAGE=${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
         TLS_PORT=${{ env.TLS_PORT }}
-      tags: ${{ env.NEW_IMAGE_NAME }}
-      # setup-buildx-action configures Docker to use the docker-container build driver
-      # This driver doesn't publish an image locally by default
+      tags: ${{ env.NEW_IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ inputs.server-tag }}
+      # the docker-container driver doesn't publish an image locally by default
       # so we have to manually enable it
-      load: true
+      push: true
+      # Also cache image so we don't have to rebuild it every time we use this action
+      cache-from: type=registry,ref=${{ env.NEW_IMAGE_NAME }}:buildcache
+      cache-to: type=registry,ref=${{ env.NEW_IMAGE_NAME }}:buildcache,mode=max
 
   - run: echo SERVER_CONTAINER_NAME="aerospike" >> $GITHUB_ENV
     shell: bash
 
-  - run: docker run -d --name ${{ env.SERVER_CONTAINER_NAME }} -p 3000:3000 -p ${{ env.TLS_PORT }}:${{ env.TLS_PORT }} ${{ env.NEW_IMAGE_NAME }}
+  - run: docker run -d --name ${{ env.SERVER_CONTAINER_NAME }} -p 3000:3000 -p ${{ env.TLS_PORT }}:${{ env.TLS_PORT }} ${{ env.NEW_IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ inputs.server-tag }}
     shell: bash
 
   - name: 'macOS: install timeout command'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-wheels.yml b/.github/workflows/build-wheels.yml
index 7424e99f22..1acfef1952 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-wheels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-wheels.yml
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ jobs:
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
         where-is-client-connecting-from: ${{ inputs.platform-tag == 'macosx_x86_64' && 'docker-host' || 'separate-docker-container' }}
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: If not running tests against server, only run basic import test
       if: ${{ env.RUN_INTEGRATION_TESTS_IN_CIBW == 'false' }}
@@ -377,6 +378,7 @@ jobs:
           docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
           docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
           where-is-client-connecting-from: ${{ inputs.platform-tag == 'win_amd64' && 'remote-connection' || 'docker-host' }}
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Download wheel
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-build-context/Dockerfile b/.github/workflows/docker-build-context/Dockerfile
index 05a8e6f4c6..90f0baec65 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-build-context/Dockerfile
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-build-context/Dockerfile
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ EXPOSE $TLS_PORT
 FROM ubuntu:24.04 AS dos2unix
 
 # Run our own set up steps after server finishes starting up
+# Running WORKDIR on an existing directory causes WORKDIR instruction to not be cached
+RUN mkdir /my-scripts
 WORKDIR /my-scripts
 COPY entrypoint-finalize-setup.bash wait-for-as-server-to-start.bash .
 # Both Github Actions and the entrypoint script can reuse this wait script
diff --git a/.github/workflows/stage-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/stage-tests.yml
index 935fc14376..d0a02d7b06 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/stage-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/stage-tests.yml
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ jobs:
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
         where-is-client-connecting-from: 'separate-docker-container'
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: Run distro container
       # Run distro container on host network to access the Aerospike server using localhost (without having to change config.conf)
@@ -211,6 +212,7 @@ jobs:
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
         where-is-client-connecting-from: 'docker-host'
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: Install wheel
       run: python3 -m pip install *.whl
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index cef8d86b96..3f8f5ba723 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ jobs:
         use-server-rc: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'new-server-features') }}
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - run: python3 -m pytest --cov=aerospike_helpers --cov-report xml:coverage.xml ./new_tests
       working-directory: test
@@ -298,6 +299,7 @@ jobs:
         use-server-rc: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'new-server-features') }}
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: Run tests
       # We need to disable capturing output or else we cannot see memory errors reported by 
@@ -433,6 +435,7 @@ jobs:
         use-server-rc: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'new-server-features') }}
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: Run tests
       run: python -m pytest ./new_tests/test_{mrt_functionality,admin_*,compress}.py -W error::pytest.PytestUnraisableExceptionWarning
diff --git a/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml b/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml
index 74109371fe..cdf897eee1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/valgrind.yml
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ jobs:
         server-tag: ${{ inputs.server-tag }}
         docker-hub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_USERNAME }}
         docker-hub-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_BOT_PW }}
+        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - run: sudo apt update
     - run: sudo apt install valgrind -y