diff --git a/cmd/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent/main.go b/cmd/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent/main.go
index af96c5f82..8213e6bfb 100644
--- a/cmd/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent/main.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"time"
 
-	// This side effect import ensures that we use fipsonly crypto during TLS in fips_strict mode.
+	// This side effect import ensures that we use fipsonly crypto during TLS in boringcrypto mode.
 	//
 	// Commenting this out because it causes the runtime memory consumption of this binary to increase
 	// from ~1 MB to ~8 MB (as measured when running the sleep subcommand). This binary does not use TLS,
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ import (
 	//nolint:godot // This is not sentence, it is a commented out line of import code.
 	// _ "go.pinniped.dev/internal/crypto/ptls"
 
-	// This side effect imports cgo so that runtime/cgo gets linked, when in fips_strict mode.
-	// Without this line, the binary will exit 133 upon startup in fips_strict mode.
+	// This side effect imports cgo so that runtime/cgo gets linked, when in boringcrypto mode.
+	// Without this line, the binary will exit 133 upon startup in boringcrypto mode.
 	// It also enables fipsonly tls mode, just to be absolutely sure that the fips code is enabled,
 	// even though it shouldn't be used currently by this binary.
 	_ "go.pinniped.dev/internal/crypto/fips"
diff --git a/cmd/pinniped-server/main.go b/cmd/pinniped-server/main.go
index df2917fbc..2cb3e30aa 100644
--- a/cmd/pinniped-server/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pinniped-server/main.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 
 	concierge "go.pinniped.dev/internal/concierge/server"
-	// this side effect import ensures that we use fipsonly crypto in fips_strict mode.
+	// this side effect import ensures that we use fipsonly crypto in boringcrypto mode.
 	_ "go.pinniped.dev/internal/crypto/ptls"
 	lua "go.pinniped.dev/internal/localuserauthenticator"
 	"go.pinniped.dev/internal/plog"
diff --git a/cmd/pinniped/main.go b/cmd/pinniped/main.go
index b4825b1ea..dd57d7eaf 100644
--- a/cmd/pinniped/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pinniped/main.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2020-2022 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
+// Copyright 2020-2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 package main
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/browser"
 
 	"go.pinniped.dev/cmd/pinniped/cmd"
-	// this side effect import ensures that we use fipsonly crypto in fips_strict mode.
+	// this side effect import ensures that we use fipsonly crypto in boringcrypto mode.
 	_ "go.pinniped.dev/internal/crypto/ptls"
 )
 
diff --git a/hack/Dockerfile_fips b/hack/Dockerfile_fips
index 702219780..a1921de68 100644
--- a/hack/Dockerfile_fips
+++ b/hack/Dockerfile_fips
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ RUN \
   export GOOS=linux && \
   export GOARCH=amd64 &&  \
   export GOEXPERIMENT=boringcrypto && \
-  go build -tags fips_strict,osusergo,netgo -v -trimpath -ldflags "$(hack/get-ldflags.sh) -w -s" -o /usr/local/bin/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent ./cmd/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent/... && \
-  go build -tags fips_strict,osusergo,netgo -v -trimpath -ldflags "$(hack/get-ldflags.sh) -w -s" -o /usr/local/bin/pinniped-server ./cmd/pinniped-server/... && \
+  go build -v -trimpath -ldflags "$(hack/get-ldflags.sh) -w -s" -o /usr/local/bin/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent ./cmd/pinniped-concierge-kube-cert-agent/... && \
+  go build -v -trimpath -ldflags "$(hack/get-ldflags.sh) -w -s" -o /usr/local/bin/pinniped-server ./cmd/pinniped-server/... && \
   ln -s /usr/local/bin/pinniped-server /usr/local/bin/pinniped-concierge && \
   ln -s /usr/local/bin/pinniped-server /usr/local/bin/pinniped-supervisor && \
   ln -s /usr/local/bin/pinniped-server /usr/local/bin/local-user-authenticator
diff --git a/internal/crypto/fips/doc.go b/internal/crypto/fips/doc.go
index e265bb858..82c328656 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/fips/doc.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/fips/doc.go
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Copyright 2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-// Package fips can be imported to enable fipsonly tls mode when compiling with fips_strict.
-// It will also cause cgo to be explicitly imported when compiling with fips_strict.
+// Package fips can be imported to enable fipsonly tls mode when compiling with boringcrypto.
+// It will also cause cgo to be explicitly imported when compiling with boringcrypto.
 package fips
diff --git a/internal/crypto/fips/fips_strict.go b/internal/crypto/fips/fips_strict.go
index b0679c302..c0aa95b8b 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/fips/fips_strict.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/fips/fips_strict.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 // Copyright 2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-//go:build fips_strict
-// +build fips_strict
+//go:build boringcrypto
+// +build boringcrypto
 
 package fips
 
diff --git a/internal/crypto/ptls/default.go b/internal/crypto/ptls/default.go
index d929a4eba..99fecfdec 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/ptls/default.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/ptls/default.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-// Copyright 2021-2022 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
+// Copyright 2021-2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-//go:build !fips_strict
-// +build !fips_strict
+//go:build !boringcrypto
+// +build !boringcrypto
 
 package ptls
 
diff --git a/internal/crypto/ptls/fips_strict.go b/internal/crypto/ptls/fips_strict.go
index 2db12fcf8..2b2ba2d55 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/ptls/fips_strict.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/ptls/fips_strict.go
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 // The configurations here override the usual ptls.Secure, ptls.Default, and ptls.DefaultLDAP
 // configs when Pinniped is built in fips-only mode.
 // All of these are the same because FIPs is already so limited.
-//go:build fips_strict
-// +build fips_strict
+//go:build boringcrypto
+// +build boringcrypto
 
 package ptls
 
diff --git a/internal/crypto/ptls/secure.go b/internal/crypto/ptls/secure.go
index ddea08166..4dbe4eebc 100644
--- a/internal/crypto/ptls/secure.go
+++ b/internal/crypto/ptls/secure.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-// Copyright 2021-2022 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
+// Copyright 2021-2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-//go:build !fips_strict
-// +build !fips_strict
+//go:build !boringcrypto
+// +build !boringcrypto
 
 package ptls
 
diff --git a/site/content/docs/reference/fips.md b/site/content/docs/reference/fips.md
index b9eab7e89..3621e354e 100644
--- a/site/content/docs/reference/fips.md
+++ b/site/content/docs/reference/fips.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ menu:
 ---
 By default, the Pinniped supervisor and concierge use ciphers that are not supported by FIPS 140-2.
 If you are deploying Pinniped in an environment with FIPS compliance requirements, you will have to build
-the binaries yourself using the `fips_strict` build tag and Golang's `go-boringcrypto` fork.
+the binaries yourself using `GOEXPERIMENT=boringcrypto`.
 
 The Pinniped team provides an [example Dockerfile](https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/pinniped/blob/main/hack/Dockerfile_fips)
 demonstrating how you can build Pinniped images in a FIPS compatible way.
diff --git a/test/integration/securetls_fips_test.go b/test/integration/securetls_fips_test.go
index 19cfea789..3b0b41625 100644
--- a/test/integration/securetls_fips_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/securetls_fips_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-// Copyright 2021-2022 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
+// Copyright 2021-2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-//go:build fips_strict
-// +build fips_strict
+//go:build boringcrypto
+// +build boringcrypto
 
 package integration
 
diff --git a/test/testlib/securetls_preference_fips.go b/test/testlib/securetls_preference_fips.go
index e61fc2051..2920ec4c7 100644
--- a/test/testlib/securetls_preference_fips.go
+++ b/test/testlib/securetls_preference_fips.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-// Copyright 2022 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
+// Copyright 2022-2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-//go:build fips_strict
-// +build fips_strict
+//go:build boringcrypto
+// +build boringcrypto
 
 package testlib
 
diff --git a/test/testlib/securetls_preference_nonfips.go b/test/testlib/securetls_preference_nonfips.go
index 002d329d7..beb5659c4 100644
--- a/test/testlib/securetls_preference_nonfips.go
+++ b/test/testlib/securetls_preference_nonfips.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-// Copyright 2022 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
+// Copyright 2022-2023 the Pinniped contributors. All Rights Reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-//go:build !fips_strict
-// +build !fips_strict
+//go:build !boringcrypto
+// +build !boringcrypto
 
 package testlib