diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a62f1889f..74274b397 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- ubi9-rust-builder: Include `.tar.gz` snapshots of the operator source code in container images ([#1207])
+
 ### Changed
 
 - all: Use our build-repo to cache NPM dependencies ([#1219])
 
+[#1207]: https://github.com/stackabletech/docker-images/pull/1207
 [#1219]: https://github.com/stackabletech/docker-images/pull/1219
 
 ## [25.7.0] - 2025-07-23
diff --git a/hadoop/Dockerfile b/hadoop/Dockerfile
index 5647d6c57..49fa03a85 100644
--- a/hadoop/Dockerfile
+++ b/hadoop/Dockerfile
@@ -145,9 +145,7 @@ chmod --recursive g=u /stackable/jmx /stackable/async-profiler "/stackable/hadoo
 # image the 'hadoop checknative' tool still fails because it can't find the 'libcrypto.so' symlink.
 # Therefore we create this symlink here.
 ln -s /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so.3 /usr/lib64/libcrypto.so
-EOF
 
-RUN <<EOF
 # ----------------------------------------
 # Checks
 # This section is to run final checks to ensure the created final images
diff --git a/ubi9-rust-builder/Dockerfile b/ubi9-rust-builder/Dockerfile
index 609c0ef4f..1bba7e72d 100644
--- a/ubi9-rust-builder/Dockerfile
+++ b/ubi9-rust-builder/Dockerfile
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ RUN microdnf update \
     openssl-devel \
     pkg-config \
     systemd-devel \
+    # tar needed to create the source code snapshot before building the Rust code
+    tar \
     unzip \
   && microdnf clean all \
   && rm -rf /var/cache/yum
@@ -97,6 +99,7 @@ ONBUILD COPY . /src
 
 ONBUILD RUN <<EOF
 . "$HOME/.cargo/env"
+tar -czf /app/stackable-src.tar.gz .
 cargo auditable --quiet build --release --workspace
 cargo cyclonedx --all --spec-version 1.5 --describe binaries