diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index f9730104c..db91a2667 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ jobs:
     name: Fablab Smoketest
     # not applicable to forks. shouldn't run on release build
     if: github.repository_owner == 'openziti' && github.ref != 'refs/heads/main'
+    needs: [ quickstart ]
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     steps:
       - name: Git Checkout
@@ -232,6 +233,30 @@ jobs:
             echo "WARN: No instance archive found for simple-transfer-${GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER}.tar.gz.gpg" >&2
           fi
 
+  quickstart:
+    name: Run the Go Quickstart
+    # - always() allows evaluating further conditional expressions even if
+    #   needed jobs were skipped
+    if: |
+      always()
+    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    needs: [ linux-build ]
+    steps:
+      - name: Git Shallow Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Download linux release artifact
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
+        with:
+          name: linux-release-${{ github.run_id }}
+          path: release/
+
+      - name: Run Go Quickstart Test
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        run: |
+          go clean -testcache;
+          go test -v -tags "quickstart automated" ./ziti/cmd/edge/...;
+
   publish:
     name: Publish Binaries
     # - always() allows evaluating further conditional expressions even if
diff --git a/quickstart/docker/.env b/quickstart/docker/.env
index da4ebbea1..c06edf53b 100644
--- a/quickstart/docker/.env
+++ b/quickstart/docker/.env
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ ZITI_USER=admin
 ZITI_PWD=
 
 ZITI_INTERFACE=0.0.0.0
-# ZITI_GO_VERSION=
+
 # controller name, address/port information
 ZITI_CTRL_NAME=ziti-controller
 ZITI_CTRL_EDGE_ADVERTISED_ADDRESS=ziti-edge-controller
diff --git a/quickstart/test/compose-test.zsh b/quickstart/test/compose-test.zsh
index 5cc2a2d8d..5884541b9 100755
--- a/quickstart/test/compose-test.zsh
+++ b/quickstart/test/compose-test.zsh
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ echo "INFO: Testing Compose project $PWD"
 
 declare -a QUICK_FILES=(
     ../go.{mod,sum}
-    ./ziti/cmd/edge/quickstart_manual_test.go
     test/compose.override.yml
     docker/{simplified-docker-compose.yml,.env}
 )
@@ -95,7 +94,7 @@ mv ./simplified-docker-compose.yml ./compose.yml
 # learn the expected Go version from the Go mod file so we can pull the correct container image
 ZITI_GO_VERSION="$(awk '/^go[[:space:]]+/ {print $2}' ./go.mod)"
 # make this var available in the Compose project
-sed -Ee "s/^(#[[:space:]]+)?(ZITI_GO_VERSION)=.*/\2=${ZITI_GO_VERSION}/" \
+sed -E \
     -e  "s/^(#[[:space:]]+)?(ZITI_PWD)=.*/\2=${ZITI_PWD}/" \
     -e  "s/^(#[[:space:]]+)?(ZITI_INTERFACE)=.*/\2=${ZITI_INTERFACE:-127.0.0.1}/" ./.env > ./.env.tmp
 mv ./.env.tmp ./.env
@@ -111,6 +110,12 @@ done
 # any halt after this point should cause the Compose project to be torn down
 trap down_project SIGTERM SIGINT EXIT
 
+# these compose vars are used to configure the golang service that runs the test suite
+echo -e "ZITI_GO_VERSION=${ZITI_GO_VERSION}"\
+        "\nGOPATH=${GOPATH:-${HOME}/go}"\
+        "\nZITI_QUICK_DIR=${ZITI_QUICK_DIR}" \
+        >> ./.env
+
 # if ZITI_QUICK_IMAGE_TAG is set then run the locally-built image
 if [[ -n "${ZITI_QUICK_IMAGE_TAG:-}" ]]; then
     sed -Ee "s/^(#[[:space:]]+)?(ZITI_VERSION)=.*/\2=${ZITI_QUICK_IMAGE_TAG}/" ./.env > ./.env.tmp
diff --git a/quickstart/test/compose.override.yml b/quickstart/test/compose.override.yml
index 3fc6acf94..bd3846188 100644
--- a/quickstart/test/compose.override.yml
+++ b/quickstart/test/compose.override.yml
@@ -2,10 +2,13 @@ services:
   quickstart-test:
     image: golang:${ZITI_GO_VERSION:-noop}-alpine
     volumes:
-      - .:/mnt
+      # mount the parent dir of the quickstart, which is the top-level of the ziti repo working copy, as /mnt
+      - ${ZITI_QUICK_DIR:-noop}/..:/mnt
+      - ${GOPATH:-noop}:/go
     working_dir: /mnt
     environment:
       - ZITI_PWD
     networks:
       - ziti
-    command: go test -v ./quickstart_test.go
+    command: >
+      go test -v -tags "quickstart manual" ./ziti/cmd/edge/...