issue:python_tests can't find packages installed in container's virtual environment

[McyRoyAl]

I'm trying to run Python tests in a Docker environment using Pants 2.28.0. Tests work fine when I run Docker directly, but fail with ModuleNotFoundError when run through Pants.

Setup:

• Docker image: predictor_api/predictor-api:dev (ARM64)
• Python environment: /opt/venv (created with uv sync --frozen)
• All dependencies installed in: /opt/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages
• Container's PATH and VIRTUAL_ENV are set correctly
• image and its dependencies successfully built

What doesn't work:
When running the unit tests command
pants test projects/cas/predictor_api:tests-unit
--> fails with ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fastapi' - which means that the image environment is overridden, probably it overrides it with pex I tried to ignore it on the configurations unsuccessfully, here are the current BUILD configuration:

  docker_environment(
      name="api_env",
      image="predictor_api/predictor-api:dev",
      platform="linux_arm64",
      python_bootstrap_search_path=["/opt/venv/bin", "/usr/local/bin", "/usr/bin"],
      python_bootstrap_names=["python", "python3", "python3.11"],
      docker_env_vars=[
          "VIRTUAL_ENV=/opt/venv",
          "PATH=/opt/venv/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin",
          "PYTHONPATH=/opt/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages",
          "PEX_INHERIT_PATH=prefer",
      ],
  )
  python_tests(
      name="tests-unit",
      sources=["tests/unit/**/*.py", "!tests/unit/conftest.py"],
      environment="predictor_api_env",
  )

Does anyone know what is the correct approach , I would rather to test the image with it's bulit environment to obtain 100% isolation and reliability during the ci.