diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0626c9d..1817e3c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ var/
 .installed.cfg
 *.egg
 **/_version.py
-
+.dockerignore
 # PyInstaller
 #  Usually these files are written by a python script from a template
 #  before PyInstaller builds the exe, so as to inject date/other infos into it.
diff --git a/deployment/build_and_push.sh b/deployment/build_and_push.sh
index e64654b..099bbd2 100755
--- a/deployment/build_and_push.sh
+++ b/deployment/build_and_push.sh
@@ -1,25 +1,56 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+TAG="dev"
+PUSH=0
+RUN_CONTAINER=0
+REBUILD_CONTAINER=0
 
-DEV=0
-PUSH=1
+cd -- "$( dirname -- "$BASH_SOURCE[0]" )"
+cd ..
+# make dockerignore from .gitignore
+if [ ! -f .gitignore ]; then
+    echo "No .gitignore file found, exiting."
+    exit 1
+fi
 
+cp .gitignore .dockerignore
 for option in "$@"; do
     case $option in
-        -d|--dev)
-            DEV=1
+        -t|--tag)
+            TAG="$2"
+            shift
+            echo "$TAG"
+            ;;
+        -p|--push)
+            PUSH=1
+            shift
+            echo "Push the container to GCR."
+            ;;
+        -r|--run)
+            shift
+            echo "Run the container after building it."
+            RUN_CONTAINER=1
             ;;
-        -n|--no-push)
-            PUSH=0
+        -b|--rebuild)
+            shift
+            echo "Rebuild the container even if it already exists."
+            REBUILD_CONTAINER=1
+
             ;;
-        --help|--info|--h)
-            echo "Build and push the current repository state into containers and publish them to"
-            echo "gcr.io/diamond-privreg/daq-config-server/<container-name> ready for deployment."
+        --help|--info|-h)
+            echo "Build the current repository state as a container and optionally publish them to"
+            echo "gcr.io/diamond-privreg/daq-config-server/<container-name>."
             echo " "
-            echo "  -d, --dev       Creates -dev:latest tagged containers for testing on argus."
-            echo "  -n, --no-push   Don't push containers to GCR."
+            echo "  -t, --tag <tag>       Specify the tag for the container. Default is 'dev'."
+            echo "  -p, --push            Push the container to GCR. Requires a GitHub token, followed by"
+            echo "                        podman login ghcr.io --username <your gh login> --password-stdin"
+            echo "  -r, --run             Run the container after building it."
+            echo "  -b, --rebuild         Rebuild the container even if it already exists."
+            echo "  -h, --help, --info    Show this help message."    
             echo " "
+            shift
             exit 0
             ;;
+
         -*|--*)
             echo "Unknown option ${option}. Use --help for info on option usage."
             exit 1
@@ -30,33 +61,36 @@ done
 # set container and tag names:
 BASE_CONTAINER_NAME="daq-config-server"
 BASE_REPO_ADDR="gcr.io/diamond-privreg/daq-config-server/"
-if [ $DEV -gt 0 ]; then
-    echo "Building dev-mode containers..."
-    MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME="${BASE_CONTAINER_NAME}-dev"
-else
-    echo "Building prod-mode containers..."
-    MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME="${BASE_CONTAINER_NAME}"
-fi
-echo " "
 
-MAIN_CONTAINER_TAG="${BASE_REPO_ADDR}${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}"
 
-# set env vars which will be used by build process:
-if [ $DEV -gt 0 ]; then
-    export REACT_APP_BACKEND_ADDR="http://localhost:8555"
+MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME="${BASE_CONTAINER_NAME}"
+
+
+MAIN_CONTAINER_TAG="${BASE_REPO_ADDR}${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}:${TAG}"
+
+if [ -z "$(podman images -q $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME:$TAG 2> /dev/null)" ] || [ $REBUILD_CONTAINER -gt 0 ]; then
+    echo " "
+    echo "========================================="
+    echo "====           Building              ===="
+    echo "========================================="
+    echo " "
+    echo "Building ${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}:${TAG}"
+    echo " "
+    podman build -t "${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}:${TAG}" .
 else
-    export REACT_APP_BACKEND_ADDR="https://daq-config.diamond.ac.uk/api"
+    echo "Local image found, using existing image."
 fi
-
-echo " "
-echo "========================================="
-echo "====  Building and pushing main app  ===="
-echo "========================================="
-echo " "
-echo "Building ${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}"
-echo " "
-podman build --build-arg -t $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME .
+rm .dockerignore
 if [ $PUSH -gt 0 ]; then
     podman tag $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME $MAIN_CONTAINER_TAG
-    podman push $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME $MAIN_CONTAINER_TAG
+    podman push $MAIN_CONTAINER_TAG $BASE_REPO_ADDR:$MAIN_CONTAINER_TAG
+fi
+if [ $RUN_CONTAINER -gt 0 ]; then
+    echo "Running container ${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}:${TAG}..."
+    # if the container is already running, stop it first
+    if [ -n "$(podman ps -q --filter "name=$MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME")" ] ; then
+        echo "Container $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME is already running, stopping it first..."
+        podman stop $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME
+    fi
+    podman run -d -v ./tests/test_data:/tests/test_data:z --replace --name $MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME -p 8555:8555 "${MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME}:${TAG}"
 fi