diff --git a/build/Dockerfile.nginxplus b/build/Dockerfile.nginxplus
index 60ac79fcdf..7ce2cfafbc 100644
--- a/build/Dockerfile.nginxplus
+++ b/build/Dockerfile.nginxplus
@@ -4,11 +4,28 @@ FROM scratch AS nginx-files
 # the following links can be replaced with local files if needed, i.e. ADD --chown=101:1001 <local_file> <container_file>
 ADD --link --chown=101:1001 https://cs.nginx.com/static/keys/nginx_signing.rsa.pub nginx_signing.rsa.pub
 
+# Build nginx-agent from source
+FROM golang:1.24-alpine AS agent-builder
+
+RUN apk add --no-cache git make curl jq
+
+# Clone the specific branch with full history to avoid git describe issues
+RUN git clone --branch retry-api-ping https://github.com/nginx/agent.git /src/agent
+
+WORKDIR /src/agent
+
+# Set git config for the build process
+RUN git config --global user.email "build@nginx.com" && \
+    git config --global user.name "Docker Build"
+
+# Build the agent using the correct target
+RUN make build
+
 FROM alpine:3.22
 
 ARG NGINX_PLUS_VERSION=R35
-# renovate: datasource=github-tags depName=nginx/agent
-ARG NGINX_AGENT_VERSION=v3.2.1
+# Using custom agent build from retry-api-ping branch
+ARG NGINX_AGENT_BRANCH=retry-api-ping
 ARG NJS_DIR
 ARG NGINX_CONF_DIR
 ARG BUILD_AGENT
@@ -19,14 +36,19 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=nginx-repo.crt,dst=/etc/apk/cert.pem,mode=0644 \
     addgroup -g 1001 -S nginx \
     && adduser -S -D -H -u 101 -h /var/cache/nginx -s /sbin/nologin -G nginx -g nginx nginx \
     && printf "%s\n" "https://pkgs.nginx.com/plus/${NGINX_PLUS_VERSION}/alpine/v$(grep -E -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
-    && printf "%s\n" "https://pkgs.nginx.com/nginx-agent/alpine/v$(egrep -o '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' /etc/alpine-release)/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories \
-    && apk add --no-cache nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel nginx-agent=${NGINX_AGENT_VERSION#v}
+    && apk add --no-cache nginx-plus nginx-plus-module-njs nginx-plus-module-otel
 
 RUN apk add --no-cache bash \
     && mkdir -p /usr/lib/nginx/modules \
     # forward request and error logs to docker log collector
     && ln -sf /dev/stdout /var/log/nginx/access.log \
-    && ln -sf /dev/stderr /var/log/nginx/error.log
+    && ln -sf /dev/stderr /var/log/nginx/error.log \
+    # Create directories for nginx-agent
+    && mkdir -p /usr/bin /etc/nginx-agent /var/log/nginx-agent /var/lib/nginx-agent
+
+# Copy the custom-built nginx-agent binary
+COPY --from=agent-builder /src/agent/build/nginx-agent /usr/bin/nginx-agent
+RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/nginx-agent
 
 COPY build/entrypoint.sh /agent/entrypoint.sh
 COPY ${NJS_DIR}/httpmatches.js /usr/lib/nginx/modules/njs/httpmatches.js
@@ -34,10 +56,12 @@ COPY ${NGINX_CONF_DIR}/nginx-plus.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
 COPY ${NGINX_CONF_DIR}/grpc-error-locations.conf /etc/nginx/grpc-error-locations.conf
 COPY ${NGINX_CONF_DIR}/grpc-error-pages.conf /etc/nginx/grpc-error-pages.conf
 
-RUN chown -R 101:1001 /etc/nginx /var/cache/nginx /var/lib/nginx
+RUN chown -R 101:1001 /etc/nginx /var/cache/nginx /var/lib/nginx /etc/nginx-agent /var/log/nginx-agent /var/lib/nginx-agent
 
 USER 101:1001
 
 LABEL org.nginx.ngf.image.build.agent="${BUILD_AGENT}"
+LABEL org.nginx.ngf.image.agent.branch="${NGINX_AGENT_BRANCH}"
+LABEL org.nginx.ngf.image.agent.source="custom-build-retry-api-ping"
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["/agent/entrypoint.sh"]