diff --git a/ops/terraform/dev.tfvars b/ops/terraform/dev.tfvars
index 3858f58fb0..235014e11d 100644
--- a/ops/terraform/dev.tfvars
+++ b/ops/terraform/dev.tfvars
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-bacalhau_version       = "v1.1.3"
-bacalhau_branch        = ""
+bacalhau_version       = ""
+bacalhau_branch        = "nats"
 bacalhau_port          = "1235"
 bacalhau_node_id_0     = "QmfYBQ3HouX9zKcANNXbgJnpyLpTYS9nKBANw6RUQKZffu"
 bacalhau_node_id_1     = "QmNjEQByyK8GiMTvnZqGyURuwXDCtzp9X6gJRKkpWfai7S"
@@ -28,4 +28,5 @@ public_ip_addresses    = ["34.86.177.175", "35.245.221.171"]
 num_gpu_machines       = 0
 log_level              = "debug"
 otel_collector_version  = "0.70.0"
-otel_collector_endpoint = "http://localhost:4318"
\ No newline at end of file
+otel_collector_endpoint = "http://localhost:4318"
+use_nats = true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ops/terraform/main.tf b/ops/terraform/main.tf
index ea40f96230..2b383f4197 100644
--- a/ops/terraform/main.tf
+++ b/ops/terraform/main.tf
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ export GRAFANA_CLOUD_TEMPO_ENDPOINT="${var.grafana_cloud_tempo_endpoint}"
 export OTEL_COLLECTOR_VERSION="${var.otel_collector_version}"
 export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="${var.otel_collector_endpoint}"
 export OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES="deployment.environment=${terraform.workspace}"
+export BACALHAU_NODE_NETWORK_USENATS=${var.use_nats}
+export BACALHAU_NODE_NETWORK_ORCHESTRATORS="${var.internal_ip_addresses[0]}:4222"
+export BACALHAU_NODE_NETWORK_ADVERTISEDADDRESS="${var.public_ip_addresses[count.index]}:4222"
+export BACALHAU_NODE_NETWORK_CLUSTER_PEERS="${var.internal_ip_addresses[0]}:6222"
 
 ### secrets are installed in the install-node.sh script
 export SECRETS_GRAFANA_CLOUD_PROMETHEUS_API_KEY="${var.grafana_cloud_prometheus_api_key}"
@@ -295,6 +299,8 @@ resource "google_compute_firewall" "bacalhau_ingress_firewall" {
       "55679", // otel collector zpages extension
       "44443", // nginx is healthy - for running health check scripts
       "44444", // nginx node health check scripts
+      "4222",  // nats
+      "6222",  // nats cluster
     ]
   }
 
@@ -320,6 +326,8 @@ resource "google_compute_firewall" "bacalhau_egress_firewall" {
     ports = [
       "4001",  // ipfs swarm
       "1235",  // bacalhau swarm
+      "4222",  // nats
+      "6222",  // nats cluster
     ]
   }
 
diff --git a/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/install-node.sh b/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/install-node.sh
index fec079b7f3..8f6deab21f 100644
--- a/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/install-node.sh
+++ b/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/install-node.sh
@@ -117,12 +117,14 @@ function install-bacalhau-from-release() {
 
 function install-bacalhau-from-source() {
   echo "Installing Bacalhau from branch ${BACALHAU_BRANCH}"
-  sudo apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends jq nodejs npm make
+  # make sure we have the desired version of nodejs to build webui
+  curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
+  sudo apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends jq nodejs make
   git clone --branch ${BACALHAU_BRANCH} https://github.com/bacalhau-project/bacalhau.git
   pushd bacalhau
   pushd webui && npm install && popd
   make build-bacalhau
-  sudo mv ./bin/*/bacalhau /usr/local/bin/bacalhau
+  sudo mv ./bin/*/*/bacalhau /usr/local/bin/bacalhau
   popd
 }
 
diff --git a/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/start-bacalhau.sh b/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/start-bacalhau.sh
index 63a0d49288..e23cfccc64 100644
--- a/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/start-bacalhau.sh
+++ b/ops/terraform/remote_files/scripts/start-bacalhau.sh
@@ -20,60 +20,77 @@ mount /dev/sdb /data || true
 # import the secrets
 source /data/secrets.sh
 
-function getMultiaddress() {
-  echo -n "/ip4/${1}/tcp/${BACALHAU_PORT}/p2p/${2}"
-}
-
-# we start with none as the default ("none" prevents the node connecting to our default bootstrap list)
-export CONNECT_PEER="none"
-
-# use the BACALHAU_CONNECT_PEER env var if it is set
-if [[ -n "${BACALHAU_CONNECT_PEER}" ]]; then
-  export CONNECT_PEER=$BACALHAU_CONNECT_PEER
-# if we are node0 then we do not connect to anything
-elif [[ "${TERRAFORM_NODE_INDEX}" != "0" ]]; then
-  # if we are in unsafe mode - then we connect to a single node and it's ID
-  # is pre-determined by the $BACALHAU_NODE0_UNSAFE_ID variable
-  if [[ -n "${BACALHAU_UNSAFE_CLUSTER}" ]]; then
-    export UNSAFE_NODE0_ID="$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_0"
-    if [[ -z "$UNSAFE_NODE0_ID" ]]; then
-      export UNSAFE_NODE0_ID="$BACALHAU_NODE0_UNSAFE_ID"
-    fi
-    export CONNECT_PEER=$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE0_IP" "$UNSAFE_NODE0_ID")
-  # otherwise we will construct our connect string based on
-  # what node index we are
-  else
-    # we are > node0 so we can connect to node0
-    export CONNECT_PEER=$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE0_IP" "$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_0")
-    # we are > node1 so we can also connect to node1
-    if [[ "${TERRAFORM_NODE_INDEX}" -ge "2" ]]; then
-      export CONNECT_PEER="$CONNECT_PEER,$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE1_IP" "$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_1")"
-    fi
-    # we are > node2 so we can also connect to node2
-    if [[ "${TERRAFORM_NODE_INDEX}" -ge "3" ]]; then
-      export CONNECT_PEER="$CONNECT_PEER,$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE2_IP" "$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_2")"
-    fi
-  fi
-fi
-
 BACALHAU_PROBE_EXEC='/terraform_node/apply-http-allowlist.sh'
-
 TRUSTED_CLIENT_IDS="\
 1df7b01ed77ca81bb6d6f06f6cbcd76a6a9e450d175dfac1e4ba70494fddd576,\
 b43517b5449d383ab00ca1d2b1c558d710ba79f51c800fbf4c35ed4d0198aec5"
 
-bacalhau serve \
-  --node-type "${BACALHAU_NODE_TYPE}" \
-  --job-selection-data-locality anywhere \
-  --job-selection-accept-networked \
-  --job-selection-probe-exec "${BACALHAU_PROBE_EXEC}" \
-  --max-job-execution-timeout '60m' \
-  --job-execution-timeout-bypass-client-id="${TRUSTED_CLIENT_IDS}" \
-  --ipfs-swarm-addrs "" \
-  --ipfs-connect /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001 \
-  --swarm-port "${BACALHAU_PORT}" \
-  --api-port 1234 \
-  --peer "${CONNECT_PEER}" \
-  --private-internal-ipfs=false \
-  --web-ui "${BACALHAU_NODE_WEBUI}" \
-  --labels owner=bacalhau
+# Check if using NATS
+if [[ "${BACALHAU_NODE_NETWORK_USENATS}" == "true" ]]; then
+  # nats related config as set as env vars in main.tf and no need to pass them to serve command
+  bacalhau serve \
+    --node-type "${BACALHAU_NODE_TYPE}" \
+    --job-selection-data-locality anywhere \
+    --job-selection-accept-networked \
+    --job-selection-probe-exec "${BACALHAU_PROBE_EXEC}" \
+    --max-job-execution-timeout '60m' \
+    --job-execution-timeout-bypass-client-id="${TRUSTED_CLIENT_IDS}" \
+    --ipfs-swarm-addrs "" \
+    --ipfs-connect /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001 \
+    --api-port 1234 \
+    --private-internal-ipfs=false \
+    --web-ui "${BACALHAU_NODE_WEBUI}" \
+    --web-ui-port 80 \
+    --labels owner=bacalhau
+
+else
+  function getMultiaddress() {
+    echo -n "/ip4/${1}/tcp/${BACALHAU_PORT}/p2p/${2}"
+  }
+
+  # use the BACALHAU_CONNECT_PEER env var if it is set
+  if [[ -n "${BACALHAU_CONNECT_PEER}" ]]; then
+    export CONNECT_PEER=$BACALHAU_CONNECT_PEER
+  # if we are node0 then we do not connect to anything
+  elif [[ "${TERRAFORM_NODE_INDEX}" != "0" ]]; then
+    # if we are in unsafe mode - then we connect to a single node and it's ID
+    # is pre-determined by the $BACALHAU_NODE0_UNSAFE_ID variable
+    if [[ -n "${BACALHAU_UNSAFE_CLUSTER}" ]]; then
+      export UNSAFE_NODE0_ID="$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_0"
+      if [[ -z "$UNSAFE_NODE0_ID" ]]; then
+        export UNSAFE_NODE0_ID="$BACALHAU_NODE0_UNSAFE_ID"
+      fi
+      export CONNECT_PEER=$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE0_IP" "$UNSAFE_NODE0_ID")
+    # otherwise we will construct our connect string based on
+    # what node index we are
+    else
+      # we are > node0 so we can connect to node0
+      export CONNECT_PEER=$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE0_IP" "$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_0")
+      # we are > node1 so we can also connect to node1
+      if [[ "${TERRAFORM_NODE_INDEX}" -ge "2" ]]; then
+        export CONNECT_PEER="$CONNECT_PEER,$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE1_IP" "$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_1")"
+      fi
+      # we are > node2 so we can also connect to node2
+      if [[ "${TERRAFORM_NODE_INDEX}" -ge "3" ]]; then
+        export CONNECT_PEER="$CONNECT_PEER,$(getMultiaddress "$TERRAFORM_NODE2_IP" "$BACALHAU_NODE_ID_2")"
+      fi
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  bacalhau serve \
+    --node-type "${BACALHAU_NODE_TYPE}" \
+    --job-selection-data-locality anywhere \
+    --job-selection-accept-networked \
+    --job-selection-probe-exec "${BACALHAU_PROBE_EXEC}" \
+    --max-job-execution-timeout '60m' \
+    --job-execution-timeout-bypass-client-id="${TRUSTED_CLIENT_IDS}" \
+    --ipfs-swarm-addrs "" \
+    --ipfs-connect /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001 \
+    --swarm-port "${BACALHAU_PORT}" \
+    --api-port 1234 \
+    --peer "${CONNECT_PEER}" \
+    --private-internal-ipfs=false \
+    --web-ui "${BACALHAU_NODE_WEBUI}" \
+    --web-ui-port 80 \
+    --labels owner=bacalhau
+fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ops/terraform/variables.tf b/ops/terraform/variables.tf
index 9839690d78..6c4ad01a85 100644
--- a/ops/terraform/variables.tf
+++ b/ops/terraform/variables.tf
@@ -230,3 +230,9 @@ variable "docker_password" {
   default   = ""
   sensitive = true
 }
+
+// Use NATs for transport instead of libp2p
+variable "use_nats" {
+  type    = bool
+  default = false
+}
\ No newline at end of file