diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yaml b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
index e018659..4436348 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ jobs:
   build:
     name: build
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        test-type: ["buildx", "buildkit-container", "custom-socket"]
     steps:
       - name: Setup BATS
         uses: mig4/setup-bats@af9a00deb21b5d795cabfeaa8d9060410377686d # v1.2.0
@@ -20,13 +23,13 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install Trivy
         run: |
-            curl -fsSL -o trivy.tar.gz https://github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/releases/download/v${{ env.TRIVY_VERSION }}/trivy_${{ env.TRIVY_VERSION }}_Linux-64bit.tar.gz
-            tar -zxvf trivy.tar.gz
-            cp trivy /usr/local/bin/
+          curl -fsSL -o trivy.tar.gz https://github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/releases/download/v${{ env.TRIVY_VERSION }}/trivy_${{ env.TRIVY_VERSION }}_Linux-64bit.tar.gz
+          tar -zxvf trivy.tar.gz
+          cp trivy /usr/local/bin/
 
-      - name: Generate trivy vuln report for nginx image
+      - name: Generate trivy vuln report for opa image
         run: |
-          trivy image --vuln-type os --ignore-unfixed -f json -o /tmp/nginx.1.21.6.json docker.io/library/nginx:1.21.6
+          trivy image --vuln-type os --ignore-unfixed -f json -o /tmp/opa.0.46.0.json docker.io/openpolicyagent/opa:0.46.0
 
       - name: Get latest copa version
         run: |
@@ -37,19 +40,49 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install Copa
         run: |
-            curl --retry 5 -fsSL -o copa.tar.gz https://github.com/project-copacetic/copacetic/releases/download/v${COPA_VERSION}/copa_${COPA_VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz
-            tar -zxvf copa.tar.gz
-            cp copa /usr/local/bin/
+          curl --retry 5 -fsSL -o copa.tar.gz https://github.com/project-copacetic/copacetic/releases/download/v${COPA_VERSION}/copa_${COPA_VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz
+          tar -zxvf copa.tar.gz
+          cp copa /usr/local/bin/
+
+      - name: Run Buildkit container
+        if: matrix.test-type == 'buildkit-container'
+        run : |
+          docker run --net=host --detach --rm --privileged -p 127.0.0.1:8888:8888 --name buildkitd --entrypoint buildkitd moby/buildkit:v${{ env.BUILDKIT_VERSION }} --addr tcp://0.0.0.0:8888
+
+      - name: Set up Docker
+        if: matrix.test-type == 'custom-socket'
+        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-setup-docker@v3
+        with:
+          daemon-config: |
+            {
+            "debug": true,
+            "experimental": true,
+                "features": {
+                "containerd-snapshotter": true
+                }
+            }
 
       - name: Bats Test
         run: |
-          docker run --net=host --detach --rm --privileged -p 127.0.0.1:8888:8888 --name buildkitd --entrypoint buildkitd moby/buildkit:v${{ env.BUILDKIT_VERSION }} --addr tcp://0.0.0.0:8888
+          set -ex
+          export SOCKET="/var/run/docker.sock"
+          export CONTEXT="default"
+
+          if [ "${{ matrix.test-type }}" = "custom-socket" ]; then
+            url=$(docker context inspect | jq -r .[0].Endpoints.docker.Host)
+            SOCKET=$(echo "$url" | awk -F// '{print $2}')
+            CONTEXT="setup-docker-action"
+          fi
+
           docker build --build-arg copa_version=${COPA_VERSION} -t copa-action .
           docker run --net=host \
             --mount=type=bind,source=/tmp,target=/data \
-            --mount=type=bind,source=/var/run/docker.sock,target=/var/run/docker.sock \
+            --mount=type=bind,source="$SOCKET",target=/var/run/docker.sock \
             --mount=type=bind,source=$GITHUB_OUTPUT,target=$GITHUB_OUTPUT -e GITHUB_OUTPUT \
             --name=copa-action \
-            copa-action 'docker.io/library/nginx:1.21.6' 'nginx.1.21.6.json' '1.21.6-patched' '10m' 'output.json' 'openvex'
-          docker images
+            copa-action 'docker.io/openpolicyagent/opa:0.46.0' 'opa.0.46.0.json' '0.46.0-patched' '10m' "${{ matrix.test-type }}" 'openvex' 'output.json'
+          
+          # saving patched image to give trivy access when using a custom socket
+          docker -c "$CONTEXT" save -o patched.tar openpolicyagent/opa:0.46.0-patched
+            
           bats --print-output-on-failure ./test/test.bats
diff --git a/.github/workflows/patch.yaml b/.github/workflows/patch.yaml
index d40c353..6116dd7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/patch.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/patch.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         # provide relevant list of images to scan on each run
         images:
-          - "docker.io/library/nginx:1.21.6"
+          - "docker.io/library/alpine:3.18.4"
           - "docker.io/openpolicyagent/opa:0.46.0"
           - "docker.io/library/hello-world:latest"
     steps:
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 558d723..2e9d16c 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null && \
     # Install Docker
     apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io --no-install-recommends
+    apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli docker-buildx-plugin containerd.io --no-install-recommends
 
 # Install Copa
 RUN curl --retry 5 -fsSL -o copa.tar.gz https://github.com/project-copacetic/copacetic/releases/download/v${copa_version}/copa_${copa_version}_linux_amd64.tar.gz && \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8610f14..8a82b29 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,16 +7,21 @@ Copacetic Action is supported with Copa version 0.3.0 and later.
 
 ## Inputs
 
-| Name               | Type   | Required | Default   | Description                                            |
-| ------------------ | ------ | -------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
-| `image`            | String | True     |           | Image reference to patch                               |
-| `image-report`     | String | True     |           | Trivy JSON vulnerability report of the image to patch  |
-| `patched-tag`      | String | True     |           | Patched image tag                                      |
-| `timeout`          | String | False    | `5m`      | Timeout for `copa patch`                               |
-| `buildkit-version` | String | False    | `latest`  | Buildkit version                                       |
-| `copa-version`     | String | False    | `latest`  | Copa version                                           |
-| `output`           | String | False    |           | Output filename (available with copa v0.5.0 and later) |
-| `format`           | String | False    | `openvex` | Output format (available with copa v0.5.0 and later)   |
+| Name               | Type   | Required | Default   | Description                                                                |
+| ------------------ | ------ | -------- | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `image`            | String | True     |           | Image reference to patch                                                   |
+| `image-report`     | String | True     |           | Trivy JSON vulnerability report of the image to patch                      |
+| `patched-tag`      | String | True     |           | Patched image tag                                                          |
+| `timeout`          | String | False    | `5m`      | Timeout for `copa patch`                                                   |
+| `buildkit-version` | String | False    | `latest`  | Buildkit version                                                           |
+| `copa-version`     | String | False    | `latest`  | Copa version                                                               |
+| `output`           | String | False    |           | Output filename (available with copa-action v0.6.1 and later)              |
+| `format`           | String | False    | `openvex` | Output format (available with copa-action v0.6.1 and later)                |
+| `custom-socket`    | String | False    |           | Custom Docker socket address (available with copa-action v0.6.1 and later) |
+
+> [!NOTE] 
+> Features that are supported with new Copacetic releases will not neccessarily align with what is supported with Copa Action versions. 
+> For example, the `output` file feature was released in Copa v0.5.0, but is supported with Copa Action v0.6.1 and later.
 
 ## Outputs
 
@@ -24,6 +29,49 @@ Copacetic Action is supported with Copa version 0.3.0 and later.
 | --------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------ |
 | `patched-image` | String | Image reference of the patched image |
 
+## Ways to connect to Buildkit
+> [!NOTE] 
+Custom Buildkit connection to patch local or private images is only available with Copa-Action versions 0.6.1 and later. For all earlier Copa-Action versions, Buildkit in a container is the default approach, and a version must be supplied as input.
+
+### Option 1: Connect to buildx instance (default)
+By default, Copa Action creates its own Buildx instance to connect to for patching public and private images.
+
+### Option 2: Connect using defaults through a custom socket
+To patch local images, `copa` is limited to using `docker`'s built-in buildkit service, and must use the [`containerd image store`](https://docs.docker.com/storage/containerd/) feature. To enable this in your Github workflow, use `ghaction-setup-docker`'s [daemon-configuration](https://github.com/crazy-max/ghaction-setup-docker#daemon-configuration) to set `"containerd-snapshotter": true`.
+
+Example:
+``` yaml
+    - name: Set up Docker
+        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-setup-docker@v3
+        with:
+        daemon-config: |
+            {
+            "debug": true,
+            "experimental": true,
+                "features": {
+                "containerd-snapshotter": true
+                }
+            }
+    - name: Get socket path
+        run: |
+            url=$(docker context inspect | jq -r .[0].Endpoints.docker.Host)
+            socket_path=$(echo "$url" | awk -F// '{print $2}')
+            echo "$socket_path"
+            echo "SOCKET=$socket_path" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+```
+
+Then, supply the resulting socket path (`$SOCKET`) as the input `custom-socket` for the Copa Action to connect to.
+> [!NOTE] 
+> Copa Action will load the image to the default docker context, not the "setup-docker-action" context.
+
+### Option 3: Buildkit in a container
+To connect via buildkit in a container, provide the input `buildkit-version`. Copa Action will create a buildkit container with that version to connect to. 
+> [!NOTE]
+> This approach does not allow for patching of local or private images.
+
+
+Refer to [Copacetic documentation](https://project-copacetic.github.io/copacetic/website/custom-address) to learn more about connecting Copa to Buildkit.
+
 ## Example usage
 
-https://github.com/project-copacetic/copa-action/blob/941743581b0da5e581ca5a575f9316228c2f6c00/.github/workflows/patch.yaml#L1-L77
\ No newline at end of file
+https://github.com/project-copacetic/copa-action/blob/941743581b0da5e581ca5a575f9316228c2f6c00/.github/workflows/patch.yaml#L1-L77
diff --git a/action.yaml b/action.yaml
index 0bc767a..55ebd54 100644
--- a/action.yaml
+++ b/action.yaml
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ inputs:
   format:
     description: "Output format"
     default: "openvex"
+  custom-socket:
+    description: "Custom socket address if setting up containerd image store"
 outputs:
   patched-image:
     description: 'Image reference of patched image'
@@ -32,22 +34,30 @@ outputs:
 runs:
   using: "composite"
   steps:
-    - name: docker run buildkitd
-      shell: bash
-      run: |
-        if [ -z "${{ inputs.buildkit-version }}" ]; then
-          docker run --net=host --detach --rm --privileged -p 127.0.0.1:8888:8888 --name buildkitd --entrypoint buildkitd moby/buildkit:latest --addr tcp://0.0.0.0:8888
-        else
-          docker run --net=host --detach --rm --privileged -p 127.0.0.1:8888:8888 --name buildkitd --entrypoint buildkitd moby/buildkit:${{ inputs.buildkit-version }} --addr tcp://0.0.0.0:8888
-        fi
-    - name: docker run copa-action
+    - name: Docker run copa-action
       id: copa-action
       shell: bash
       run : |
+        # check for copa version input, else use latest
         if [ -z "${{ inputs.copa-version }}" ]; then
           latest_tag=$(curl --retry 5 -s "https://api.github.com/repos/project-copacetic/copacetic/releases/latest" | jq -r '.tag_name')
           version=${latest_tag:1}
         else
           version="${{ inputs.copa-version }}"
         fi
-        docker run --net=host --mount=type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/data --mount=type=bind,source=/var/run/docker.sock,target=/var/run/docker.sock --mount=type=bind,source=$GITHUB_OUTPUT,target=$GITHUB_OUTPUT -e GITHUB_OUTPUT --name=copa-action "ghcr.io/project-copacetic/copa-action:v$version" ${{ inputs.image }} ${{ inputs.image-report }} ${{ inputs.patched-tag }} ${{ inputs.timeout }} ${{ inputs.output }} ${{ inputs.format }}
+
+        # default docker socket and connection type
+        socket="/var/run/docker.sock"
+        connection="buildx"
+
+        # check for other methods of connection
+        if [ -n "{{ inputs.custom-socket }}"]; then
+          socket="${{ inputs.custom-socket }}"
+          connection="custom-socket"
+        elif [ -n "${{ inputs.buildkit-version }}" ]; then
+          docker run --net=host --detach --rm --privileged -p 127.0.0.1:8888:8888 --name buildkitd --entrypoint buildkitd moby/buildkit:${{ inputs.buildkit-version }} --addr tcp://0.0.0.0:8888
+          connection="buildkit-container"
+        fi
+        
+        # run copa-action based on inputs
+        docker run --net=host --mount=type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/data --mount=type=bind,source="$socket",target="/var/run/docker.sock" --mount=type=bind,source=$GITHUB_OUTPUT,target=$GITHUB_OUTPUT -e GITHUB_OUTPUT --name=copa-action "ghcr.io/project-copacetic/copa-action:v$version" ${{ inputs.image }} ${{ inputs.image-report }} ${{ inputs.patched-tag }} ${{ inputs.timeout }}  "$connection" ${{ inputs.format }} {{ inputs.output }}
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index bb3b784..45930e4 100755
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/sh 
+
+set -ex;
 
 image=$1
 report=$2
 patched_tag=$3
 timeout=$4
-output_file=$5
+connection_format=$5
 format=$6
-
+output_file=$7 
 
 # parse image into image name
 image_no_tag=$(echo "$image" | cut -d':' -f1)
@@ -16,11 +18,29 @@ if [ -z "$output_file" ]
 then
     output=""
 else
-    output="--format $format --output ./data/"$output_file""
+    output="--format $format --output ./data/$output_file"
 fi
 
+# check selected method of buildkit connection
+case "$connection_format" in
+    # through a buildx instance
+    "buildx")
+        docker buildx create --name=copa-action
+        docker buildx use --default copa-action
+        connection="--addr buildx://copa-action"
+        ;;
+    # through a running buildkit container over tcp
+    "buildkit-container")
+        connection="--addr tcp://127.0.0.1:8888"
+        ;;
+    # through the default docker buildkit endpoint enabled with a custom socket
+    "custom-socket")
+        connection=""
+        ;;
+esac
+
 # run copa to patch image
-if copa patch -i "$image" -r ./data/"$report" -t "$patched_tag" --addr tcp://127.0.0.1:8888 --timeout $timeout $output;
+if copa patch -i "$image" -r ./data/"$report" -t "$patched_tag" $connection --timeout $timeout $output;
 then
     patched_image="$image_no_tag:$patched_tag"
     echo "patched-image=$patched_image" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
@@ -28,4 +48,3 @@ else
     echo "Error patching image $image with copa"
     exit 1
 fi
-
diff --git a/test/test.bats b/test/test.bats
index be4310f..e5fd970 100755
--- a/test/test.bats
+++ b/test/test.bats
@@ -2,13 +2,9 @@
 
 load helpers
 
-teardown_file() {
-    docker stop buildkitd
-}
-
 @test "Check patched image exists" {
     docker images
-    id=$(docker images --quiet 'nginx:1.21.6-patched')
+    id=$(docker images --quiet 'openpolicyagent/opa:0.46.0-patched')
     assert_not_equal "$id" ""
 }
 
@@ -18,8 +14,8 @@ teardown_file() {
 }
 
 @test "Run trivy on patched image" {
-    run trivy image --exit-code 1 --vuln-type os --ignore-unfixed -f json -o nginx.1.21.6-patched.json 'docker.io/library/nginx:1.21.6-patched'
+    run trivy image --exit-code 1 --vuln-type os --ignore-unfixed -f json -o opa.0.46.0-patched.json --input patched.tar
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-    vulns=$(jq 'if .Results then [.Results[] | select(.Class=="os-pkgs" and .Vulnerabilities!=null) | .Vulnerabilities[]] | length else 0 end' nginx.1.21.6-patched.json)
+    vulns=$(jq 'if .Results then [.Results[] | select(.Class=="os-pkgs" and .Vulnerabilities!=null) | .Vulnerabilities[]] | length else 0 end' opa.0.46.0-patched.json)
     assert_equal "$vulns" "0"
 }