diff --git a/clearml_serving/serving/Dockerfile b/clearml_serving/serving/Dockerfile
index bd817ea..a5662ce 100644
--- a/clearml_serving/serving/Dockerfile
+++ b/clearml_serving/serving/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-FROM python:3.11-bullseye
+# works with python 3.8 as well.
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.11
 
+FROM python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-bullseye
 
 ENV LC_ALL=C.UTF-8