diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-localstack/action.yaml b/.github/actions/setup-localstack/action.yaml
index ee503fe9..405c392f 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-localstack/action.yaml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-localstack/action.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: 'Setup localstack service'
-description: 'Download & run localstack container'
+description: 'Download & run localstack container (does not create S3 buckets; tests or workflows should create resources they need)'
 inputs:
   # inputs for https://github.com/docker/login-action
   username:
@@ -13,26 +13,25 @@ inputs:
 runs:
   using: "composite"
   steps:
-    - uses: docker/login-action@v3
+    - uses: docker/login-action@v4
       with:
         registry: ghcr.io
         username: ${{ inputs.username }}
         password: ${{ inputs.password }}
-    - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+    - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
       with:
         python-version: '3.11'
     - shell: bash
       run: |
-            pip install localstack==3.3.0                                # Install LocalStack cli
-            # Below image was copied manually from localstack/localstack:2.2 and uploaded to ghcr
-            docker pull ghcr.io/project-zot/ci-images/localstack:3.3.0   # Make sure to pull a working version of the image
-            localstack start -d                                          # Start LocalStack in the background
-
-            echo "Waiting for LocalStack startup..."                     # Wait 30 seconds for the LocalStack container
-            localstack wait -t 30                                        # to become ready before timing out
+            pip install --upgrade pyopenssl
+            pip install localstack==3.3.0 'awscli-local[ver1]'
+            # Below image was copied manually from localstack/localstack:community-archive and uploaded to ghcr
+            docker pull "$IMAGE_NAME"                   # Make sure to pull a working version of the image
+            localstack start -d                         # Start LocalStack in the background
+            echo "Waiting for LocalStack startup..."    # Wait 30 seconds for the LocalStack container
+            localstack wait -t 30                       # to become ready before timing out
             echo "Startup complete"
-
-            aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 s3api create-bucket --bucket zot-storage --region us-east-2 --create-bucket-configuration="{\"LocationConstraint\": \"us-east-2\"}"
       env:
         AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: fake
         AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: fake
+        IMAGE_NAME: ghcr.io/project-zot/ci-images/localstack:community-archive
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ecosystem-tools.yaml b/.github/workflows/ecosystem-tools.yaml
index cd563801..5896611f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ecosystem-tools.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ecosystem-tools.yaml
@@ -72,25 +72,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run CI tests
         run: |
           make run-blackbox-ci
-      - name: Log in to GitHub Docker Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v4
-        with:
-          registry: ghcr.io
-          username: ${{ github.actor }}
-          password: ${{ github.token }}
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
-      - name: Install localstack
-        run: |
-          pip install --upgrade pyopenssl
-          pip install localstack==3.3.0 awscli-local[ver1] # install LocalStack cli and awslocal
-          docker pull ghcr.io/project-zot/ci-images/localstack:3.3.0  # Make sure to pull a working version of the image
-          localstack start -d                       # Start LocalStack in the background
-
-          echo "Waiting for LocalStack startup..."  # Wait 30 seconds for the LocalStack container
-          localstack wait -t 30                     # to become ready before timing out
-          echo "Startup complete"
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-localstack
       - name: Run cloud-only tests
         run: |
           make run-blackbox-cloud-ci
diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml b/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml
index c72df402..2b41a9e7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml
@@ -36,25 +36,7 @@ jobs:
           make bin/skopeo
           sudo cp bin/skopeo /usr/bin
           skopeo -v
-      - name: Log in to GitHub Docker Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v4
-        with:
-          registry: ghcr.io
-          username: ${{ github.actor }}
-          password: ${{ github.token }}
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
-      - name: Install localstack
-        run: |
-          pip install --upgrade pyopenssl
-          pip install localstack==3.3.0 awscli-local[ver1] # install LocalStack cli and awslocal
-          docker pull ghcr.io/project-zot/ci-images/localstack:3.3.0 # Make sure to pull the latest version of the image
-          localstack start -d                       # Start LocalStack in the background
-
-          echo "Waiting for LocalStack startup..."  # Wait 30 seconds for the LocalStack container
-          localstack wait -t 30                     # to become ready before timing out
-          echo "Startup complete"
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-localstack
       - name: Run blackbox nightly dedupe tests
         run: |
             # test restoring s3 blobs after cache is deleted
@@ -95,7 +77,13 @@ jobs:
           check-latest: true
           go-version: 1.25.x
       - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-localstack
-
+      - name: Create zot-storage bucket on LocalStack
+        run: |
+          awslocal s3api create-bucket --bucket zot-storage --region us-east-2 \
+            --create-bucket-configuration='{"LocationConstraint": "us-east-2"}'
+        env:
+          AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: fake
+          AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: fake
       - name: Run zb
         timeout-minutes: 240
         id: bench
@@ -133,7 +121,13 @@ jobs:
           check-latest: true
           go-version: 1.25.x
       - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-localstack
-
+      - name: Create zot-storage bucket on LocalStack
+        run: |
+          awslocal s3api create-bucket --bucket zot-storage --region us-east-2 \
+            --create-bucket-configuration='{"LocationConstraint": "us-east-2"}'
+        env:
+          AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: fake
+          AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: fake
       - name: Run zb
         timeout-minutes: 240
         id: bench
@@ -274,25 +268,7 @@ jobs:
           sudo cp bin/skopeo /usr/bin
           skopeo -v
           cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
-      - name: Log in to GitHub Docker Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v4
-        with:
-          registry: ghcr.io
-          username: ${{ github.actor }}
-          password: ${{ github.token }}
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
-      - name: Install localstack
-        run: |
-          pip install --upgrade pyopenssl
-          pip install localstack==3.3.0 awscli-local[ver1] # install LocalStack cli and awslocal
-          docker pull ghcr.io/project-zot/ci-images/localstack:3.3.0  # Make sure to pull a working version of the image
-          localstack start -d                       # Start LocalStack in the background
-
-          echo "Waiting for LocalStack startup..."  # Wait 30 seconds for the LocalStack container
-          localstack wait -t 30                     # to become ready before timing out
-          echo "Startup complete"
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-localstack
       - name: Run cloud scale-out high scale performance tests
         id: scale
         run: |
@@ -361,25 +337,7 @@ jobs:
           sudo cp bin/skopeo /usr/bin
           skopeo -v
           cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
-      - name: Log in to GitHub Docker Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v4
-        with:
-          registry: ghcr.io
-          username: ${{ github.actor }}
-          password: ${{ github.token }}
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
-      - name: Install localstack
-        run: |
-          pip install --upgrade pyopenssl
-          pip install localstack==3.3.0 awscli-local[ver1] # install LocalStack cli and awslocal
-          docker pull ghcr.io/project-zot/ci-images/localstack:3.3.0  # Make sure to pull a working version of the image
-          localstack start -d                       # Start LocalStack in the background
-
-          echo "Waiting for LocalStack startup..."  # Wait 30 seconds for the LocalStack container
-          localstack wait -t 30                     # to become ready before timing out
-          echo "Startup complete"
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-localstack
       - name: Run cloud scale-out Redis tests
         id: scale
         run: |
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cc2a64cd..726f293c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ test-extended: testdata-images
 
 .PHONY: test-minimal
 test-minimal: testdata-images
-	env GOEXPERIMENT=jsonv2 go test -failfast -trimpath -race -cover -coverpkg ./... -coverprofile=coverage-minimal.txt -covermode=atomic ./...
+	env GOEXPERIMENT=jsonv2 go test -failfast -trimpath -race -timeout 12m -cover -coverpkg ./... -coverprofile=coverage-minimal.txt -covermode=atomic ./...
 	rm -rf /tmp/getter*; rm -rf /tmp/trivy*
 
 .PHONY: test-devmode