diff --git a/.vale/.gitignore b/.vale/.gitignore
index 9658b6fb34e..02190720aeb 100644
--- a/.vale/.gitignore
+++ b/.vale/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+vale_*_*
 styles/*
 !styles/config/
 !styles/Openverse/
diff --git a/.vale/download.sh b/.vale/download.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..9b6ad2f7c1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vale/download.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+BIN_NAME="$1"
+VERSION="3.7.1"
+OS=$([ "$(uname)" = "Darwin" ] && echo "macOS" || echo "Linux")
+ARCH=$([ "$(uname -m)" = "aarch64" ] || [ "$(uname -m)" = "arm64" ] && echo "arm64" || echo "64-bit")
+
+URL="https://github.com/errata-ai/vale/releases/download/v${VERSION}/vale_${VERSION}_${OS}_${ARCH}.tar.gz"
+
+echo "Downloading ${URL}"
+curl --output vale.tar.gz --location "${URL}"
+tar -xvzf "vale.tar.gz" vale
+mv vale "${BIN_NAME}"
+rm "vale.tar.gz"
diff --git a/.vale/justfile b/.vale/justfile
index d8d9331c540..e74863cd6f4 100644
--- a/.vale/justfile
+++ b/.vale/justfile
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ _files separator="\n":
     fi
     echo "$files"
 
+VALE_BIN_NAME := "vale_" + os() + "_" + arch()
 VALE_STYLES_PATH := "/opt/.local/share/vale/styles"
 
 @_link_openverse_styles:
@@ -34,9 +35,15 @@ VALE_STYLES_PATH := "/opt/.local/share/vale/styles"
 
 # Run Vale configured for Openverse.
 @run: _link_openverse_styles
-    # Ensure vale is available
-    pdm install
+    #!/usr/bin/env bash
+    # Download vale if not not found by which
+    if [ ! -f ./{{ VALE_BIN_NAME }} ]; then
+        echo "Downloading Vale"
+        ./download.sh {{ VALE_BIN_NAME }}
+    fi
+
+    export VALE_STYLES_PATH={{ VALE_STYLES_PATH }}
     # Sync to make sure styles are up to date (this is fast if they are already synced)
-    VALE_STYLES_PATH={{ VALE_STYLES_PATH }} pdm run vale sync
+    ./{{ VALE_BIN_NAME }} sync
     # Run vale :)
-    VALE_STYLES_PATH={{ VALE_STYLES_PATH }} pdm run vale {{ "`just _files`" }}
+    ./{{ VALE_BIN_NAME }} {{ "`just _files`" }}
diff --git a/.vale/pdm.lock b/.vale/pdm.lock
deleted file mode 100644
index 66af9d68357..00000000000
--- a/.vale/pdm.lock
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-# This file is @generated by PDM.
-# It is not intended for manual editing.
-
-[metadata]
-groups = ["default"]
-strategy = ["inherit_metadata"]
-lock_version = "4.5.0"
-content_hash = "sha256:a0a9239f1729ced61ee239a99bf78fffdf4a7c52fac089012c11b3e6efbf8e41"
-
-[[metadata.targets]]
-requires_python = "==3.12.*"
-
-[[package]]
-name = "vale"
-version = "3.7.1.0"
-requires_python = ">=3.7"
-summary = "Install and use Vale (grammar & style check tool) in python environments."
-groups = ["default"]
-files = [
-    {file = "vale-3.7.1.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:3d311c11cf7e7621bf048f0898734634273ab15109ea2474ce4fc6f8778be6c8"},
-    {file = "vale-3.7.1.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:67e5474da8c3d438e0bc1f470d7d63d3d0080ad992e037dd33157536621738d1"},
-]
diff --git a/.vale/pyproject.toml b/.vale/pyproject.toml
deleted file mode 100644
index 64951919ff1..00000000000
--- a/.vale/pyproject.toml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-[project]
-name = "openverse-vale"
-version = "0.0.0"
-description = "Openverse Vale configuration"
-authors = [
-    {name = "Openverse Contributors", email = "openverse@wordpress.org"},
-]
-dependencies = [
-    "vale>=3.7.1.0",
-]
-requires-python = "==3.12.*"
-readme = "README.md"
-license = {text = "MIT"}
-
-[tool.pdm]
-distribution = false
diff --git a/docker/dev_env/Dockerfile b/docker/dev_env/Dockerfile
index f661bf4795b..c2a6f7252d6 100644
--- a/docker/dev_env/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/dev_env/Dockerfile
@@ -28,19 +28,22 @@ ENV PATH="${PNPM_BIN}:${N_PREFIX}/bin:${PDM_PYTHONS}:${HOME}/.local/bin:${PATH}"
 
 # Dependency explanations:
 # - git: required by some python package; contributors should use git on their host
-# - perl: used in linting
-# - gcc, g++: required by some pre-commit hooks for node-gyp
+# - g++: required by some pre-commit hooks for node-gyp
 # - just: command runner
 # - jq: JSON processor
 # - which: locate a program file in `PATH`
 # - tree: list files in a tree
+# - xdg-utils: added because Storybook wants to open in a browser
+# - nodejs, npm: language runtime (does not include Corepack)
 # - python*: required by some Python libraries for compilation during installation
-# - libffi*: required for the Python package cffi
 # - pipx: Python CLI app installer
-# - nodejs: language runtime (includes npm but not Corepack)
+# - libffi*: required for the Python package cffi
 # - docker*: used to interact with host Docker socket
+# - unzip: used to extract zip files of visual regression patches from CI artifacts
 # - postgresql*: required to connect to PostgreSQL databases
-# - k6: used for load testing
+#
+# System-specific dependencies:
+# - k6: used for load testing (only installed on x86 architectures)
 #
 # pipx dependencies:
 # - httpie: CLI HTTP client
@@ -51,10 +54,10 @@ ENV PATH="${PNPM_BIN}:${N_PREFIX}/bin:${PDM_PYTHONS}:${HOME}/.local/bin:${PATH}"
 # Node dependencies:
 # - n: Node.js distribution manager
 # - corepack: Node.js package-manager-manager
-RUN mkdir /pipx \
+RUN mkdir -p $HOME/.local/bin \
+  && mkdir /pipx \
   && dnf5 -y install dnf-plugins-core \
   && dnf5 -y config-manager addrepo --from-repofile=https://download.docker.com/linux/fedora/docker-ce.repo \
-  && dnf5 -y install https://dl.k6.io/rpm/repo.rpm \
   && dnf5 -y install \
     git \
     g++ \
@@ -64,12 +67,16 @@ RUN mkdir /pipx \
     tree \
     xdg-utils \
     nodejs npm \
-    python3.12 python3.12-devel pipx \
+    python3.12 python3.12-devel \
+    pipx \
     libffi-devel \
     docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin \
     unzip \
     postgresql postgresql-devel \
-    k6 \
+  && if [ "$(uname -m)" = "x86_64" ]; then \
+    dnf5 -y install https://dl.k6.io/rpm/repo.rpm \
+    && dnf5 -y install k6; \
+  fi \
   && dnf5 clean all \
   && pipx install --global \
     httpie \
diff --git a/docker/dev_env/hooks/pre-commit b/docker/dev_env/hooks/pre-commit
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/docker/dev_env/hooks/pre-push b/docker/dev_env/hooks/pre-push
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/docker/dev_env/run.sh b/docker/dev_env/run.sh
index 48d35642736..4adcce196fa 100755
--- a/docker/dev_env/run.sh
+++ b/docker/dev_env/run.sh
@@ -26,9 +26,6 @@ shared_args=(
 run_args=(
   -d
   --name "$container_name"
-  # Since we have build an amd64 image, we must specify the platform to
-  # suppress warnings about platform mismatch.
-  --platform linux/amd64
   # Use host network so things like Sphinx and the frontend that run directly in `ov`
   # will have ports available on the host (and this way we don't have to manually map each one)
   --network host
diff --git a/ov b/ov
index 29410dc0d3b..5141d474c1a 100755
--- a/ov
+++ b/ov
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ init)
 
 build)
   # k6 does not install on aarch64, so we must specify the platform on macOS.
-  docker build "${@:2}" --platform linux/amd64 -t openverse-dev_env:latest "$dev_env"
+  docker build "${@:2}" --tag openverse-dev_env:latest "$dev_env"
   ;;
 
 setup-env)