diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 5f0bce726..b5b3092c3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ jobs:
           npm i -g markdownlint-cli@0.32.2 # NOTE: update in Dockerfile when updating
 
       - name: Run docs lint
+        env:
+          CORSO_USE_DOCKER: -1 # prevent using docker inside makefile
         run: |
           cd docs && make -o genclidocs check
 
diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index 0848b5a6b..8cb92e3b1 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -1,69 +1,60 @@
-.PHONY: buildimage build dev shell check genclidocs
+.PHONY: buildimage build dev shell check genclidocs _validatemdgen
 
+# Specify `CORSO_USE_DOCKER=-1` to skip using Docker for builds
 CORSO_BUILD_DIR := /tmp/.corsobuild
 CORSO_BUILD_CACHE := ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}/cache
 CORSO_BUILD_MOD := ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}/mod
 CORSO_BUILD_BIN := ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}/bin
+CORSO_REPO := /go/src/github.com/alcionai/corso
+CORSO_LOCAL_PATH := $(shell git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
+DOCSC := docker run --rm -it -p 3000:3000 -v ${PWD}:/usr/src/docs alcion/docs
+DOCSE := ${DOCSC} # for enforcing docker container as environment
+GOC :=  docker run --rm -it \
+		-v ${CORSO_LOCAL_PATH}:${CORSO_REPO} -v ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}:${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
+		--env GOCACHE=${CORSO_BUILD_CACHE} --env GOMODCACHE=${CORSO_BUILD_MOD} --env GOTMPDIR=${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
+		--workdir ${CORSO_REPO}/src \
+		golang:1.18
+ifeq (${CORSO_USE_DOCKER},-1)
+	DOCSC :=
+	GOC := cd ${CORSO_LOCAL_PATH}/src &&
+    CORSO_REPO := ${CORSO_LOCAL_PATH}
+endif
 
-CORSO_REPO := ${PWD}/..
-CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER := /go/src/github.com/alcionai/corso
-
-MDGEN_SRC_CONTAINER := ${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER}/src/cmd/mdgen/mdgen.go
+MDGEN_SRC := ${CORSO_REPO}/src/cmd/mdgen/mdgen.go
 MDGEN_BINARY := ${CORSO_BUILD_BIN}/mdgen
-CLI_DOCS_CONTAINER := ${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER}/docs/docs/cli
+CLI_DOCS := ${CORSO_REPO}/docs/docs/cli
 
 buildimage:
 	docker build -t "alcion/docs:latest" .
 
 dev: genclidocs
-	docker run --rm -it \
-		-p 3000:3000 \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/docs alcion/docs
+	$(DOCSC) npm start -- --host 0.0.0.0
 
 VALE_TARGET ?= docs README.md
 
-dockercheck: genclidocs
-	docker run --rm \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/docs alcion/docs vale $(VALE_TARGET)
-	docker run --rm \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/docs alcion/docs markdownlint '**/*.md' --ignore styles/ --ignore src/ --ignore node_modules/
-
 check: genclidocs
-	vale $(VALE_TARGET)
-	markdownlint '**/*.md' --ignore styles/ --ignore src/ --ignore node_modules/
+	$(DOCSC) vale $(VALE_TARGET)
+	$(DOCSC) markdownlint '**/*.md' --ignore styles/ --ignore src/ --ignore node_modules/
 
-shell:
-	docker run --rm -it \
-		-p 3000:3000 \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/docs alcion/docs /bin/bash
+dockershell:
+	$(DOCSE) /bin/bash
 
 build: genclidocs
-	docker run --rm \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/docs alcion/docs npm run build
+	$(DOCSC) npm run build
 
 genclidocs: ${MDGEN_BINARY}
 	@echo 'Auto-generating Corso CLI docs...'
-	rm -rf docs/cli
-	docker run --rm -it \
-		-v ${CORSO_REPO}:${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER} -v ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}:${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
-		--workdir ${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER}/src \
-		--entrypoint ${MDGEN_BINARY} \
-		golang:1.18 \
-		--cli-folder ${CLI_DOCS_CONTAINER}
+	$(DOCSC) rm -rf docs/cli
+	$(GOC) ${MDGEN_BINARY} --cli-folder ${CLI_DOCS}
 
-${MDGEN_BINARY}: $(shell find ../src -type f -name *.go) $(shell find ../src -type d )
+_validatemdgen: # in case we have a different architecture
+	${MDGEN_BINARY} --help >/dev/null || rm -rf ${MDGEN_BINARY}
+
+${MDGEN_BINARY}: $(shell find ${CORSO_LOCAL_PATH}/src -type f -name *.go) $(shell find ${CORSO_LOCAL_PATH}/src -type d ) _validatemdgen
 	@echo 'Re-building Corso CLI docs auto-gen tooling...'
-	docker run --rm -it \
-		-v ${CORSO_REPO}:${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER} -v ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}:${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
-		--env GOCACHE=${CORSO_BUILD_CACHE} --env GOMODCACHE=${CORSO_BUILD_MOD} --env GOTMPDIR=${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
-		--workdir ${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER}/src \
-		--entrypoint /usr/local/go/bin/go \
-		golang:1.18 \
-		mod download 
-	docker run --rm -it \
-		-v ${CORSO_REPO}:${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER} -v ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}:${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
-		--env GOCACHE=${CORSO_BUILD_CACHE} --env GOMODCACHE=${CORSO_BUILD_MOD} --env GOTMPDIR=${CORSO_BUILD_DIR} \
-		--workdir ${CORSO_REPO_CONTAINER}/src \
-		--entrypoint /usr/local/go/bin/go \
-		golang:1.18 \
-		build -o ${MDGEN_BINARY} ${MDGEN_SRC_CONTAINER}
+		$(GOC) go mod download 
+		$(GOC) go build -o ${MDGEN_BINARY} ${MDGEN_SRC}
+
+clean:
+	$(DOCSC) rm -rf docs/cli
+	$(DOCSC) rm -rf ${CORSO_BUILD_DIR}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/website/Dockerfile b/website/Dockerfile
index 142d63fd0..8d00f95bd 100644
--- a/website/Dockerfile
+++ b/website/Dockerfile
@@ -25,5 +25,6 @@ RUN yarn install \
   && yarn cache clean \
   && rm -f package.json yarn.lock
 ENV PATH /usr/src/node_modules/.bin:$PATH
+ENV NODE_MODULES_PATH ../
 
 WORKDIR /usr/src/website
diff --git a/website/Makefile b/website/Makefile
index 80d21449b..31a94fa1a 100644
--- a/website/Makefile
+++ b/website/Makefile
@@ -1,19 +1,22 @@
 .PHONY: buildimage dev shell build publish sync
 
+WEBC := docker run --rm -it --init -p 5050:3000 -p 5051:3001 \
+		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/website corso/website
+ifeq (${CORSO_USE_DOCKER},-1)
+	WEBC :=
+endif
+
 buildimage:
 	docker build -t "corso/website:latest" .
 
 dev:
-	docker run --rm -it --init -p 5050:3000 -p 5051:3001 \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/website corso/website gulp 
+	$(WEBC) gulp
 
 shell:
-	docker run --rm -it -p 5050:3000 -p 5051:3001 \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/website corso/website /bin/bash
+	$(WEBC) /bin/bash
 
 build:
-	docker run --rm -it --init \
-		-v ${PWD}:/usr/src/website corso/website gulp build
+	$(WEBC) gulp build
 
 publish: build
 	docker run -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY \
diff --git a/website/gulpfile.js b/website/gulpfile.js
index 8a5aa25cc..eb3e0886c 100644
--- a/website/gulpfile.js
+++ b/website/gulpfile.js
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ gulp.task('copy:all', function () {
 
 gulp.task('copy:libs', function () {
     return gulp
-        .src(npmdist({ nodeModulesPath: '../' }), { base: paths.base.node.dir })
+        .src(npmdist({ nodeModulesPath: process.env.NODE_MODULES_PATH || './' }), { base: paths.base.node.dir })
         .pipe(rename(function (path) {
             path.dirname = path.dirname.replace(/\/dist/, '').replace(/\\dist/, '');
         }))