diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 0e106ba72e235bf5584b8d005991c275a0ab4de2..1d1201dc0d82e6e183344c93db6bc04a58f2c5fd 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ variables:
   ## Application versions used for the main release 
   ## note: nightly builds will always use the master/main branch
   JUGGLER_VERSION: "v9.2.0"
+  EICRECON_VERSION: "v0.5.1"
 
   ## Spack organization and repository, e.g. spack/spack
   SPACK_ORGREPO: "spack/spack"
@@ -347,6 +348,7 @@ jug_xl:default:
                    --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=${BASE_IMAGE}
                    --build-arg INTERNAL_TAG=${INTERNAL_TAG}
                    --build-arg JUGGLER_VERSION=${JUGGLER_VERSION}
+                   --build-arg EICRECON_VERSION=${EICRECON_VERSION}
                    --build-arg JUG_VERSION=${INTERNAL_TAG}-$(git rev-parse HEAD)
                    containers/jug
     - !reference [.build, script]
diff --git a/containers/jug/xl.Dockerfile b/containers/jug/xl.Dockerfile
index 4a1dc13b6e5ea90e232d9debc21c130d0e10783a..955d7a0f96d362a7d0dc1e3535d62e4f0debf722 100644
--- a/containers/jug/xl.Dockerfile
+++ b/containers/jug/xl.Dockerfile
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ FROM ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}${BASE_IMAGE}:${INTERNAL_TAG}
 
 ARG EICWEB="https://eicweb.phy.anl.gov/api/v4/projects"
 ARG JUGGLER_VERSION="main"
+ARG EICRECON_VERSION="main"
 
 ## version will automatically bust cache for nightly, as it includes
 ## the date
@@ -25,14 +26,34 @@ RUN cd /tmp
  && git clone -b ${JUGGLER_VERSION} --depth 1                                   \
         https://eicweb.phy.anl.gov/EIC/juggler.git                              \
  && cmake -B build -S juggler                                                   \
-          -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=17 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local             \
+          -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=17                                               \
+          -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local                                     \
+          -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release                                            \
  && cmake --build build -j12 -- install                                         \
  && pushd juggler                                                               \
- && echo " - Juggler: ${JUGGLER_VERSION}-$(git rev-parse HEAD)"                 \
+ && echo " - juggler: ${JUGGLER_VERSION}-$(git rev-parse HEAD)"                 \
           >> /etc/jug_info                                                      \
  && popd                                                                        \
  && rm -rf build juggler
 
+ADD https://api.github.com/repos/eic/eicrecon/commits/${EICRECON_VERSION} /tmp/eicrecon.json
+RUN cd /tmp                                                                     \
+ && echo "INSTALLING EICRECON"                                                  \
+ && git clone -b ${EICRECON_VERSION} --depth 1                                  \
+        https://github.com/eic/eicrecon.git                                     \
+ && cmake -B build -S eicrecon                                                  \
+          -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=17                                               \
+          -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local                                     \
+          -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release                                            \
+ && cmake --build build -j12 -- install                                         \
+ && pushd eicrecon                                                              \
+ && echo " - eicrecon: ${EICRECON_VERSION}-$(git rev-parse HEAD)"               \
+          >> /etc/jug_info                                                      \
+ && echo "export JANA_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/local/lib/EICrecon/plugins"              \
+    > /etc/profile.d/z12_eicrecon.sh                                            \
+ && popd                                                                        \
+ && rm -rf build eicrecon
+
 ## Install benchmarks into the container
 ARG BENCHMARK_COM_VERSION="master"
 ARG BENCHMARK_DET_VERSION="master"
diff --git a/spack.yaml b/spack.yaml
index 053dc4b505ac95ba015763fdf8d891d8bd06970a..1e936c00677063f093940fd0c71b3c0134d9dd0f 100644
--- a/spack.yaml
+++ b/spack.yaml
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ spack:
     - edm4eic@1.2.2 cxxstd=17
     - edm4hep@0.7 cxxstd=17
     - eic-smear@1.1.10
-    - eicrecon@0.5.1
     - eigen@3.4.0
     - emacs
     - fastjet@3.4.0