diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
index 108044c..d7f698c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ on:
       - main
       - nwm-main
       - development
+      - development-pw
       - release-candidate
   push:
     branches:
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ on:
       - main
       - nwm-main
       - development
+      - development-pw
       - release-candidate
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
@@ -68,6 +70,7 @@ jobs:
       alias_tag: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.alias_tag }}
       clean_ref: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.clean_ref }}
       default_ref: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.default_ref }}
+      default_base_tag: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.default_base_tag }}
       ngen_image_digest: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.ngen_image_digest }}
       ngen_image_revision: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.ngen_image_revision }}
       ewts_revision: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.ewts_revision }}
@@ -104,10 +107,11 @@ jobs:
           SHORT_SHA="${REAL_SHA:0:7}"
 
           # default source-repo ref: follow the release-line branch we're building from
-          # (development / ngwpc-candidate / ngwpc-release); tags and other branches fall
-          # back to development. Override per source repo via the *_REF dispatch inputs.
+          # (development / development-pw / ngwpc-candidate / ngwpc-release); tags and
+          # other branches fall back to development. Override per source repo via the
+          # *_REF dispatch inputs.
           case "${GITHUB_REF_TYPE}:${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" in
-            branch:development|branch:ngwpc-candidate|branch:ngwpc-release)
+            branch:development|branch:development-pw|branch:ngwpc-candidate|branch:ngwpc-release)
               DEFAULT_REF="$GITHUB_REF_NAME" ;;
             *)
               DEFAULT_REF="development" ;;
@@ -115,6 +119,16 @@ jobs:
           # use an explicit *_REF input if provided, else DEFAULT_REF
           ref_or_default() { [ -n "$1" ] && echo "$1" || echo "$DEFAULT_REF"; }
 
+          # base-image alias follows the lane: development-pw (or a PR into it) pulls
+          # the rocky 'latest-pw' alias, every other ref the bookworm 'latest'. An
+          # explicit NGEN_IMAGE_TAG input always wins over this default.
+          LANE_REF="${GITHUB_BASE_REF:-$GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
+          if [ "$LANE_REF" = "development-pw" ]; then
+            DEFAULT_BASE_TAG="latest-pw"
+          else
+            DEFAULT_BASE_TAG="latest"
+          fi
+
           # logic for the tags:
           # test_image_tag (commit short sha): used for the initial build and test
           # alias_tag: used for final tagging on successful tests
@@ -140,7 +154,8 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           # base image (ngen) metadata for Dockerfile labels
-          NGEN_IMAGE_TAG="${{ inputs.NGEN_IMAGE_TAG || 'latest' }}"
+          NGEN_IMAGE_TAG="${{ inputs.NGEN_IMAGE_TAG }}"
+          NGEN_IMAGE_TAG="${NGEN_IMAGE_TAG:-$DEFAULT_BASE_TAG}"
           NGEN_IMAGE="ghcr.io/${ORG}/ngen:${NGEN_IMAGE_TAG}"
           NGEN_INSPECT=$(skopeo inspect --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 "docker://${NGEN_IMAGE}" 2>/dev/null || echo '{}')
           NGEN_IMAGE_DIGEST=$(echo "$NGEN_INSPECT" | jq -r '.Digest // "unknown"')
@@ -158,6 +173,9 @@ jobs:
             echo "${sha:-unknown}"
           }
 
+          # Each *_REVISION is the dependency's resolved commit SHA: it labels the
+          # image AND doubles as the per-dependency cache-bust build-arg, so a new
+          # commit on the requested ref reinstalls that dep instead of a stale cache.
           EWTS_REVISION=$(resolve_sha "https://github.com/${{ inputs.EWTS_ORG || github.repository_owner }}/nwm-ewts.git" "$(ref_or_default "${{ inputs.EWTS_REF }}")")
           MSW_MGR_REVISION=$(resolve_sha "https://github.com/${{ inputs.MSW_MGR_ORG || github.repository_owner }}/nwm-msw-mgr.git" "$(ref_or_default "${{ inputs.MSW_MGR_REF }}")")
 
@@ -171,6 +189,7 @@ jobs:
           commit_sha_short=${SHORT_SHA}
           clean_ref=${CLEAN_REF}
           default_ref=${DEFAULT_REF}
+          default_base_tag=${DEFAULT_BASE_TAG}
           ngen_image_digest=${NGEN_IMAGE_DIGEST}
           ngen_image_revision=${NGEN_IMAGE_REVISION}
           ewts_revision=${EWTS_REVISION}
@@ -233,9 +252,9 @@ jobs:
           tags: ${{ needs.setup.outputs.image_base }}:${{ needs.setup.outputs.test_image_tag }}
           build-args: |
             GHCR_ORG=${{ inputs.GHCR_ORG || needs.setup.outputs.org }}
-            NGEN_IMAGE_TAG=${{ inputs.NGEN_IMAGE_TAG || 'latest' }}
-            BASE_IMAGE_DIGEST=${{ needs.setup.outputs.ngen_image_digest }}
-            BASE_IMAGE_REVISION=${{ needs.setup.outputs.ngen_image_revision }}
+            NGEN_IMAGE=ghcr.io/${{ needs.setup.outputs.org }}/ngen:${{ inputs.NGEN_IMAGE_TAG || needs.setup.outputs.default_base_tag }}
+            NGEN_IMAGE_DIGEST=${{ needs.setup.outputs.ngen_image_digest }}
+            NGEN_IMAGE_REVISION=${{ needs.setup.outputs.ngen_image_revision }}
             EWTS_ORG=${{ inputs.EWTS_ORG || github.repository_owner }}
             EWTS_REF=${{ inputs.EWTS_REF || needs.setup.outputs.default_ref }}
             EWTS_REVISION=${{ needs.setup.outputs.ewts_revision }}
@@ -338,23 +357,33 @@ jobs:
             --all \
             "docker://${IMAGE_BASE}:${TEST_TAG}" "docker://${IMAGE_BASE}:${ALIAS_TAG}"
 
-          # tag with 'latest' on development branch
+          # Branch-keyed promotion: development promotes 'latest' (bookworm/AWS
+          # lane); development-pw promotes 'latest-pw' (rocky/PW lane). Do not
+          # manually dispatch a cross-lane build from either branch: promotion
+          # keys off the branch name, so the tested image would promote under
+          # the wrong alias.
           if [ "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" = "development" ]; then
             skopeo copy \
               --src-creds "${{ github.actor }}:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
               --dest-creds "${{ github.actor }}:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
               --all \
               "docker://${IMAGE_BASE}:${TEST_TAG}" "docker://${IMAGE_BASE}:latest"
+          elif [ "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" = "development-pw" ]; then
+            skopeo copy \
+              --src-creds "${{ github.actor }}:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+              --dest-creds "${{ github.actor }}:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+              --all \
+              "docker://${IMAGE_BASE}:${TEST_TAG}" "docker://${IMAGE_BASE}:latest-pw"
           fi
 
   # Build the Apptainer .sif from the tested + promoted image and publish it to
   # GHCR as an OCI artifact (oras://). AWS PCS compute nodes pull this onto the
   # shared EFS and run it with `apptainer run`. SIF images are NOT baked into the
-  # compute AMI — the AMI carries only the Apptainer runtime; the images ship here
+  # compute AMI. The AMI carries only the Apptainer runtime; the images ship here
   # and are staged on EFS. See nwm-ngencerf-infra-learning/docs/design-decisions.md.
   build-sif:
     name: build-sif
-    # Only on real branch builds (push) or manual dispatch — not PRs (a multi-GB
+    # Only on real branch builds (push) or manual dispatch, not PRs (a multi-GB
     # SIF build on every PR is wasteful). Runs after the image is tested + promoted.
     if: |
       (github.event_name == 'push') ||
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 5b0637e..9bae35d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 ############################################################################
 # Change/Verify these values when adopting this Dockerfile into another org:
 #   GH_ORG, GHCR_ORG, IMAGE_NAMESPACE, APP_DIR,
-#   MSW_MGR_ORG, MSW_MGR_REF, EWTS_ORG, EWTS_REF
+#   MSW_MGR_ORG, MSW_MGR_REF, EWTS_ORG, EWTS_REF,
+#   USE_EWTS, EWTS_CACHE_BUST
 ############################################################################
 
 # Ownership / branding overrides
@@ -62,25 +63,29 @@ ARG APP_DIR
 
 # OCI Metadata Arguments
 #
-# BASE_IMAGE_* refers to the ngen image this image is built FROM.
-ARG BASE_IMAGE_DIGEST="unknown"
-ARG BASE_IMAGE_REVISION="unknown"
+# NGEN_IMAGE_* refers to the ngen image this image is built FROM.
+ARG NGEN_IMAGE_DIGEST="unknown"
+ARG NGEN_IMAGE_REVISION="unknown"
 ARG IMAGE_SOURCE="unknown"
 ARG IMAGE_VENDOR="unknown"
 ARG IMAGE_VERSION="unknown"
 ARG IMAGE_REVISION="unknown"
+ARG EWTS_REVISION="unknown"
 ARG MSW_MGR_REVISION="unknown"
 
 # Image Labels: OCI-spec annotations followed by custom source-repo metadata.
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.base.name="${NGEN_IMAGE}" \
-    org.opencontainers.image.base.digest="${BASE_IMAGE_DIGEST}" \
+    org.opencontainers.image.base.digest="${NGEN_IMAGE_DIGEST}" \
     org.opencontainers.image.source="${IMAGE_SOURCE}" \
     org.opencontainers.image.vendor="${IMAGE_VENDOR}" \
     org.opencontainers.image.version="${IMAGE_VERSION}" \
     org.opencontainers.image.revision="${IMAGE_REVISION}" \
     org.opencontainers.image.title="NGEN Forecast/Hindcast Manager" \
     org.opencontainers.image.description="Docker image for the NGEN Forecast/Hindcast application" \
-    io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.image.base.revision="${BASE_IMAGE_REVISION}" \
+    io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.image.base.revision="${NGEN_IMAGE_REVISION}" \
+    io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.ewts.org="${EWTS_ORG}" \
+    io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.ewts.ref="${EWTS_REF}" \
+    io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.ewts.revision="${EWTS_REVISION}" \
     io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.msw.mgr.org="${MSW_MGR_ORG}" \
     io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.msw.mgr.ref="${MSW_MGR_REF}" \
     io.${IMAGE_NAMESPACE}.msw.mgr.revision="${MSW_MGR_REVISION}"