diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b436d83..2e7ada0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,5 +20,6 @@ tests/subset.bam
 nextflow_schema.json_old
 dockers
 smrtlink_dockers
+slim_smrtlink_dockers
 bin/fix_rg_ids.py
 bin/fix_rg_ids.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7332788..c5f5821 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ All docker containers used in this pipeline are publicly available.
 - *multiqc*: quay.io/biocontainers/multiqc:1.21--pyhdfd78af_0
 - *python*: python:3.12-bookworm
 - *pandas*: quay.io/biocontainers/pandas:1.5.2
-- *smrttools*: seqwell/smrttools:26.1.0 (docker-only; used by `CREATE_XML` to run PacBio SMRT Tools' `dataset create` CLI)
+- *smrttools*: seqwell/smrttools:26.1.0-slim (docker-only; used by `CREATE_XML` to run PacBio SMRT Tools' `dataset create` CLI)
 
 ## Conda Environment
 
diff --git a/nextflow.config b/nextflow.config
index ef06293..932243a 100644
--- a/nextflow.config
+++ b/nextflow.config
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ process {
     withName:  CREATE_XML { 
         memory = '8.0G'
         cpus = 2
-        container = 'seqwell/smrttools:26.1.0' 
+        container = 'seqwell/smrttools:26.1.0-slim' 
         }
       publishDir = [
             path: { "${params.output}/${meta.pool_ID}/xml" },