diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 89583e16d..1cf381c25 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -99,10 +99,16 @@ spire-images: spire-server-image spire-agent-image ## Builds SPIRE Server and Ag
 .PHONY: spire-server-image
 spire-server-image: Dockerfile.server ## Builds SPIRE Server docker image
 	docker build --build-arg goversion=$(goversion-required) -t spire-server -f Dockerfile.server .
+	# tag the image for local use (in systems tests, for example). "latest"
+	# isn't preferred since that can impact image pull policy (.e.g kubelet)
+	docker tag spire-server:latest spire-server:latest-local
 
 .PHONY: spire-agent-image
 spire-agent-image: Dockerfile.agent ## Builds SPIRE Agent docker image
 	docker build --build-arg goversion=$(goversion-required) -t spire-agent -f Dockerfile.agent .
+	# tag the image for local use (in systems tests, for example). "latest"
+	# isn't preferred since that can impact image pull policy (.e.g kubelet)
+	docker tag spire-agent:latest spire-agent:latest-local
 
 ##@ Others
 utils: $(utils) ## Go-get SPIRE utils
diff --git a/tools/k8s-test/config.go b/tools/k8s-test/config.go
index 129eafbbd..ff4cdee04 100644
--- a/tools/k8s-test/config.go
+++ b/tools/k8s-test/config.go
@@ -1,13 +1,35 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"regexp"
+
+	"github.com/zeebo/errs"
+)
+
+var (
+	// multi-line, ungreedy match for a YAML configuration line for a non-local spire-* image
+	reSpireImage = regexp.MustCompile(`(?mU)^(\s*-?\s*image:\s*)gcr.io/spiffe-io/(spire-.+)(?::.*)?$`)
 )
 
-func ApplyConfig(ctx context.Context, path string) ([]Object, error) {
+func ApplyConfig(ctx context.Context, path string, useLocalImage bool) ([]Object, error) {
+	// read the config file in so we can replace the image
+	configBytes, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errs.Wrap(err)
+	}
+
+	if useLocalImage {
+		configBytes = replaceSpireImageWithLocal(configBytes)
+		fmt.Println("APPLYING:\n", string(configBytes))
+	}
+
 	var raw json.RawMessage
-	if err := kubectlCmdJSON(ctx, &raw, "apply", "-f", path); err != nil {
+	if err := kubectlCmdJSON(ctx, bytes.NewReader(configBytes), &raw, "apply", "-f", "-"); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -48,3 +70,7 @@ func ApplyConfig(ctx context.Context, path string) ([]Object, error) {
 
 	return objects, nil
 }
+
+func replaceSpireImageWithLocal(configBytes []byte) []byte {
+	return reSpireImage.ReplaceAll(configBytes, []byte("$1$2:latest-local"))
+}
diff --git a/tools/k8s-test/go.mod b/tools/k8s-test/go.mod
index 1b8d48dbe..fed170036 100644
--- a/tools/k8s-test/go.mod
+++ b/tools/k8s-test/go.mod
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.4 // indirect
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v0.0.3
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.3 // indirect
+	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.3.0
 	github.com/zeebo/errs v1.1.1
 	golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20190213061140-3a22650c66bd // indirect
 	golang.org/x/text v0.3.0 // indirect
diff --git a/tools/k8s-test/go.sum b/tools/k8s-test/go.sum
index 4dfad9314..15ee3df16 100644
--- a/tools/k8s-test/go.sum
+++ b/tools/k8s-test/go.sum
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0 h1:ZDRjVQ15GmhC3fiQ8ni8+OwkZQO4DARzQgrnXU1Liz8=
+github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.7.0 h1:DkWD4oS2D8LGGgTQ6IvwJJXSL5Vp2ffcQg58nFV38Ys=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.7.0/go.mod h1:Zm6kSWBoL9eyXnKyktHP6abPY2pDugNf5KwzbycvMj4=
 github.com/gogo/protobuf v1.2.1 h1:/s5zKNz0uPFCZ5hddgPdo2TK2TVrUNMn0OOX8/aZMTE=
@@ -10,11 +12,16 @@ github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.0 h1:v2XXALHHh6zHfYTJ+cSkwtyffnaOyR1MXaA91mTr
 github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.0/go.mod h1:9vuHe8Xs5qXnSaW/c/ABM9alt+Vo+STaOChaDxuIBZU=
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.4 h1:bnP0vzxcAdeI1zdubAl5PjU6zsERjGZb7raWodagDYs=
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.4/go.mod h1:M+lRXTBqGeGNdLjl/ufCoiOlB5xdOkqRJdNxMWT7Zi4=
+github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
+github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0/go.mod h1:iKH77koFhYxTK1pcRnkKkqfTogsbg7gZNVY4sRDYZ/4=
 github.com/spf13/cobra v0.0.3 h1:ZlrZ4XsMRm04Fr5pSFxBgfND2EBVa1nLpiy1stUsX/8=
 github.com/spf13/cobra v0.0.3/go.mod h1:1l0Ry5zgKvJasoi3XT1TypsSe7PqH0Sj9dhYf7v3XqQ=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.3 h1:zPAT6CGy6wXeQ7NtTnaTerfKOsV6V6F8agHXFiazDkg=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.3/go.mod h1:DYY7MBk1bdzusC3SYhjObp+wFpr4gzcvqqNjLnInEg4=
 github.com/spiffe/spire v0.0.0-20190221165849-bdb096dc6c0b h1:Sw007mCb5z9H8l5kzmIo2+5dBPBbXkZnmw2+9wKgyy4=
+github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.0/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+wExME=
+github.com/stretchr/testify v1.3.0 h1:TivCn/peBQ7UY8ooIcPgZFpTNSz0Q2U6UrFlUfqbe0Q=
+github.com/stretchr/testify v1.3.0/go.mod h1:M5WIy9Dh21IEIfnGCwXGc5bZfKNJtfHm1UVUgZn+9EI=
 github.com/zeebo/errs v1.1.1 h1:Cs5Noqj/tj3Ql/hLkD9WdumKlssx/IN2zr7CRGNOKZA=
 github.com/zeebo/errs v1.1.1/go.mod h1:Yj8dHrUQwls1bF3dr/vcSIu+qf4mI7idnTcHfoACc6I=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20190213061140-3a22650c66bd h1:HuTn7WObtcDo9uEEU7rEqL0jYthdXAmZ6PP+meazmaU=
diff --git a/tools/k8s-test/kubectl.go b/tools/k8s-test/kubectl.go
index 7aacc84ff..b235e15a4 100644
--- a/tools/k8s-test/kubectl.go
+++ b/tools/k8s-test/kubectl.go
@@ -48,12 +48,15 @@ func kubectlGet(ctx context.Context, typ, name string, obj interface{}) error {
 	if name != "" {
 		args = append(args, name, "--ignore-not-found")
 	}
-	return kubectlCmdJSON(ctx, obj, args...)
+	return kubectlCmdJSON(ctx, nil, obj, args...)
 }
 
-func kubectlCmdJSON(ctx context.Context, obj interface{}, args ...string) error {
+func kubectlCmdJSON(ctx context.Context, stdin io.Reader, obj interface{}, args ...string) error {
+	// TODO: support context cancellation
+
 	stderr := new(bytes.Buffer)
 	cmd := kubectlCmd(append([]string{"-o", "json"}, args...)...)
+	cmd.Stdin = stdin
 	cmd.Stderr = stderr
 	stdout, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ func kubectlCmdJSON(ctx context.Context, obj interface{}, args ...string) error
 }
 
 func kubectlStreamLogs(ctx context.Context, object string, w io.Writer) error {
+	// TODO: support context cancellation
+
 	stderr := new(bytes.Buffer)
 	cmd := kubectlCmd("logs", "-f", object)
 	cmd.Stdout = w
diff --git a/tools/k8s-test/main.go b/tools/k8s-test/main.go
index f2141d152..567fb23b2 100644
--- a/tools/k8s-test/main.go
+++ b/tools/k8s-test/main.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	var count int
 	var noWait bool
+	var noLocal bool
 	var timeout time.Duration
 	var interval time.Duration
 
@@ -104,10 +105,11 @@ func main() {
 		Use:  "apply",
 		Args: cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
 		Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-			runCmd(ApplyConfigCmd(ctx, args, !noWait, interval))
+			runCmd(ApplyConfigCmd(ctx, args, !noWait, !noLocal, interval))
 		},
 	}
-	applyCmd.LocalFlags().BoolVarP(&noWait, "nowait", "", false, "don't wait for all objects after applying")
+	applyCmd.LocalFlags().BoolVarP(&noWait, "no-wait", "", false, "don't wait for all objects after applying")
+	applyCmd.LocalFlags().BoolVarP(&noLocal, "no-local", "", false, "don't use locally built SPIRE images")
 	applyCmd.LocalFlags().DurationVarP(&interval, "interval", "i", defaultInterval, "polling interval for object status")
 	root.AddCommand(applyCmd)
 
@@ -152,11 +154,11 @@ func WaitForNodeAttestationCmd(ctx context.Context, ident string, count int) err
 	return WaitForNodeAttestation(ctx, server, count)
 }
 
-func ApplyConfigCmd(ctx context.Context, paths []string, wait bool, interval time.Duration) error {
+func ApplyConfigCmd(ctx context.Context, paths []string, wait, local bool, interval time.Duration) error {
 	var all []Object
 
 	for _, path := range paths {
-		objects, err := ApplyConfig(ctx, path)
+		objects, err := ApplyConfig(ctx, path, local)
 		if err != nil {
 			Alertln("failed to apply %s", path)
 			return err