diff --git a/tools/docker/run_test.sh b/tools/docker/run_test.sh
index 3d994dcf1e..5ed92efa5c 100755
--- a/tools/docker/run_test.sh
+++ b/tools/docker/run_test.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # author: Ole Schuett
 
 if (( $# < 1 )); then
-    echo "usage: run_test.sh <test_name> [additional-args]"
+    echo "usage: run_test.sh <test_name> [additional-docker-run-args]"
     echo "example: run_test.sh python"
     exit 1
 fi
diff --git a/tools/docker/run_test_pr.sh b/tools/docker/run_test_pr.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1daae50962
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/docker/run_test_pr.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/bin/bash -l
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# author: Tiziano Müller
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+if [[ $# -lt 3 ]]; then
+    echo "usage: $0 <test_name> <PR ID or branch name> <Pull-Request ref/SHA> [optional-docker-run-arguments]"
+    echo "example: $0 python 506 d3b9e46d0f2a0588c23fcb00f20e134f3fc302e8"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+TESTNAME=$1
+[[ $2 =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && GIT_BRANCH="pull/$2/head" || GIT_BRANCH="$2"
+GIT_REF=$3
+
+shift 3
+
+echo "Running ${TESTNAME} on Branch ${GIT_BRANCH} (ref: ${GIT_REF})..."
+
+set -o xtrace
+
+# SYS_PTRACE needed by LeakSanitizer.
+docker run -i --init --rm --cap-add=SYS_PTRACE \
+    -e "GIT_BRANCH=${GIT_BRANCH}" -e "GIT_REF=${GIT_REF}" \
+    "$@" "img_cp2k_test_${TESTNAME}"
diff --git a/tools/docker/scripts/install_basics.sh b/tools/docker/scripts/install_basics.sh
index 47c641ff92..70fd5f9936 100755
--- a/tools/docker/scripts/install_basics.sh
+++ b/tools/docker/scripts/install_basics.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,4 @@ apt-get install -qq --no-install-recommends \
 rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # clone cp2k repository
-git clone --quiet --recursive --depth=1 --single-branch -b master https://github.com/cp2k/cp2k.git /workspace/cp2k
-
-#EOF
+git clone --quiet --recursive --single-branch -b master https://github.com/cp2k/cp2k.git /workspace/cp2k
diff --git a/tools/docker/scripts/install_formatting.sh b/tools/docker/scripts/install_formatting.sh
index babee2851f..00f88ba12e 100755
--- a/tools/docker/scripts/install_formatting.sh
+++ b/tools/docker/scripts/install_formatting.sh
@@ -8,17 +8,14 @@ apt-get install -qq --no-install-recommends \
     libfindbin-libs-perl                    \
     make                                    \
     perl                                    \
-    python
+    python                                  \
+    python3-{pip,setuptools,wheel}
 
 rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-# pre-run prettify
-cd /workspace/cp2k
-echo -n "Warming cache by trying to run make pretty... "
-if make -j 16 pretty &> /dev/null ; then
-   echo "done."
-else
-   echo "failed."
-fi
+# install python packages
+pip3 install pre-commit
 
-#EOF
+# register the pre-commit hooks
+cd /workspace/cp2k
+pre-commit install --install-hooks
diff --git a/tools/docker/scripts/install_python.sh b/tools/docker/scripts/install_python.sh
index 355467aaa2..9913bb8e54 100755
--- a/tools/docker/scripts/install_python.sh
+++ b/tools/docker/scripts/install_python.sh
@@ -24,12 +24,6 @@ rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 pip  install --quiet numpy matplotlib requests
 pip3 install --quiet numpy matplotlib requests pre-commit
 
+# register the pre-commit hooks
 cd /workspace/cp2k
-echo -n "Warming cache by trying to run pre-commit hooks... "
-if pre-commit run --all-files --hook-stage manual check-ast &> /dev/null ; then
-    echo "done."
-else
-    echo "failed."
-fi
-
-#EOF
+pre-commit install --install-hooks
diff --git a/tools/docker/scripts/test_formatting.sh b/tools/docker/scripts/test_formatting.sh
index 43f96d5e59..4112daea63 100755
--- a/tools/docker/scripts/test_formatting.sh
+++ b/tools/docker/scripts/test_formatting.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,19 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# author: Ole Schuett, Tiziano Müller
 
-# author: Ole Schuett
+set -o pipefail
 
 echo -e "\n========== Running Formatting Test =========="
 cd /workspace/cp2k
-./tools/formatting/test_formatting.sh
 
-#EOF
+if [ -n "${GIT_REF}" ]; then
+    # get the list of changed files with their status from git between this HEAD and the origin/master
+    # filter out deleted files and get the last field (in case of renames the second one is the newly added)
+    # run the `pre-commit` on them which will fail IF files get modified by it
+    git diff --name-status origin/master... | awk '/^[MCRAU]/ {print $NF}' | xargs pre-commit run --files
+    echo "Summary: checked $(git diff --name-status origin/master... | awk '/^[MCRAU]/ {print $NF}' | wc -l) files, no violations found"
+    echo "Status: OK"  # if not, we don't get here and the ci_entrypoint reports the FAILED status
+else
+    ./tools/formatting/test_formatting.sh
+fi