diff --git a/docker/set_build.py b/docker/set_build.py
index 9bbe9bc72..77592c2ef 100644
--- a/docker/set_build.py
+++ b/docker/set_build.py
@@ -1,38 +1,41 @@
-"""Set the build version to be 'qa', 'rc', 'release'"""
-
 import sys
 import os
 import re
 import logging
+import lbry.build_info as build_info_mod
 
 log = logging.getLogger()
 log.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler())
 log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 
-def get_build_type(ci_tag=None):
-    if not ci_tag:
-        return "qa"
-    log.debug("getting build type for tag: \"%s\"", ci_tag)
-    if re.match(r'v\d+\.\d+\.\d+rc\d+$', ci_tag):
-        return 'rc'
-    elif re.match(r'v\d+\.\d+\.\d+$', ci_tag):
-        return 'release'
-    return 'qa'
+def _check_and_set(d: dict, key: str, value: str):
+    try:
+        d[key]
+    except KeyError:
+        raise Exception(f"{key} var does not exist in {build_info_mod.__file__}")
+    d[key] = value
 
 
 def main():
-    root_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)))
-    build_type_path = os.path.join(root_dir, 'lbry', 'build_type.py')
-    log.debug("configuring build type file: %s", build_type_path)
-    commit_hash = os.getenv('CI_COMMIT_SHA', os.getenv('TRAVIS_COMMIT'))
+    build_info = {item: build_info_mod.__dict__[item] for item in dir(build_info_mod) if not item.startswith("__")}
+
+    commit_hash = os.getenv('DOCKER_COMMIT', os.getenv('CI_COMMIT_SHA', os.getenv('TRAVIS_COMMIT')))
     if commit_hash is None:
         raise ValueError("Commit hash not found in env vars")
-    commit_hash = commit_hash[:6]
-    build_type = get_build_type(os.getenv('CI_COMMIT_TAG', os.getenv('TRAVIS_TAG')))
-    log.debug("setting build type=%s, build commit=%s", build_type, commit_hash)
-    with open(build_type_path, 'w') as f:
-        f.write(f"BUILD = \"{build_type}\"\nCOMMIT_HASH = \"{commit_hash}\"\n")
+    _check_and_set(build_info, "COMMIT_HASH", commit_hash[:6])
+
+    docker_tag = os.getenv('DOCKER_TAG')
+    if docker_tag:
+        _check_and_set(build_info, "DOCKER_TAG", docker_tag)
+        _check_and_set(build_info, "BUILD", "docker")
+    else:
+        ci_tag = os.getenv('CI_COMMIT_TAG', os.getenv('TRAVIS_TAG'))
+        _check_and_set(build_info, "BUILD", "release" if re.match(r'v\d+\.\d+\.\d+$', str(ci_tag)) else "qa")
+
+    log.debug("build info: %s", ", ".join([f"{k}={v}" for k, v in build_info.items()]))
+    with open(build_info_mod.__file__, 'w') as f:
+        f.write("\n".join([f"{k} = \"{v}\"" for k, v in build_info.items()]) + "\n")
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/lbry/build_info.py b/lbry/build_info.py
index d85b9593b..6dadae418 100644
--- a/lbry/build_info.py
+++ b/lbry/build_info.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 # don't touch this. CI server changes this during build/deployment
 BUILD = "dev"
 COMMIT_HASH = "none"
+DOCKER_TAG = "none"