diff --git a/base/Dockerfile b/base/Dockerfile
--- a/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/base/Dockerfile
@@ -2,28 +2,36 @@
 LABEL maintainer="SoftwareHeritage"
 USER root
 
-# some base packages
-RUN apt-get update && \
+RUN \
+  export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive && \
+  apt-get update && \
+  apt-get install -y apt-transport-https && \
+  echo deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ stretch-backports main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.list && \
+  echo deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ stretch-pgdg main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/postgres.list && \
+  wget --quiet -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/postgresql.asc https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc && \
+  echo deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarnpkg.list && \
+  wget --quiet -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/yarnpkg.asc https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg && \
+  apt-get update && \
   apt-get upgrade -y && \
+  apt-get install -y -t stretch-backports \
+    nodejs && \
   apt-get install -y \
+    arcanist \
     build-essential \
     curl \
-    python3-dev \
-    python3-pip \
-    python3-venv libsvn-dev \
+    jq \
+    libsvn-dev \
     libsystemd-dev \
     pkg-config \
-    jq
-
-# install postgresql 10
-RUN echo deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ stretch-pgdg main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/postgres.list
-RUN wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | apt-key add -
-RUN apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y \
-	  postgresql-10 \
-	  postgresql-client-10 \
-	  postgresql-server-dev-10 \
-	  arcanist && \
-	rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+    postgresql-10 \
+    postgresql-client-10 \
+    postgresql-server-dev-10 \
+    python3-dev \
+    python3-pip \
+    python3-venv \
+    yarn \
+  && \
+  apt-get clean && \
+  rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 USER jenkins