diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 80b802a2..b4f81f33 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ go.work
 go.work.sum
 zrok-venv
 
+# cache used by local dev cross-build script
+/.npm
 npm-debug.log*
 yarn-debug.log*
 yarn-error.log*
diff --git a/docker/images/cross-build/Dockerfile b/docker/images/cross-build/Dockerfile
index 4670025f..2f5f0670 100644
--- a/docker/images/cross-build/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/images/cross-build/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# Stage 1: Install Node.js with nvm
 FROM debian:bullseye-slim
 #
 # this file mirrors the build params used in the GitHub Actions and enables
@@ -12,23 +13,31 @@ ARG go_root=/usr/local/go
 ARG go_cache=/usr/share/go_cache
 ARG uid=1000
 ARG gid=1000
-RUN apt-get -y update
-RUN apt-get -y install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu
-RUN apt-get -y install wget build-essential
+RUN apt-get -y update \
+    && apt-get -y install \
+        gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu \
+        wget build-essential
 
-COPY ./linux-build.sh /usr/local/bin/
 RUN wget -q https://go.dev/dl/${go_distribution_file}
 RUN tar -xzf ${go_distribution_file} -C /usr/local/
 
+RUN wget -qO- https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | bash \
+    && apt-get -y update \
+    && apt-get -y install \
+        nodejs
+
 RUN mkdir ${go_path} ${go_cache}
 RUN chown -R ${uid}:${gid} ${go_path} ${go_cache}
 
+COPY ./linux-build.sh /usr/local/bin/
+
 USER ${uid}:${gid}
 ENV TARGETARCH=${TARGETARCH}
 ENV GOPATH=${go_path}
 ENV GOROOT=${go_root}
 ENV GOCACHE=${go_cache}
 ENV PATH=${go_path}/bin:${go_root}/bin:$PATH
+
 RUN go install github.com/mitchellh/gox@latest
 WORKDIR /mnt
 ENTRYPOINT ["linux-build.sh"]
diff --git a/docker/images/cross-build/linux-build.sh b/docker/images/cross-build/linux-build.sh
index 9d31a8ff..447106a8 100755
--- a/docker/images/cross-build/linux-build.sh
+++ b/docker/images/cross-build/linux-build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
 #
 # 
 
-set -o pipefail -e -u
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+set -o xtrace
 
 # if no architectures supplied then default list of three
 if (( ${#} )); then
@@ -31,6 +34,16 @@ else
     PROCS_PER_JOB=0 # invokes gox default to use all CPUs-1
 fi
 
+(
+    HOME=/tmp/builder
+    # Navigate to the "ui" directory and run npm commands
+    npm config set cache /mnt/.npm
+    cd ./ui/
+    mkdir -p $HOME
+    npm install
+    npm run build
+)
+
 for ARCH in ${JOBS[@]}; do
     GOX_CMD="
         gox \