diff --git a/hack/make-docker-images.sh b/hack/make-docker-images.sh
index 51a8e10..cd4cc63 100755
--- a/hack/make-docker-images.sh
+++ b/hack/make-docker-images.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
 # Copyright 2019 Google LLC
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -12,28 +14,28 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-# Builds and pushes docker image for each demo microservice. 
+# Builds and pushes docker image for each demo microservice.
 
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
+SCRIPTDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
 
 log() { echo "$1" >&2; }
-fail() { log "$1"; exit 1; }
 
 TAG="${TAG?TAG env variable must be specified}"
 REPO_PREFIX="${REPO_PREFIX?REPO_PREFIX env variable must be specified}"
 
+while IFS= read -d $'\0' -r dir; do
+    # build image
+    svcname="$(basename "${dir}")"
+    image="${REPO_PREFIX}/$svcname:$TAG"
+    (
+        cd "${dir}"
+        log "Building: ${image}"
+        docker build -t "${image}" .
 
-for dir in ./src/*/    
-do
-    # build image  
-    svcname="$(basename $dir)"
-    image="$REPO_PREFIX/$svcname:$TAG"
-    echo "Building and pushing $image..." 
-    docker build -t $image -f $dir/Dockerfile $dir 
+        log "Pushing: ${image}"
+        docker push "${image}"
+    )
+done < <(find "${SCRIPTDIR}/../src" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -print0)
 
-    # push image 
-    docker push $image 
-done
-
-log "Successfully built and pushed images."
+log "Successfully built and pushed all images."
diff --git a/hack/make-release-artifacts.sh b/hack/make-release-artifacts.sh
index 1479f8a..aacb4b1 100755
--- a/hack/make-release-artifacts.sh
+++ b/hack/make-release-artifacts.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
 # Copyright 2019 Google LLC
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -14,42 +16,41 @@
 
 # injects new image/tag into the images in ./release/kubernetes-manifests/demo.yaml 
 
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
+SCRIPTDIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
 
 log() { echo "$1" >&2; }
-fail() { log "$1"; exit 1; }
 
 TAG="${TAG?TAG env variable must be specified}"
 REPO_PREFIX="${REPO_PREFIX?REPO_PREFIX env variable must be specified}"
+out_file="${SCRIPTDIR}/../release/kubernetes-manifests/demo.yaml"
 
-# overwrite release/ with the latest manifests, adding "---" separator.
-src="./kubernetes-manifests/*"
-manifestfile="./release/kubernetes-manifests/demo.yaml"
-tmp="./release/kubernetes-manifests/tmp.yaml"
-[ -e $manifestfile ] && rm $manifestfile
-for f in $src; do (cat "${f}"; echo "---") >> $tmp; done
+read_manifests() {
+    local src_manifest_dir
+    src_manifest_dir="${SCRIPTDIR}/../kubernetes-manifests"
 
-# remove extra google headers 
-gsed -i '/^#/d' $tmp 
+    while IFS= read -d $'\0' -r file; do
+        cat "${file}"
+        echo "---"
+    done < <(find "${src_manifest_dir}" -name '*.yaml' -type f -print0)
+}
 
-# remove empty lines 
-gsed -r -i '/^\s*$/d' $tmp 
+# read and merge all manifests
+out_manifest="$(read_manifests)"
 
-# add 1 google header to the top 
-cat "./release/.googleheader" $tmp > $manifestfile 
-rm $tmp 
-
-
-# replace image repo, tag for each deployment  
-for dir in ./src/*/    
+# replace "image" repo, tag for each service
+for dir in ./src/*/
 do
-    svcname="$(basename $dir)"
+    svcname="$(basename "${dir}")"
     image="$REPO_PREFIX/$svcname:$TAG"
 
     pattern="^(\s*)image:\s.*$svcname(.*)(\s*)"
-    replace="\1image: $image\3"  
-    gsed -r -i "s|$pattern|$replace|g" $manifestfile
+    replace="\1image: $image\3"
+    out_manifest="$(gsed -r "s|$pattern|$replace|g" <(echo "${out_manifest}") )"
 done
 
-log "Successfully added image tags > wrote to demo.yaml".
+rm -rf -- "${out_file}"
+mkdir -p "$(dirname "${out_file}")"
+echo "${out_manifest}" > "${out_file}"
+
+log "Successfully saved merged manifests to ${out_file}."
diff --git a/hack/make-release.sh b/hack/make-release.sh
index 1eb8bce..ff49ff4 100755
--- a/hack/make-release.sh
+++ b/hack/make-release.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
 # Copyright 2019 Google LLC
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -15,7 +17,6 @@
 # Creates a new release by 1) building/pushing images, 2) injecting tag into YAML, 
 # 3) creating a new git tag, and 4) pushing tags/updated YAML to $BRANCH.
 
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
 log() { echo "$1" >&2; }
@@ -24,13 +25,13 @@ fail() { log "$1"; exit 1; }
 TAG="${TAG?TAG env variable must be specified}"
 REPO_PREFIX="${REPO_PREFIX?REPO_PREFIX env variable must be specified}"
 
-# build and push images 
+# build and push images
 ./hack/make-docker-images.sh
 
-# update yaml 
-./hack/make-release-artifacts.sh 
+# update yaml
+./hack/make-release-artifacts.sh
 
-# create git release / push to master 
+# create git release / push to master
 log "Pushing k8s manifests to master..."
 git tag "$TAG"
 git add release/
diff --git a/release/.googleheader b/release/.googleheader
deleted file mode 100644
index ddd71c0..0000000
--- a/release/.googleheader
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2019 Google LLC
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.