diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker.yml b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..349e37409
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+name: Publish Docker image to DockerHub
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [ master ]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [ master ]
+
+# https://docs.docker.com/build/ci/github-actions/multi-platform/
+jobs:
+  docker:
+    name: Build Docker Image and Publish (only on push)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      
+      - name: Check out the repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Set up QEMU
+        uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3
+      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+      - name: Login to Docker Hub
+        uses: docker/login-action@v3
+        if: github.event_name == 'push'
+        with:
+          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
+          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Build and push
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
+        with:
+          context: .
+          platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64/v8
+          push: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' }}
+          tags: sysprog21/rv32emu:latest
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8f1676e50..7cb007095 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
-FROM ubuntu:22.04
-LABEL maintainer="henrybear327@gmail.com"
+FROM sysprog21/rv32emu-gcc as base_gcc
+FROM sysprog21/rv32emu-sail as base_sail
 
-# Install packages required for the emulator to compile and execute correctly
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as final
+
+# Install extra packages for the emulator to compile and execute with full capabilities correctly
 RUN apt-get update && \
     DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y \
-    libsdl2-dev libsdl2-mixer-dev python3-pip git 
+    libsdl2-dev libsdl2-mixer-dev python3-pip git && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 RUN python3 -m pip install git+https://github.com/riscv/riscof 
 
@@ -12,44 +15,15 @@ RUN python3 -m pip install git+https://github.com/riscv/riscof
 ENV TZ=Asia/Taipei
 RUN ln -snf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$TZ /etc/localtime && echo $TZ > /etc/timezone
 
-# when using apt install gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf, this will cause "unsupported ISA subset 'z'" during compilation
-# thus, we are building from scratch, following the version here -> https://github.com/sysprog21/rv32emu/blob/master/.ci/riscv-toolchain-install.sh
-# for x86, we can optimize this part and take the nightly build directly, but not for aarch64 
-ENV RISCV=/opt/riscv
-ENV PATH=$RISCV/bin:$PATH
-WORKDIR $RISCV
-RUN apt install -y autoconf automake autotools-dev curl libmpc-dev libmpfr-dev libgmp-dev gawk build-essential bison flex texinfo gperf libtool patchutils bc zlib1g-dev libexpat-dev
-RUN git clone --recursive https://github.com/riscv/riscv-gnu-toolchain
-RUN cd riscv-gnu-toolchain && \
-    git checkout tags/2023.10.06 && \
-    ./configure --prefix=/opt/riscv --with-arch=rv32gc --with-abi=ilp32d && \
-    make -j$(nproc) && \
-    make clean
-
-# the default reference emulator is x86-based
-# we need to build it ourselves if we are using it on aarch64
-# https://riscof.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installation.html#install-plugin-models
-# the above commands are modified to match the current build flow as indicated in the Github CI -> https://github.com/riscv/sail-riscv/blob/master/.github/workflows/compile.yml
-WORKDIR /home/root/
-RUN apt install -y opam zlib1g-dev pkg-config libgmp-dev z3 device-tree-compiler
-RUN opam init --disable-sandboxing -y
-RUN opam install -y sail
-RUN git clone https://github.com/riscv/sail-riscv.git
-# based on this commit https://github.com/sysprog21/rv32emu/commit/01b00b6f175f57ef39ffd1f4fa6a611891e36df3#diff-3b436c5e32c40ecca4095bdacc1fb69c0759096f86e029238ce34bbe73c6e68f
-# we infer that the sail-riscv binary was taken from commit 9547a30bf84572c458476591b569a95f5232c1c7
-RUN cd sail-riscv && \
-    git checkout 9547a30bf84572c458476591b569a95f5232c1c7 && \
-    eval $(opam env) && \
-    make && \
-    ARCH=RV32 make 
-
 # copy in the source code
 WORKDIR /home/root/rv32emu
 COPY . .
 
+# Copy the GCC binaries
+ENV RISCV=/opt/riscv
+ENV PATH=$RISCV/bin:$PATH
+COPY --from=base_gcc /opt/riscv/ /opt/riscv/
+
 # replace the emulator (riscv_sim_RV32) with the arch that the container can execute 
 RUN rm /home/root/rv32emu/tests/arch-test-target/sail_cSim/riscv_sim_RV32
-RUN cp /home/root/sail-riscv/c_emulator/riscv_sim_RV32 /home/root/rv32emu/tests/arch-test-target/sail_cSim/riscv_sim_RV32
-
-# clean up apt cache
-RUN rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+COPY --from=base_sail /home/root/riscv_sim_RV32 /home/root/rv32emu/tests/arch-test-target/sail_cSim/riscv_sim_RV32
diff --git a/dockerhub/.gitignore b/dockerhub/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bf0824e59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerhub/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.log
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dockerhub/Dockerfile-gcc b/dockerhub/Dockerfile-gcc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c65812201
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerhub/Dockerfile-gcc
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as base
+
+# when using apt install gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf, this will cause "unsupported ISA subset 'z'" during compilation
+# thus, we are building from scratch, following the version here -> https://github.com/sysprog21/rv32emu/blob/master/.ci/riscv-toolchain-install.sh
+# for x86, we can optimize this part and take the nightly build directly, but not for aarch64 
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt install -y \
+    git autoconf automake autotools-dev curl libmpc-dev libmpfr-dev libgmp-dev gawk build-essential bison flex texinfo gperf libtool patchutils bc zlib1g-dev libexpat-dev && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN git clone --recursive https://github.com/riscv/riscv-gnu-toolchain
+RUN cd riscv-gnu-toolchain && \
+    git checkout tags/2023.10.06 && \
+    ./configure --prefix=/opt/riscv --with-arch=rv32gc --with-abi=ilp32d && \
+    make -j$(nproc) && \
+    make clean
+
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as final
+
+# Keep the GCC binaries only
+COPY --from=base /opt/riscv/ /opt/riscv/
diff --git a/dockerhub/Dockerfile-sail b/dockerhub/Dockerfile-sail
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..144f6a96c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerhub/Dockerfile-sail
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# builds the base image of rv32emu (the toolchains)
+# docker build --progress=plain -t sysprog21/rv32emu-base -f Dockerfile-base . 2>&1 | tee build.log
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as base
+
+# the default reference emulator is x86-based
+# we need to build it ourselves if we are using it on aarch64
+# https://riscof.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installation.html#install-plugin-models
+# the above commands are modified to match the current build flow as indicated in the Github CI -> https://github.com/riscv/sail-riscv/blob/master/.github/workflows/compile.yml
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt install -y opam zlib1g-dev pkg-config libgmp-dev z3 device-tree-compiler && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN opam init --disable-sandboxing -y
+RUN opam switch create ocaml-base-compiler.4.13.1 # opam switch list-available
+RUN opam search sail
+# https://opam.ocaml.org/packages/sail/sail.0.16/
+RUN opam install -y sail.0.16 # latest version 0.17.x will cause complication issues for sail-riscv on commit 9547a3
+RUN git clone https://github.com/riscv/sail-riscv.git
+# based on this commit https://github.com/sysprog21/rv32emu/commit/01b00b6f175f57ef39ffd1f4fa6a611891e36df3#diff-3b436c5e32c40ecca4095bdacc1fb69c0759096f86e029238ce34bbe73c6e68f
+# we infer that the sail-riscv binary was taken from commit 9547a30bf84572c458476591b569a95f5232c1c7
+RUN cd sail-riscv && \
+    git checkout 9547a30bf84572c458476591b569a95f5232c1c7 && \
+    eval $(opam env) && \
+    make && \
+    ARCH=RV32 make 
+
+FROM ubuntu:22.04 as final
+
+# keep the emulator only
+COPY --from=base /sail-riscv/c_emulator/riscv_sim_RV32 /home/root/riscv_sim_RV32
diff --git a/dockerhub/README.md b/dockerhub/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..98947ea6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerhub/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Base images
+
+This directory contains the Dockerfiles of the base images, containing the `gcc` and `sail` toolchain. 
+
+The build process should be rarely used, unless an update on the toolchain is required. When a new build is made by running `build.sh`, build and push to DockerHub are automated. 
+
+## Details
+
+For `gcc`, we are using the compiler version `tags/2023.10.06`, as using the binaries from `apt install gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf` will cause `"unsupported ISA subset 'z'"` error during the compilation of the emulator on M1.
+
+For `sail`, we set up the toolchain to use `sail-0.16`, as the latest version `0.17.x` series will cause compilation errors.
+
+We are using the commit `9547a30bf84572c458476591b569a95f5232c1c7` from `sail-riscv` for the reference simulator, as this is the commit cloest to the time when the [x86 reference sail emulator](https://github.com/sysprog21/rv32emu/commit/01b00b6f175f57ef39ffd1f4fa6a611891e36df3#diff-3b436c5e32c40ecca4095bdacc1fb69c0759096f86e029238ce34bbe73c6e68f) was added to the `rv32emu` Github repo.
diff --git a/dockerhub/build.sh b/dockerhub/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..c80f75dc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dockerhub/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# note
+# Will take around 20 and 10 minutes when building a native image on the native arch for gcc and sail, respectively, if the internet connection is fast
+
+# To enable cross platform build
+# https://www.docker.com/blog/how-to-rapidly-build-multi-architecture-images-with-buildx/
+-docker buildx create --name cross-platform-builder --use --bootstrap
+
+docker buildx build --progress=plain --push --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64/v8 --tag sysprog21/rv32emu-gcc -f Dockerfile-gcc . 2>&1 | tee build-gcc.log
+rm build-gcc.log
+
+docker buildx build --progress=plain --push --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64/v8 --tag sysprog21/rv32emu-sail -f Dockerfile-sail . 2>&1 | tee build-sail.log
+rm build-sail.log