diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
index 50ffe19..31c0db6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
       - name: Install dotrun
-        run: pip3 install .
+        run: |
+          pip3 install . requests==2.31.0
 
       - name: Install newest version of curl for --retry-all-errors support
         run: sudo snap install curl
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4a9b87f..3447063 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ $ dotrun -s {script}             # Run {script} but skip installing dependencies
 $ dotrun --env FOO=bar {script}  # Run {script} with FOO environment variable
 $ dotrun -m "/path/to/mount":"localname"       # Mount additional directory and run `dotrun`
 $ dotrun serve -m "/path/to/mount":"localname" # Mount additional directory and run `dotrun serve`
+$ dotrun refresh image # Download the latest version of dotrun-image
+$ dotrun --release {release-version} # Use a specific image tag for dotrun. Useful for switching versions
+$ dotrun --image {image-name} # Use a specific image for dotrun. Useful for running dotrun off local images
 ```
 
+- Note that the `--image` and `--release` arguments cannot be used together, as `--image` will take precedence over `--release`
+
 ## Installation
 
 ### Docker
@@ -105,3 +110,34 @@ docker buildx create --name mybuilder
 docker buildx use mybuilder
 docker buildx build --push --platform linux/arm/v7,linux/arm64/v8,linux/amd64 --tag canonicalwebteam/dotrun-image:latest .
 ```
+
+## Hacking
+
+You can install the package locally using either pip or poetry.
+
+### Using pip
+```bash
+pip3 install . requests==2.31.0
+```
+
+### Using Poetry
+```bash
+pip install poetry
+poetry install --no-interaction
+```
+
+To run dotrun off alternative base images such as local images, you can use the `--image` flag.
+```bash
+dotrun --image "localimage" exec echo hello
+```
+
+To run dotrun off alternative releases, besides the `:latest` release, you can use the `--release` flag.
+```bash
+dotrun --release "latest" serve
+```
+
+Note that before changing the base image you should run 
+```bash
+dotrun clean
+```
+to get rid of the old virtualenv.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dotrun.py b/dotrun.py
index 0ad91e9..aa2517f 100644
--- a/dotrun.py
+++ b/dotrun.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 
 class Dotrun:
+    BASE_IMAGE_NAME = "canonicalwebteam/dotrun-image:latest"
+
     def __init__(self):
         self.cwd = os.getcwd()
         self.project_name = slugify(os.path.basename(self.cwd))
@@ -29,10 +31,20 @@ def __init__(self):
             sys.platform.startswith("linux")
             and "microsoft" not in platform.platform()
         )
+
         self._get_docker_client()
         self._check_image_updates()
         self._create_cache_volume()
 
+    def _get_image_name(self, image_name):
+        """
+        Return a fully qualified image name from a given image
+        name, defaulting to the :latest tag if none is provided.
+        """
+        if ":" not in image_name:
+            return image_name + ":latest"
+        return image_name
+
     def _get_docker_client(self):
         try:
             self.docker_client = docker.from_env()
@@ -47,9 +59,7 @@ def _get_docker_client(self):
 
     def _check_image_updates(self):
         try:
-            self.docker_client.images.get(
-                "canonicalwebteam/dotrun-image:latest"
-            )
+            self.docker_client.images.get(self.BASE_IMAGE_NAME)
             # Pull the image in the background
             print("Checking for dotrun image updates...")
             threading.Thread(target=self._pull_image)
@@ -57,11 +67,21 @@ def _check_image_updates(self):
             print("Getting the dotrun image...")
             self._pull_image()
 
-    def _pull_image(self):
+    def _pull_image(self, image_name=None, exit_on_download_error=True):
         """Pull the dotrun image (if updated) from Docker Hub"""
-        self.docker_client.images.pull(
-            repository="canonicalwebteam/dotrun-image", tag="latest"
-        )
+        if not image_name:
+            image_name = self.BASE_IMAGE_NAME
+        image_uri = self._get_image_name(image_name)
+        repository, tag = image_uri.split(":")
+        try:
+            self.docker_client.images.pull(repository=repository, tag=tag)
+        except (docker.errors.APIError, docker.errors.ImageNotFound) as e:
+            print(f"Unable to download image: {image_name}")
+            # Optionally quit if image download fails
+            if exit_on_download_error:
+                print(e)
+                sys.exit(1)
+            print(f"Attempting to use local image: {image_name}")
 
     def _create_cache_volume(self):
         try:
@@ -71,7 +91,7 @@ def _create_cache_volume(self):
 
             # We need to fix the volume ownership
             self.docker_client.containers.run(
-                "canonicalwebteam/dotrun-image",
+                self.BASE_IMAGE_NAME,
                 f"chown -R ubuntu:ubuntu {self.container_home}.cache",
                 user="root",
                 mounts=self._prepare_mounts([]),
@@ -154,7 +174,9 @@ def get_mount(command, mounts):
 
         return get_mount(command, [])
 
-    def create_container(self, command):
+    def create_container(self, command, image_name=None):
+        if not image_name:
+            image_name = self.BASE_IMAGE_NAME
         ports = {self.project_port: self.project_port}
         # Run on the same network mode as the host
         network_mode = None
@@ -175,7 +197,7 @@ def create_container(self, command):
             network_mode = "host"
 
         return self.docker_client.containers.create(
-            image="canonicalwebteam/dotrun-image",
+            image=image_name,
             name=name,
             hostname=name,
             mounts=self._prepare_mounts(command),
@@ -189,6 +211,82 @@ def create_container(self, command):
         )
 
 
+def _extract_cli_command_arg(pattern, command_list):
+    """
+    Return the value from the format
+
+    --command <value>
+
+    and remove the command from the command list.
+    """
+    pattern = re.compile(f"--{pattern} [^\s]+")  # noqa
+    if match := re.search(pattern, " ".join(command_list)):
+        # Extract the value from the cli arg
+        command_arg = match.group(0)
+        try:
+            value = command_arg.split(" ")[1]
+        except IndexError:
+            print(f"Value for arg {command_arg} not supplied.")
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+        # Remove the command from command list
+        new_command_list = (
+            " ".join(command_list).replace(command_arg, "").replace("  ", " ")
+        )
+        return value, new_command_list.split(" ")
+    return None
+
+
+def _handle_image_cli_param(dotrun, command_list):
+    """
+    Handle the --image cli parameter, if supplied, and return the
+    created container and the modified command list.
+    """
+    if result := _extract_cli_command_arg("image", command_list):
+        image_name, commands = result
+        # Sanitize the image name
+        image_name = dotrun._get_image_name(image_name)
+        return (
+            _start_container_with_image(dotrun, image_name, commands),
+            commands,
+        )
+
+
+def _handle_release_cli_param(dotrun, command_list):
+    """
+    Handle the --release cli parameter, if supplied, and return the
+    created container and the modified command list.
+    """
+    if result := _extract_cli_command_arg("release", command_list):
+        image_tag, commands = result
+        # Get the release image uri
+        image_name, _ = dotrun.BASE_IMAGE_NAME.split(":")
+        image_tag = f"{image_name}:{image_tag}"
+        return (
+            _start_container_with_image(dotrun, image_tag, commands),
+            commands,
+        )
+
+
+def _start_container_with_image(dotrun, image_uri, command_list):
+    """
+    Utility function to start dotrun using a specified
+    image.
+    """
+
+    print(f"Using image: {image_uri}")
+
+    # Download the image
+    dotrun._pull_image(image_uri, exit_on_download_error=True)
+
+    # Start dotrun from the supplied base image
+    try:
+        return dotrun.create_container(command_list, image_name=image_uri)
+    except docker.errors.ImageNotFound as e:
+        print(e)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+
 def cli():
     dotrun = Dotrun()
     command = ["dotrun"]
@@ -196,8 +294,20 @@ def cli():
 
     if command[-1] == "version":
         print(f"dotrun v{__version__}")
+        sys.exit(1)
 
-    container = dotrun.create_container(command)
+    if command[-1] == "refresh":
+        dotrun._pull_image()
+        print("Latest image pulled successfully.")
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    # Options for starting the container using different base images
+    if result := _handle_image_cli_param(dotrun, command):
+        container, command = result
+    elif result := _handle_release_cli_param(dotrun, command):
+        container, command = result
+    else:
+        container = dotrun.create_container(command)
 
     # 1 by default
     status_code = 1
@@ -210,3 +320,7 @@ def cli():
         container.remove()
 
     return status_code
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    cli()
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 102c045..6cd71cd 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.4.2 and should not be changed by hand.
+# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.8.3 and should not be changed by hand.
 
 [[package]]
 name = "certifi"
 version = "2022.12.7"
 description = "Python package for providing Mozilla's CA Bundle."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 files = [
@@ -16,7 +15,6 @@ files = [
 name = "charset-normalizer"
 version = "2.0.12"
 description = "The Real First Universal Charset Detector. Open, modern and actively maintained alternative to Chardet."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5.0"
 files = [
@@ -29,30 +27,29 @@ unicode-backport = ["unicodedata2"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "docker"
-version = "5.0.3"
+version = "6.1.3"
 description = "A Python library for the Docker Engine API."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
-python-versions = ">=3.6"
+python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
-    {file = "docker-5.0.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:7a79bb439e3df59d0a72621775d600bc8bc8b422d285824cb37103eab91d1ce0"},
-    {file = "docker-5.0.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:d916a26b62970e7c2f554110ed6af04c7ccff8e9f81ad17d0d40c75637e227fb"},
+    {file = "docker-6.1.3-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:aecd2277b8bf8e506e484f6ab7aec39abe0038e29fa4a6d3ba86c3fe01844ed9"},
+    {file = "docker-6.1.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:aa6d17830045ba5ef0168d5eaa34d37beeb113948c413affe1d5991fc11f9a20"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
-pywin32 = {version = "227", markers = "sys_platform == \"win32\""}
-requests = ">=2.14.2,<2.18.0 || >2.18.0"
+packaging = ">=14.0"
+pywin32 = {version = ">=304", markers = "sys_platform == \"win32\""}
+requests = ">=2.26.0"
+urllib3 = ">=1.26.0"
 websocket-client = ">=0.32.0"
 
 [package.extras]
-ssh = ["paramiko (>=2.4.2)"]
-tls = ["cryptography (>=3.4.7)", "idna (>=2.0.0)", "pyOpenSSL (>=17.5.0)"]
+ssh = ["paramiko (>=2.4.3)"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "dockerpty"
 version = "0.4.1"
 description = "Python library to use the pseudo-tty of a docker container"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 files = [
@@ -66,7 +63,6 @@ six = ">=1.3.0"
 name = "idna"
 version = "3.4"
 description = "Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA)"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5"
 files = [
@@ -74,11 +70,21 @@ files = [
     {file = "idna-3.4.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:814f528e8dead7d329833b91c5faa87d60bf71824cd12a7530b5526063d02cb4"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "packaging"
+version = "24.1"
+description = "Core utilities for Python packages"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.8"
+files = [
+    {file = "packaging-24.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:5b8f2217dbdbd2f7f384c41c628544e6d52f2d0f53c6d0c3ea61aa5d1d7ff124"},
+    {file = "packaging-24.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:026ed72c8ed3fcce5bf8950572258698927fd1dbda10a5e981cdf0ac37f4f002"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "python-dotenv"
 version = "0.20.0"
 description = "Read key-value pairs from a .env file and set them as environment variables"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5"
 files = [
@@ -93,7 +99,6 @@ cli = ["click (>=5.0)"]
 name = "python-slugify"
 version = "6.1.2"
 description = "A Python slugify application that also handles Unicode"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*, !=3.5.*"
 files = [
@@ -109,31 +114,31 @@ unidecode = ["Unidecode (>=1.1.1)"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pywin32"
-version = "227"
+version = "306"
 description = "Python for Window Extensions"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 files = [
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp27-cp27m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:371fcc39416d736401f0274dd64c2302728c9e034808e37381b5e1b22be4a6b0"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp27-cp27m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:4cdad3e84191194ea6d0dd1b1b9bdda574ff563177d2adf2b4efec2a244fa116"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp35-cp35m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:f4c5be1a293bae0076d93c88f37ee8da68136744588bc5e2be2f299a34ceb7aa"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp35-cp35m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:a929a4af626e530383a579431b70e512e736e9588106715215bf685a3ea508d4"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp36-cp36m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:300a2db938e98c3e7e2093e4491439e62287d0d493fe07cce110db070b54c0be"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:9b31e009564fb95db160f154e2aa195ed66bcc4c058ed72850d047141b36f3a2"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:47a3c7551376a865dd8d095a98deba954a98f326c6fe3c72d8726ca6e6b15507"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:31f88a89139cb2adc40f8f0e65ee56a8c585f629974f9e07622ba80199057511"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:7f18199fbf29ca99dff10e1f09451582ae9e372a892ff03a28528a24d55875bc"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:7c1ae32c489dc012930787f06244426f8356e129184a02c25aef163917ce158e"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:c054c52ba46e7eb6b7d7dfae4dbd987a1bb48ee86debe3f245a2884ece46e295"},
-    {file = "pywin32-227-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:f27cec5e7f588c3d1051651830ecc00294f90728d19c3bf6916e6dba93ea357c"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp310-cp310-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:06d3420a5155ba65f0b72f2699b5bacf3109f36acbe8923765c22938a69dfc8d"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:84f4471dbca1887ea3803d8848a1616429ac94a4a8d05f4bc9c5dcfd42ca99c8"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp311-cp311-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:e65028133d15b64d2ed8f06dd9fbc268352478d4f9289e69c190ecd6818b6407"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:a7639f51c184c0272e93f244eb24dafca9b1855707d94c192d4a0b4c01e1100e"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp311-cp311-win_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:70dba0c913d19f942a2db25217d9a1b726c278f483a919f1abfed79c9cf64d3a"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp312-cp312-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:383229d515657f4e3ed1343da8be101000562bf514591ff383ae940cad65458b"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:37257794c1ad39ee9be652da0462dc2e394c8159dfd913a8a4e8eb6fd346da0e"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp312-cp312-win_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:5821ec52f6d321aa59e2db7e0a35b997de60c201943557d108af9d4ae1ec7040"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:1c73ea9a0d2283d889001998059f5eaaba3b6238f767c9cf2833b13e6a685f65"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:72c5f621542d7bdd4fdb716227be0dd3f8565c11b280be6315b06ace35487d36"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:e4c092e2589b5cf0d365849e73e02c391c1349958c5ac3e9d5ccb9a28e017b3a"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:e8ac1ae3601bee6ca9f7cb4b5363bf1c0badb935ef243c4733ff9a393b1690c0"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:e25fd5b485b55ac9c057f67d94bc203f3f6595078d1fb3b458c9c28b7153a802"},
+    {file = "pywin32-306-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:39b61c15272833b5c329a2989999dcae836b1eed650252ab1b7bfbe1d59f30f4"},
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "requests"
 version = "2.27.1"
 description = "Python HTTP for Humans."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*, !=3.5.*"
 files = [
@@ -155,7 +160,6 @@ use-chardet-on-py3 = ["chardet (>=3.0.2,<5)"]
 name = "six"
 version = "1.16.0"
 description = "Python 2 and 3 compatibility utilities"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*"
 files = [
@@ -167,7 +171,6 @@ files = [
 name = "text-unidecode"
 version = "1.3"
 description = "The most basic Text::Unidecode port"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 files = [
@@ -179,7 +182,6 @@ files = [
 name = "urllib3"
 version = "1.26.15"
 description = "HTTP library with thread-safe connection pooling, file post, and more."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*, !=3.5.*"
 files = [
@@ -196,7 +198,6 @@ socks = ["PySocks (>=1.5.6,!=1.5.7,<2.0)"]
 name = "websocket-client"
 version = "1.3.1"
 description = "WebSocket client for Python with low level API options"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 files = [
@@ -211,5 +212,5 @@ test = ["websockets"]
 
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
-python-versions = '^3.6'
-content-hash = "5ee65bae18836cf8e5ee1fad3b0ea51b2b13e48641695e16ae4361a9119ca810"
+python-versions = "^3.10"
+content-hash = "34169362595085367730a23528a5c5c2f7da09c7f6ab9e9ea421f5d44d540b65"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7a1c427..ac70ced 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = 'dotrun'
-version = '2.2.0'
+version = '2.3.0'
 description = 'A tool for developing Node.js and Python projects'
 authors = ['Canonical Web Team <webteam@canonical.com>']
 license = 'LGPL-3.0'
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ readme = 'README.md'
 dotrun = "dotrun:cli"
 
 [tool.poetry.dependencies]
-python = '^3.6'
+python = '^3.10'
 python-dotenv = '0.20.0'
 python-slugify = '6.1.2'
 docker = '6.1.3'