diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 319b9327..c791a118 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,2 +1,7 @@
-*
-!packages/
+.venv/
+__pycache__/
+*.pyc
+.git/
+dist/
+build/
+.pytest_cache/
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5c3bb8d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+name: CI - MarkItDown tests
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [ "chore/dev-docker-tests" ]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [ "main" ]
+
+jobs:
+  tests:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout source
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Setup Python 3.11
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.11"
+          cache: "pip"
+
+      - name: Install system deps (ffmpeg, exiftool)
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update -y
+          sudo apt-get install -y ffmpeg exiftool
+
+      - name: Install project deps
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install -U pip
+          pip install -e 'packages/markitdown[all]'
+          pip install -e packages/markitdown-sample-plugin
+          pip install pytest
+
+      - name: Run tests (skip network-heavy)
+        env:
+          PYTEST_ADDOPTS: -k "not convert_url and not convert_http_uri"
+        run: |
+          pytest -q packages/markitdown/tests | tee last-run.txt
+
+      - name: Upload test summary
+        if: always()
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: pytest-summary
+          path: last-run.txt
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index c65bf9c6..1d092e54 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,33 +1,26 @@
-FROM python:3.13-slim-bullseye
+# imagem Debian (não Alpine) — suporta onnxruntime e magika
+FROM python:3.11-slim
+WORKDIR /work
 
-ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
-ENV EXIFTOOL_PATH=/usr/bin/exiftool
-ENV FFMPEG_PATH=/usr/bin/ffmpeg
+# instala compiladores e dependências do sistema
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    build-essential git ffmpeg libxml2 libxslt1-dev \
+    libffi-dev libssl-dev python3-dev \
+ && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-# Runtime dependency
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-    ffmpeg \
-    exiftool
+# copia o código do repositório
+COPY . .
 
-ARG INSTALL_GIT=false
-RUN if [ "$INSTALL_GIT" = "true" ]; then \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-    git; \
-    fi
+# instala o markitdown e pytest
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -U pip \
+ && pip install --no-cache-dir -e 'packages/markitdown[all]' pytest
 
-# Cleanup
-RUN rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+# define o diretório do pacote e roda os testes
+WORKDIR /work
+CMD ["pytest", "-q"]
 
-WORKDIR /app
-COPY . /app
-RUN pip --no-cache-dir install \
-    /app/packages/markitdown[all] \
-    /app/packages/markitdown-sample-plugin
+# garante que a variável pode vir de fora sem estourar o entrypoint
+ENV PYTEST_ADDOPTS=""
 
-# Default USERID and GROUPID
-ARG USERID=nobody
-ARG GROUPID=nogroup
-
-USER $USERID:$GROUPID
-
-ENTRYPOINT [ "markitdown" ]
+# executa os testes do pacote principal; caminho relativo exige WORKDIR=/work
+ENTRYPOINT ["pytest", "-q", "packages/markitdown/tests"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 652afc05..cc552784 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -246,3 +246,39 @@ trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow
 [Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks/usage/general).
 Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship.
 Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.
+
+## Local test setup (Docker + WSL)
+
+Build:
+```bash
+docker build -t markitdown-tests .
+```
+
+Run (skip remote URL tests to avoid 429):
+```bash
+docker run --rm -it -v "$(pwd):/work" \
+  -e PYTEST_ADDOPTS='-k "not convert_url and not convert_http_uri"' \
+  markitdown-tests
+```
+
+## Installation and how to run tests (without Docker)
+
+Requirements:
+- Python 3.11 (recommended)
+- pip
+- gcc / build-essential (for compiled deps)
+- ffmpeg and exiftool available on PATH (some tests rely on them)
+
+Setup:
+```bash
+python3 -m venv .venv
+source .venv/bin/activate
+pip install -U pip
+pip install -e 'packages/markitdown[all]'
+pip install -e 'packages/markitdown-sample-plugin'
+```
+
+Run tests:
+```bash
+pytest -q packages/markitdown/tests -k "not convert_url and not convert_http_uri"
+```