diff --git a/.buildkite/release.yml b/.buildkite/release.yml
index 4af5fbc38e4..d3a7c89c53d 100644
--- a/.buildkite/release.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/release.yml
@@ -40,6 +40,17 @@ steps:
     agents:
       system: x86_64-linux
 
+  - label: 'Smoke test docker-compose'
+    depends_on:
+      - build-docker
+      - refresh-node-state
+    commands:
+      - ./scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh
+    artifact_paths:
+      - "./logs/**/*"
+    agents:
+      system: x86_64-linux
+
   - label: 'Run linux e2e tests'
     depends_on:
       - add-release-commits
diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh b/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..6b93f7c300e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/release/docker-smoke-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env -S nix shell 'nixpkgs#docker-compose' --command bash
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+
+set -euox pipefail
+
+mkdir -p state
+
+export NETWORK=testnet
+export WALLET_TAG=$(buildkite-agent meta-data get "release-cabal-version")
+export NODE_TAG="8.9.3"
+export NODE_DB="$(pwd)/state"
+export WALLET_DB="$(pwd)/state"
+export WALLET_PORT=8090
+
+docker-compose up -d
+mkdir -p logs
+docker-compose logs > logs/docker-compose.log
+docker-compose down
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/release/release-candidate.sh b/scripts/buildkite/release/release-candidate.sh
index df470dca522..74514d15571 100755
--- a/scripts/buildkite/release/release-candidate.sh
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/release/release-candidate.sh
@@ -61,3 +61,4 @@ git push -f origin "$RELEASE_CANDIDATE_BRANCH"
 buildkite-agent meta-data set "release-version" "$NEW_GIT_TAG"
 buildkite-agent meta-data set "release-commit" "$RELEASE_COMMIT"
 buildkite-agent meta-data set "release-candidate-branch" "$RELEASE_CANDIDATE_BRANCH"
+buildkite-agent meta-data set "release-cabal-version" "$NEW_CABAL_VERSION"