diff --git a/.github/workflows/kagome-builder-deb.yaml b/.github/workflows/kagome-builder-deb.yaml
index 850b722fcf..32afca8fdd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/kagome-builder-deb.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/kagome-builder-deb.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 #
 
-name: Kagome Builder | Debian (Bookworm)
+name: Kagome Builder | Debian (trixie)
 
 on:
   #  schedule:
diff --git a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/Makefile b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/Makefile
index 9377017f61..d1669308e4 100644
--- a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/Makefile
+++ b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Shared Environment Variables
-# bookworm (Debian 12)
-MINIDEB_IMAGE ?= bitnami/minideb@sha256:6cc3baf349947d587a9cd4971e81ff3ffc0d17382f2b5b6de63d6542bff10c16
+# trixie (Debian 13)
+MINIDEB_IMAGE ?= debian:trixie-slim@sha256:c63174f799a74411a0290f25086fdc5dc939aa1f8971a16ad6fb1b7658a25126
 ## DOCKER_REGISTRY_PATH empty for local usage
 DOCKER_REGISTRY_PATH ?=
 DOCKERHUB_REGISTRY_PATH ?= qdrvm/kagome
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ PACKAGE_ARCHITECTURE ?= amd64
 BUILD_TYPE ?= Release
 
 # Generated versions
-MINIDEB_HASH := $(subst bitnami/minideb@sha256:,,$(MINIDEB_IMAGE))
+MINIDEB_HASH := $(subst debian:trixie-slim@sha256:,,$(MINIDEB_IMAGE))
 MINIDEB_SHORT_HASH := $(shell echo $(MINIDEB_HASH) | cut -c1-7)
 MINIDEB_TAG = $(MINIDEB_SHORT_HASH)_rust-$(RUST_VERSION)
 
diff --git a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/install_packages b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/install_packages
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c957764744
--- /dev/null
+++ b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/install_packages
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+set -u
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+n=0
+max=2
+until [ $n -gt $max ]; do
+    set +e
+    (
+      apt-get update -qq &&
+      apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends "$@"
+    )
+    CODE=$?
+    set -e
+    if [ $CODE -eq 0 ]; then
+        break
+    fi
+    if [ $n -eq $max ]; then
+        exit $CODE
+    fi
+    echo "apt failed, retrying"
+    n=$(($n + 1))
+done
+rm -r /var/lib/apt/lists /var/cache/apt/archives
diff --git a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/kagome_builder_deb.Dockerfile b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/kagome_builder_deb.Dockerfile
index ee24636838..972089b6d2 100644
--- a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/kagome_builder_deb.Dockerfile
+++ b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/kagome_builder_deb.Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ ARG BASE_IMAGE
 ARG RUST_VERSION
 ARG ARCHITECTURE=x86_64
 
-ARG DEBIAN_VERSION=bookworm
+ARG DEBIAN_VERSION=unstable
 ARG LLVM_VERSION=19
 ARG GCC_VERSION=13
 
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ ENV LLVM_VERSION=${LLVM_VERSION}
 ARG GCC_VERSION
 ENV GCC_VERSION=${GCC_VERSION}
 
+COPY install_packages /usr/sbin/install_packages
+RUN chmod 0755 /usr/sbin/install_packages
+
 RUN install_packages \
         apt-transport-https \
         ca-certificates \
@@ -31,9 +34,13 @@ RUN install_packages \
         wget
 
 RUN wget -O - https://apt.llvm.org/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/llvm-archive-keyring.gpg
-RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/llvm-archive-keyring.gpg] http://apt.llvm.org/${DEBIAN_VERSION}/ llvm-toolchain-${DEBIAN_VERSION}-${LLVM_VERSION} main" | \
-        tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/llvm.list
-RUN echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
+RUN if [ "$DEBIAN_VERSION" = "unstable" ]; then \
+    echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/llvm-archive-keyring.gpg] http://apt.llvm.org/${DEBIAN_VERSION}/ llvm-toolchain-${LLVM_VERSION} main" | \
+      tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/llvm.list; \
+    else \
+    echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/llvm-archive-keyring.gpg] http://apt.llvm.org/${DEBIAN_VERSION}/ llvm-toolchain-${DEBIAN_VERSION}-${LLVM_VERSION} main" | \
+      tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/llvm.list; \
+    fi
 
 RUN install_packages \
         build-essential \
diff --git a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/minideb.Dockerfile b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/minideb.Dockerfile
index ffbaaed3e3..75b4035543 100644
--- a/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/minideb.Dockerfile
+++ b/housekeeping/docker/kagome-dev/minideb.Dockerfile
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ ENV AUTHOR=${AUTHOR}
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="${AUTHOR}"
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.description="Kagome image"
 
+COPY install_packages /usr/sbin/install_packages
+RUN chmod 0755 /usr/sbin/install_packages
+
 RUN install_packages \
         bash \
         software-properties-common \
@@ -65,11 +68,6 @@ RUN --mount=type=secret,id=google_creds,target=/root/.gcp/google_creds.json \
         kagome-dev=${KAGOME_PACKAGE_VERSION} && \
         sed -i '1s/^/#/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kagome.list
 
-# temporary fix for libc6 (gcc-13)
-# TODO: remove when CI swithed to trixie
-RUN echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list && apt update
-RUN apt install -y libc6 libstdc++6 libgcc-s1 -t trixie
-
 CMD ["/usr/bin/tini", "--", "/bin/bash", "-c"]
 
 
diff --git a/zombienet/docker/Makefile b/zombienet/docker/Makefile
index 9909bfc9cf..da64933308 100644
--- a/zombienet/docker/Makefile
+++ b/zombienet/docker/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Shared Environment Variables
-# bookworm (Debian 12)
-MINIDEB_IMAGE=bitnami/minideb@sha256:6cc3baf349947d587a9cd4971e81ff3ffc0d17382f2b5b6de63d6542bff10c16
+# trixie (Debian 13)
+MINIDEB_IMAGE ?= debian:trixie-slim@sha256:c63174f799a74411a0290f25086fdc5dc939aa1f8971a16ad6fb1b7658a25126
 ## DOCKER_REGISTRY_PATH empty for local usage
 DOCKER_REGISTRY_PATH ?=
 GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS ?=
diff --git a/zombienet/docker/install_packages b/zombienet/docker/install_packages
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c957764744
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zombienet/docker/install_packages
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+set -u
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+n=0
+max=2
+until [ $n -gt $max ]; do
+    set +e
+    (
+      apt-get update -qq &&
+      apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends "$@"
+    )
+    CODE=$?
+    set -e
+    if [ $CODE -eq 0 ]; then
+        break
+    fi
+    if [ $n -eq $max ]; then
+        exit $CODE
+    fi
+    echo "apt failed, retrying"
+    n=$(($n + 1))
+done
+rm -r /var/lib/apt/lists /var/cache/apt/archives
diff --git a/zombienet/docker/zombie_tester.Dockerfile b/zombienet/docker/zombie_tester.Dockerfile
index bc71b0dd10..2c881bf6eb 100644
--- a/zombienet/docker/zombie_tester.Dockerfile
+++ b/zombienet/docker/zombie_tester.Dockerfile
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ ENV ZOMBIENET_RELEASE=$ZOMBIENET_RELEASE
 ARG POLKADOT_SDK_RELEASE
 ENV POLKADOT_SDK_RELEASE=$POLKADOT_SDK_RELEASE
 
+COPY install_packages /usr/sbin/install_packages
+RUN chmod 0755 /usr/sbin/install_packages
+
 RUN groupadd --gid 10000 nonroot && \
     useradd --home-dir /home/nonroot \
             --create-home \
@@ -128,8 +131,3 @@ RUN install_packages  \
       libseccomp2 \
       libatomic1 \
       ssh
-
-# temporary fix for libc6 (gcc-13)
-# TODO: remove when CI swithed to trixie
-RUN echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list && apt update
-RUN apt install -y libc6 libstdc++6 libgcc-s1 -t trixie