diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e.yml
index 3632811ab..0f5cbd9c4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e.yml
@@ -13,25 +13,30 @@ jobs:
         scenario-filter: ["^TestDappDevelop$/^.*$"]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest-4-cores
     env:
+      # where git refs and images are available for the same artifact, the image
+      # can be set to pull a pre-compiled image from dockerhub, while the git
+      # refs can be used to build from source within this workflow.
+
       # the gh tag of system-test repo version to run
       SYSTEM_TEST_GIT_REF: master
 
-      # set the default protocol version used for the system tests
-      # should be the maximum supported version of all software.
-      SYSTEM_TEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION_DEFAULT: 21
+      # the version of components built in quickstart. only used if quickstart
+      # is configured below to build from source.
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION_DEFAULT: 21
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_RS_XDR_GIT_REF: v21.0.1
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_IMAGE:
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_GIT_REF: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core.git#v21.0.0rc1
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_COMPILE_CONFIGURE_FLAGS: "--disable-tests"
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_RPC_REF: https://github.com/stellar/soroban-rpc.git#v21.0.1
+
+      # the pre-compiled image to use of quickstart, or the git ref to build
+      # from source.
+      SYSTEM_TEST_QUICKSTART_IMAGE: stellar/quickstart@v423-testing
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_QUICKSTART_GIT_REF: "https://github.com/stellar/quickstart.git#master"
 
       # the soroban CLI & RPC source code to compile and run from system test
       # refers to checked out source of current git hub ref context
       SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_CLI_REF: ${{ github.workspace }}/soroban-cli
-      SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_RPC_REF: https://github.com/stellar/soroban-rpc.git#v21.0.1
-
-      # core git ref should be latest commit for stable soroban functionality
-      # the core bin can either be compiled in-line here as part of ci,
-      SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_GIT_REF: https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core.git#v21.0.0rc1
-      SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_COMPILE_CONFIGURE_FLAGS: "--disable-tests"
-      # or set SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_GIT_REF to empty, and set SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_IMAGE
-      # to pull a pre-compiled image from dockerhub instead
-      SYSTEM_TEST_CORE_IMAGE:
 
       # sets the version of rust toolchain that will be pre-installed in the
       # test runtime environment, tests invoke rustc/cargo
@@ -39,21 +44,13 @@ jobs:
 
       # set the version of js-stellar-sdk to use, need to choose one of either
       # resolution options, using npm release or a gh ref:
-      #
       # option #1, set the version of stellar-sdk based on a npm release version
       SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_NPM_VERSION: 11.2.2
       # option #2, set the version of stellar-sdk used as a ref to a gh repo if
       # a value is set on SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_GH_REPO, it takes
       # precedence over any SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_NPM_VERSION
-      SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_GH_REPO:
-      SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_GH_REF:
-
-      # the version of rs-stellar-xdr to use for quickstart
-      SYSTEM_TEST_RS_XDR_GIT_REF: v21.0.1
-
-      # system test will build quickstart image internally to use for running
-      # the service stack configured in standalone network mode(core, rpc)
-      SYSTEM_TEST_QUICKSTART_GIT_REF: "https://github.com/stellar/quickstart.git#master"
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_GH_REPO:
+      # SYSTEM_TEST_JS_STELLAR_SDK_GH_REF:
 
       # triggers system test to log out details from quickstart's logs and test steps
       SYSTEM_TEST_VERBOSE_OUTPUT: "true"
@@ -104,6 +101,7 @@ jobs:
             SOROBAN_CLI_GIT_REF=$SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_CLI_REF \
             RUST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION=$SYSTEM_TEST_RUST_TOOLCHAIN_VERSION \
             RS_XDR_GIT_REF=$SYSTEM_TEST_RS_XDR_GIT_REF \
+            QUICKSTART_IMAGE=$SYSTEM_TEST_QUICKSTART_IMAGE \
             QUICKSTART_GIT_REF=$SYSTEM_TEST_QUICKSTART_GIT_REF \
             JS_STELLAR_SDK_NPM_VERSION=$JS_STELLAR_SDK_REF \
             build
diff --git a/.github/workflows/rpc-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/rpc-tests.yml
index 6c1a236e2..ad999830a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rpc-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rpc-tests.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     services:
       rpc:
-        image: stellar/quickstart:v422-testing
+        image: stellar/quickstart:v423-testing
         ports:
           - 8000:8000
         env: