diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index 073d4cf69e..3b4d9259e9 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -16,9 +16,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: "Lint"
           command: |
-            dockerfile=dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint
-            echo "COPY . ." >> $dockerfile
-            docker build -f $dockerfile --tag cli-linter:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
+            docker build -f dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint --tag cli-linter:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
             docker run --rm cli-linter:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM
 
   cross:
@@ -34,9 +32,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: "Cross"
           command: |
-            dockerfile=dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross
-            echo "COPY . ." >> $dockerfile
-            docker build -f $dockerfile --tag cli-builder:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
+            docker build -f dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross --tag cli-builder:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
             name=cross-$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM-$CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX
             docker run \
                 -e CROSS_GROUP=$CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX \
@@ -60,9 +56,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: "Unit Test with Coverage"
           command: |
-            dockerfile=dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev
-            echo "COPY . ." >> $dockerfile
-            docker build -f $dockerfile --tag cli-builder:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
+            docker build -f dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev --tag cli-builder:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
             docker run --name \
                 test-$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM cli-builder:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM \
                 make test-coverage
@@ -89,10 +83,8 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: "Validate Vendor, Docs, and Code Generation"
           command: |
-            dockerfile=dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev
-            echo "COPY . ." >> $dockerfile
             rm -f .dockerignore # include .git
-            docker build -f $dockerfile --tag cli-builder-with-git:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
+            docker build -f dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev --tag cli-builder-with-git:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
             docker run --rm cli-builder-with-git:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM \
                 make ci-validate
   shellcheck:
@@ -107,9 +99,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: "Run shellcheck"
           command: |
-            dockerfile=dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck
-            echo "COPY . ." >> $dockerfile
-            docker build -f $dockerfile --tag cli-validator:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
+            docker build -f dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck --tag cli-validator:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM .
             docker run --rm cli-validator:$CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM \
                 make shellcheck
 workflows:
diff --git a/docker.Makefile b/docker.Makefile
index 2ff2594a7f..628e989fb0 100644
--- a/docker.Makefile
+++ b/docker.Makefile
@@ -17,24 +17,29 @@ ENVVARS = -e VERSION=$(VERSION) -e GITCOMMIT -e PLATFORM
 # build docker image (dockerfiles/Dockerfile.build)
 .PHONY: build_docker_image
 build_docker_image:
-	docker build ${DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS} -t $(DEV_DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME) -f ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev .
+	# build dockerfile from stdin so that we don't send the build-context; source is bind-mounted in the development environment
+	cat ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev | docker build ${DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS} -t $(DEV_DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME) -
 
 # build docker image having the linting tools (dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint)
 .PHONY: build_linter_image
 build_linter_image:
-	docker build ${DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS} -t $(LINTER_IMAGE_NAME) -f ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint .
+	# build dockerfile from stdin so that we don't send the build-context; source is bind-mounted in the development environment
+	cat ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint | docker build ${DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS} -t $(LINTER_IMAGE_NAME) -
 
 .PHONY: build_cross_image
 build_cross_image:
-	docker build ${DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS} -t $(CROSS_IMAGE_NAME) -f ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross .
+	# build dockerfile from stdin so that we don't send the build-context; source is bind-mounted in the development environment
+	cat ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross | docker build ${DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS} -t $(CROSS_IMAGE_NAME) -
 
 .PHONY: build_shell_validate_image
 build_shell_validate_image:
-	docker build -t $(VALIDATE_IMAGE_NAME) -f ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck .
+	# build dockerfile from stdin so that we don't send the build-context; source is bind-mounted in the development environment
+	cat ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck | docker build -t $(VALIDATE_IMAGE_NAME) -
 
 .PHONY: build_binary_native_image
 build_binary_native_image:
-	docker build -t $(BINARY_NATIVE_IMAGE_NAME) -f ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.binary-native .
+	# build dockerfile from stdin so that we don't send the build-context; source is bind-mounted in the development environment
+	cat ./dockerfiles/Dockerfile.binary-native | docker build -t $(BINARY_NATIVE_IMAGE_NAME) -
 
 .PHONY: build_e2e_image
 build_e2e_image:
diff --git a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross
index 78073218af..0f54c9f64a 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross
+++ b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.cross
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 FROM	dockercore/golang-cross:1.11.1@sha256:57ce59bec5445d27cc00f9e27fc171bea44eed7a9890df6eea6540f214300a01
 ENV     DISABLE_WARN_OUTSIDE_CONTAINER=1
 WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/docker/cli
+COPY    . .
diff --git a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev
index 84399a6c8b..69de827da8 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev
+++ b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.dev
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 FROM    golang:1.11.1-alpine
 
 RUN     apk add -U git make bash coreutils ca-certificates curl
@@ -22,3 +21,4 @@ ENV     CGO_ENABLED=0 \
         DISABLE_WARN_OUTSIDE_CONTAINER=1
 WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/docker/cli
 CMD     sh
+COPY    . .
diff --git a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint
index 953fd69206..10be9db265 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint
+++ b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.lint
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ ENV     CGO_ENABLED=0
 ENV     DISABLE_WARN_OUTSIDE_CONTAINER=1
 ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/gometalinter"]
 CMD     ["--config=gometalinter.json", "./..."]
+COPY    . .
diff --git a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck
index 43112b314d..4d0ddd3332 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck
+++ b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.shellcheck
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ RUN     apt-get update && \
 WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/docker/cli
 ENV     DISABLE_WARN_OUTSIDE_CONTAINER=1
 CMD     bash
+COPY    . .