diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-unstable-branch.yml b/.github/workflows/build-unstable-branch.yml
index e7eb08f..24afdd3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-unstable-branch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-unstable-branch.yml
@@ -14,17 +14,20 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
 
       - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v1
+        uses: docker/login-action@v3
         with:
           registry: ghcr.io
           username: ${{ github.actor }}
           password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Build image and push to GitHub Container Registry
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
         with:
           context: .
           push: true
           tags: 'ghcr.io/mlibrary/dromedary/dromedary-unstable:${{ github.sha }}'
           file: ./Dockerfile
+          target: production
+          build-args:
+            - RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT=/m/middle-english-dictionary
 
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c3f4c06..dd859a6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /.bundle
 /.cache
+/.local
 /data
 /db/*.sqlite3
 /log
@@ -7,4 +8,4 @@
 **/tmp
 !**/.keep
 .byebug_history
-/solr_logs
\ No newline at end of file
+/solr_logs
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index d701627..0ef5766 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,69 +1,135 @@
-FROM ruby:2.7 AS app
+ARG RUBY_VERSION=2.7.8
+ARG RUBY_SLIM="-slim"
+FROM ruby:${RUBY_VERSION}${RUBY_SLIM} AS base
 
 ARG UNAME=app
 ARG UID=1000
 ARG GID=1000
-#ARG UID 502
-#ARG GID 20
 ARG ARCH=amd64
 
-RUN curl https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x | bash
-RUN curl https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | apt-key add -
-RUN echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
-
-RUN apt-get update -yqq && \
-    apt-get install -yqq --no-install-recommends \
-    vim nodejs yarn apt-transport-https \
+ARG BUNDLER_VERSION=2.4.22
+ARG NODE_VERSION=20
+
+RUN rm -f /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/docker-clean && \
+    echo 'Binary::apt::APT::Keep-Downloaded-Packages "true";' \
+    > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/keep-cache
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt,sharing=locked \
+    --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt,sharing=locked \
+    apt update && apt-get --no-install-recommends install -yq \
+    apt-transport-https \
+    build-essential \
+    curl \
+    git \
+    unzip \
+    libpq-dev \
+    ##### FIXME: remove these once useless gems are trimmed \
+    libmariadb-dev \
+    libsqlite3-dev \
+    ##### What is netcat here for???
     netcat
 
+RUN --mount=type=cache,sharing=locked,target=/var/cache/apt \
+    --mount=type=cache,sharing=locked,target=/var/lib/apt \
+    curl -SLO https://deb.nodesource.com/nsolid_setup_deb.sh && \
+    chmod 500 nsolid_setup_deb.sh && \
+    ./nsolid_setup_deb.sh ${NODE_VERSION} && \
+    apt-get install nodejs -yq
+
+RUN gem install bundler:${BUNDLER_VERSION}
+
 RUN groupadd -g $GID -o $UNAME
 RUN useradd -m -d /opt/app -u $UID -g $GID -o -s /bin/bash $UNAME
-RUN chown $UID:$GID /opt/app
 
+ENV RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT true
 
-RUN mkdir /opt/app/data
-RUN chown $UID:$GID /opt/app/data
-RUN touch /opt/app/data/.keep
+WORKDIR /opt/app
+COPY Gemfile* .
+
+#############
+FROM base AS base-dev
+
+RUN --mount=type=cache,sharing=locked,target=/var/cache/apt \
+    --mount=type=cache,sharing=locked,target=/var/lib/apt \
+    apt-get --no-install-recommends install -yq \
+      fd-find \
+      less \
+      ripgrep \
+      vim-tiny
+
+############
+FROM base AS gems-prod
+
+RUN --mount=type=cache,id=med-bundle-prod,sharing=locked,target=/vendor/bundle \
+    --mount=type=cache,sharing=locked,target=/vendor/cache \
+    bundle config set path /vendor/bundle && \
+    bundle config set cache_path /vendor/cache && \
+    bundle config set cache_all true && \
+    bundle config set without 'development test' && \
+    bundle config build.sassc --disable-march-tune-native && \
+    bundle cache --no-install && \
+    bundle install --local && \
+    bundle clean && \
+    bundle config unset cache_path && \
+    bundle config set path /gems && \
+    mkdir -p /gems && \
+    cp -ar /vendor/bundle/* /gems
+
+
+#############
+FROM base-dev AS gems-dev
+
+RUN --mount=type=cache,id=med-bundle-dev,sharing=locked,target=/vendor/bundle \
+    --mount=type=cache,sharing=locked,target=/vendor/cache \
+    bundle config set path /vendor/bundle && \
+    bundle config set cache_path /vendor/cache && \
+    bundle config set cache_all true && \
+    bundle cache --no-install && \
+    bundle config build.sassc --disable-march-tune-native && \
+    bundle install --local && \
+    bundle clean && \
+    bundle config unset cache_path && \
+    bundle config set path /gems && \
+    mkdir -p /gems && \
+    cp -ar /vendor/bundle/* /gems
+
+
+#############
+FROM gems-prod AS production
+
+ARG RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT
+
+COPY . .
+RUN chown -R ${UID}:${GID} /gems && chown -R ${UID}:${GID} /opt/app
+
+
+EXPOSE 3000
+USER $UNAME
+
+### temporarily required to start up/precompile
+ENV SOLR_ROOT=bogus
+ENV SOLR_COLLECTION=bogus
+###
 
-RUN mkdir /gems
-RUN chown $UID:$GID /gems
-RUN touch /gems/.keep
+ENV RAILS_ENV production
+ENV RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES true
+ENV SECRET_KEY_BASE 121222bccca
+ENV RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT=${RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT}
 
-COPY --chown=$UID:$GID . /opt/app
+RUN bin/rails assets:precompile
 
-ENV BUNDLE_VERSION 2.4.22
-ENV BUNDLE_PATH /gems
-RUN gem install bundler:2.4.22
+CMD ["bin/rails", "s", "-b", "0.0.0.0"]
 
-USER ${UID}:${GID}
-WORKDIR /opt/app
 
-ENV RAILS_RELATIVE_URL_ROOT /m/middle-english-dictionary
-ENV RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT true
-ENV RAILS_ENV production
+############
+FROM gems-dev AS development
 
-# This can be anything but must be set.
-ENV SECRET_KEY_BASE 121222bccca
+COPY . .
+RUN chown -R ${UID}:${GID} /gems && chown -R ${UID}:${GID} /opt/app
 
 RUN bundle config build.sassc --disable-march-tune-native
 RUN bundle config set path /gems
 
-RUN #bundle config set without 'test development'
-RUN bundle install -j 4
+EXPOSE 3000
+USER $UNAME
 
-# Asset precompilation
-# Because of...I don't know why...it wants the SOLR stuff defined
-ENV SOLR_ROOT http://solr:8983/
-ENV SOLR_COLLECTION med-preview
-ENV RAILS_ROOT /m/middle-english-dictionary
-RUN RAILS_ENV=production bin/rails assets:precompile
-
-#CMD ["sleep", "infinity"]
-ENV RAILS_ENV production
 CMD ["bin/rails", "s", "-b", "0.0.0.0"]
-
-#FROM nginx:mainline AS assets
-#ENV NGINX_PORT=80
-#ENV NGINX_PREFIX=/
-#COPY --from=app /opt/app/nginx/assets.nginx /etc/nginx/templates/default.conf.template
-#COPY --from=app /opt/app/public /usr/share/nginx/html/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 213fa33..6de5f59 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ git_source(:github) do |repo_name|
   "https://github.com/#{repo_name}.git"
 end
 
+# GitHub Packages requires tokens, even for public repositories; so we use git for now
 # source "https://rubygems.pkg.github.com/mlibrary" do
-# gem "middle_english_dictionary", "1.9.0"
+#   gem "middle_english_dictionary", "1.9.1"
 # end
 gem "middle_english_dictionary", git: "https://github.com/mlibrary/middle_english_dictionary", tag: "v1.9.1"
 
diff --git a/compose.yml b/compose.yml
index af4cc08..4f7caf5 100644
--- a/compose.yml
+++ b/compose.yml
@@ -8,8 +8,11 @@ services:
     build:
       dockerfile: Dockerfile
       context: .
+      args:
+        UID: ${UID:-1000}
+        GID: ${GID:-1000}
     ports:
-      - "3000:3000" # Rails
+      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000" # Rails
       - "1111:1111"
       - "1234:1234" # RubyMine
       - "26162:26162" # RubyMine
@@ -21,16 +24,9 @@ services:
       - SOLR_PASSWORD=SolrRocks
       - DATA_ROOT=/mec/data
       - BUILD_ROOT=/mec/data/build
-      - RAILS_ROOT=/m/middle-english-dictionary
     volumes:
       - .:/opt/app
       - data:/mec/data
-      - gems:/opt/app/gems
-    command:
-      - bin/rails
-      - s
-      - -b
-      - 0.0.0.0
 
   db:
     image: postgres:12-alpine
@@ -92,7 +88,6 @@ volumes:
       type: none
       device: ${PWD}/data
       o: bind
-  gems:
   db:
   solr:
     driver_opts:
diff --git a/config.ru b/config.ru
index 2b6bdfc..c3e74c9 100644
--- a/config.ru
+++ b/config.ru
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 
 require_relative "config/environment"
 
-run Rails.application
-# this is in the routes now
-# map Dromedary.config.relative_url_root || "/" do
-#   run Rails.application
-# end
+map Dromedary.config.relative_url_root || "/" do
+  run Rails.application
+end
diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index d17596e..357b5ee 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
 
     config.relative_url_root = Dromedary::Services[:relative_url_root]
     config.action_controller.relative_url_root = config.relative_url_root
+    # config.assets.prefix = Dromedary::Services[:relative_url_root]
     # config.relative_url_root                   = '/'
     # config.action_controller.relative_url_root = '/'
 
diff --git a/config/environments/production.rb b/config/environments/production.rb
index 5611833..3b058da 100644
--- a/config/environments/production.rb
+++ b/config/environments/production.rb
@@ -33,8 +33,7 @@
   # `config.assets.precompile` and `config.assets.version` have moved to config/initializers/assets.rb
 
   # Enable serving of images, stylesheets, and JavaScripts from an asset server.
-  # config.asset_host = ENV["CDN_HOST"] # Rails 7+ use the short version of this option
-  config.action_controller.asset_host = ENV["CDN_HOST"]
+  config.asset_host = ENV["CDN_HOST"]
 
   # Specifies the header that your server uses for sending files.
   # config.action_dispatch.x_sendfile_header = 'X-Sendfile' # for Apache
diff --git a/config/load_local_config.rb b/config/load_local_config.rb
index 7a1e6c5..e0a8de0 100644
--- a/config/load_local_config.rb
+++ b/config/load_local_config.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ def underlying_real_collection_name(coll:  Dromedary::Services[:solr_current_col
     end
 
     def collection_creation_date(coll:  Dromedary::Services[:solr_current_collection])
-      return @collection_creation_date if defined? @collection_creation_date
+      return @collection_creation_date if defined?(@collection_creation_date) && !@collection_creation_date.nil?
+
       real_collection_name = underlying_real_collection_name(coll: coll)
       m = /(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})\d{4}\Z/.match(real_collection_name)
       @collection_creation_date = Time.parse(m[1..3].join("-"))
diff --git a/config/routes.rb b/config/routes.rb
index de67e1b..ac8b358 100644
--- a/config/routes.rb
+++ b/config/routes.rb
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@
 Rails.application.routes.draw do
   # For details on the DSL available within this file, see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/routing.html
 
-  scope Dromedary::Services[:relative_url_root] do
-    mount Blacklight::Engine => Dromedary.config.relative_url_root
+  # This scope should go away. The production prefix is managed at the Rack level.
+  scope "/" do
+    mount Blacklight::Engine => "/"
     # config/routes.rb, at any priority that suits you
     mount OkComputer::Engine, at: "/status"