diff --git a/src/docker.rs b/src/docker.rs
index ff58946bf..9e09c4704 100644
--- a/src/docker.rs
+++ b/src/docker.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use std::io::Read;
+use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::{Command, ExitStatus};
 use std::{env, fs};
@@ -259,14 +259,20 @@ pub fn run(
         .run_and_get_status(verbose)
 }
 
-/// (Assemble) and return the image to execute inside
-pub fn image_assemble(
-    verbose: bool,
-    config: &Config,
-    target: &Target,
-    host_root: &Path,
-) -> Result<String> {
-    if let Some(dockerfile) = config.dockerfile(target)? {
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
+pub enum Dockerfile<'a> {
+    File {
+        path: &'a str,
+        context: Option<&'a str>,
+        name: Option<&'a str>,
+    },
+    Stdin {
+        content: &'a str,
+    },
+}
+
+impl<'a> Dockerfile<'a> {
+    pub fn build(&self, verbose: bool, host_root: &Path) -> Result<String> {
         let mut docker_build = docker_command("build")?;
         docker_build.current_dir(host_root);
         docker_build.env("DOCKER_SCAN_SUGGEST", "false");
@@ -277,34 +283,87 @@ pub fn image_assemble(
 
         docker_build.args(["--iidfile".as_ref(), iidfile_path.as_os_str()]);
 
-        docker_build.args(["--file", &dockerfile]);
-
-        if let Some(image) = config.image(target)? {
+        if let Some(image) = self.image_name() {
             docker_build.args(["--tag", &image]);
         };
 
-        if let Some(context) = config.dockerfile_context(target)? {
+        if let Some(context) = self.context() {
             docker_build.arg(&context);
         } else {
             // This `.` is techically the host_root, not cwd
+            // When using Dockerfile::Stdin, this will be ignored by docker.
             docker_build.arg(".");
         }
+
+        match self {
+            Dockerfile::File { path, .. } => {
+                docker_build.args(["--file", &path]);
+            }
+            Dockerfile::Stdin { content } => {
+                // XXX: Ugly hack to circumvent platform issues. we could use echo
+                let stdin_path = tempfile::NamedTempFile::new()
+                    .wrap_err("could not create a temporary file")?
+                    .into_temp_path();
+                let mut file = std::fs::File::options().write(true).open(&stdin_path)?;
+                file.write_all(content.as_bytes())?;
+                file.sync_data()?;
+                docker_build.arg("-").stdin(file);
+            }
+        }
+
         docker_build
             .run(verbose)
-            .wrap_err_with(|| format!("could not build dockerfile `{dockerfile}`"))?;
+            .wrap_err_with(|| format!("build failed"))?;
 
-        let image_name = if let Some(image) = config.image(target)? {
-            image
+        let image_name = if let Some(image) = self.image_name() {
+            image.to_owned()
         } else {
             let mut image_name = String::new();
             std::fs::File::open(&iidfile_path)?.read_to_string(&mut image_name)?;
             image_name
         };
+
         if image_name.is_empty() {
             eyre::bail!("no image returned from docker build")
         }
-        std::fs::remove_file(iidfile_path)?;
         Ok(image_name)
+    }
+
+    fn image_name(&self) -> Option<&'a str> {
+        match self {
+            Dockerfile::File {
+                name: Some(name), ..
+            } => Some(name),
+            _ => None,
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn context(&self) -> Option<&'a str> {
+        match self {
+            Dockerfile::File {
+                context: Some(context),
+                ..
+            } => Some(context),
+            _ => None,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// (Assemble) and return the image to execute inside
+pub fn image_assemble(
+    verbose: bool,
+    config: &Config,
+    target: &Target,
+    host_root: &Path,
+) -> Result<String> {
+    if let Some(dockerfile) = config.dockerfile(target)? {
+        Dockerfile::File {
+            path: &dockerfile,
+            context: config.dockerfile_context(&target)?.as_deref(),
+            name: config.image(&target)?.as_deref(),
+        }
+        .build(verbose, host_root)
+        .wrap_err("when building dockerfile")
     } else {
         Ok(image(config, target)?)
     }