diff --git a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 25719641d2..0000000000
--- a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-services:
-  immich-devcontainer:
-    build:
-      dockerfile: Dockerfile
-    extra_hosts:
-      - 'host.docker.internal:host-gateway'
-    volumes:
-      - ..:/immich:cached
diff --git a/.devcontainer/server/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/server/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 3a93862e6c..0000000000
--- a/.devcontainer/server/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-ARG BASEIMAGE=ghcr.io/immich-app/base-server-dev:202503182202@sha256:45ae044b64a7b518f8d94fa4de718090c1c7689d516ac2ac0976a5331eaeb396
-FROM ${BASEIMAGE} AS dev
-
-RUN apt-get install inetutils-ping sudo -y
-RUN usermod -aG sudo node
-RUN echo "node ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers
-RUN mkdir -p /workspaces/immich
-RUN chown node -R /workspaces
-
-RUN mkdir /immich-devcontainer && chown node -R /immich-devcontainer
-COPY --chmod=777 ./.devcontainer/server/common.sh /immich-devcontainer/common.sh
-COPY --chmod=777 ./.devcontainer/server/postCreate.sh /immich-devcontainer/postCreate.sh
-COPY --chmod=777 ./.devcontainer/server/startNestApiServer.sh /immich-devcontainer/startNestApiServer.sh
-COPY --chmod=777 ./.devcontainer/server/startViteWebServer.sh /immich-devcontainer/startViteWebServer.sh
-
-
diff --git a/.devcontainer/server/docker-compose.yml b/.devcontainer/server/docker-compose.yml
index 832afb8aad..9b8f474474 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/server/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/.devcontainer/server/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 services:
+
   immich-devcontainer-server:
     build:
-      dockerfile: ./.devcontainer/server/Dockerfile
+      dockerfile: server/Dockerfile
+      target: dev-container
       context: ../..
     hostname: immich-devcontainer-server
     extra_hosts:
@@ -24,13 +26,19 @@ services:
       - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/workspaces/immich/server/upload
 
   immich-devcontainer-redis:
-    image: redis:6.2-alpine@sha256:148bb5411c184abd288d9aaed139c98123eeb8824c5d3fce03cf721db58066d8
+    extends:
+      file: ../../docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
+      service: redis
+    container_name: immich-devcontainer-redis
     command: redis-server --port 6400
     healthcheck:
-      test: redis-cli ping || exit 1
+      test: redis-cli -p 6400 ping || exit 1
 
   immich-devcontainer-database:
-    image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0@sha256:739cdd626151ff1f796dc95a6591b55a714f341c737e27f045019ceabf8e8c52
+    extends:
+      file: ../../docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
+      service: database
+    container_name: immich-devcontainer-database
     env_file:
       - .env
     environment:
diff --git a/.devcontainer/server/postCreate.sh b/.devcontainer/server/postCreate.sh
index 8c629a6337..93794661e8 100755
--- a/.devcontainer/server/postCreate.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/server/postCreate.sh
@@ -13,14 +13,14 @@ sudo chown node -R "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/.vscode" \
     "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/web/node_modules" \
     "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/web/dist"
 
-echo "Installing dependencies (server)"
-echo npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/server" install
-npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/server" install
+run_cmd() {
+    echo "$@"
+    "$@"
+}
 
-echo "Installing dependencies (web)"
-echo npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/open-api/typescript-sdk" install
-npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/open-api/typescript-sdk" install
-echo npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/open-api/typescript-sdk" run build
-npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/open-api/typescript-sdk" run build
-echo npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/web" install
-npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/web" install
+echo "Installing dependencies"
+
+run_cmd npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/server" install
+run_cmd npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/open-api/typescript-sdk" install
+run_cmd npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/open-api/typescript-sdk" run build
+run_cmd npm --prefix "${IMMICH_WORKSPACE}/web" install
diff --git a/.devcontainer/server/vscode/launch.json b/.devcontainer/server/vscode/launch.json
index 4ed13b0524..ed3da9f667 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/server/vscode/launch.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/server/vscode/launch.json
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
       "name": "Immich Workers",
       "remoteRoot": "/usr/src/app",
       "localRoot": "${workspaceFolder}/server"
-      
     }
   ]
 }
diff --git a/docker/.env b/docker/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0450dc0805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# You can find documentation for all the supported env variables at https://immich.app/docs/install/environment-variables
+
+# The location where your uploaded files are stored
+UPLOAD_LOCATION=./library
+
+# The location where your database files are stored. Network shares are not supported for the database
+DB_DATA_LOCATION=./postgres
+
+# To set a timezone, uncomment the next line and change Etc/UTC to a TZ identifier from this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones#List
+# TZ=Etc/UTC
+
+# The Immich version to use. You can pin this to a specific version like "v1.71.0"
+IMMICH_VERSION=release
+
+# Connection secret for postgres. You should change it to a random password
+# Please use only the characters `A-Za-z0-9`, without special characters or spaces
+DB_PASSWORD=postgres
+
+# The values below this line do not need to be changed
+###################################################################################
+DB_USERNAME=postgres
+DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich
diff --git a/docs/docs/developer/devcontainers.md b/docs/docs/developer/devcontainers.md
index b647851a56..18abfa4faf 100644
--- a/docs/docs/developer/devcontainers.md
+++ b/docs/docs/developer/devcontainers.md
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ The Dev Container is a fully featured dev environment. It is a portable way, usi
 
 [More info on dev containers here](https://docs.github.com/en/codespaces/setting-up-your-project-for-codespaces/adding-a-dev-container-configuration/introduction-to-dev-containers)
 
-### Details
+## Configuration
 
 The Immich dev container runs the web and server in one container, and redis and ML each in their own container.
 
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ In non-cloud environments, you can optionally use host filesystem paths instead
 4. Select "Immich - Backend and Frontend"
 5. Wait a while - after the builds are done, the server and web processes will be started as tasks, and the browser will be opened (once) to the front page.
 
-## Configuring Database and Upload paths to the host
+### Configuring Database and Upload paths to the host
 
 ENV VARs can use to control the location of the upload and the database paths.
 
-### UPLOAD_LOCATION
+#### UPLOAD_LOCATION
 
 The default for `UPLOAD_LOCATION` is `vol-upload` which is a volume mount.
 
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ To use a bind mount instead, simply set `UPLOAD_LOCATION` to an **absolute** pat
 export UPLOAD_LOCATION=/data/my/upload/path
 ```
 
-### DB_DATA_LOCATION
+#### DB_DATA_LOCATION
 
 The default for `DB_DATA_LOCATION` is `vol-database` which is a volume mount.
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ To use a bind mount instead, simply set `DB_DATA_LOCATION` to an **absolute** pa
 export DB_DATA_LOCATION=/data/my/upload/path
 ```
 
-### Other Variables
+#### Other Variables
 
 Its unlikely, but in case you modified the username/password of the database, you can control these values using the following ENV VARs:
 
@@ -68,3 +68,33 @@ export DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich
 ```
 
 This must be added to the `.bash_profile` if your using bash, or equivalent for other shells.
+
+### SSH Keys and Commit Signing
+
+This section applies if you are using SSH Keys to access GitHub. In order to allow git from inside the devcontainer to access GitHub using your existing SSH keys, ensure that you have a SSH Agent running, and that SSH agent forwarding is allowed. 
+
+For instructions, see the [guide here.](https://code.visualstudio.com/remote/advancedcontainers/sharing-git-credentials) 
+
+You can also use this SSH key as a signing key. To configure this, see the [guide here.](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key#telling-git-about-your-ssh-key) 
+
+## Workflow
+
+Please ensure you've read the [setup](/docs/developer/setup) information first. 
+
+After you've configured or reviewed the environment variables as mentioned above, then you are ready to start development. 
+
+By default, the devcontainer will automatically perform a few tasks whenever it starts. 
+
+1) Runs `postCreate.sh` - this bash script will adjust permissions to the `node` user that the devcontainer runs as. It will also run `npm i` and `npm run build` in all of the packages: `open-api/typescript-sdk`, `web`, and `server`. 
+2. VSCode will autorun the `Immich Server and Web` task defined in `tasks.json`. This task depends on `Immich Web Server (Vite)` and `Immich API Server (Nest)`, which will both be started automatically.
+3. VSCode will automatically forward the web ports, and the debug ports from each process. The first time the web server is started, a browser will automatically be opened on the `/` URL of the server (both in local and cloud environments)
+
+The `Immich API Server (Nest)` task runs the "API server", watching and compiling chnages in the `/server` folder. 
+
+The `Immich Web Server (Vite)` task runs the "Web server", watching and compiling chnages in the `/web` folder. The web server will automatically proxy the upstream `/api` server in this development. 
+
+These two tasks combined replace the command
+``` 
+make dev 
+```
+from the non devcontainer developer workflow. 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/Dockerfile b/server/Dockerfile
index 5c0ef076c4..06b4138d61 100644
--- a/server/Dockerfile
+++ b/server/Dockerfile
@@ -16,6 +16,20 @@ ENV PATH="${PATH}:/usr/src/app/bin" \
     NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all
 ENTRYPOINT ["tini", "--", "/bin/sh"]
 
+FROM dev AS dev-container
+
+RUN apt-get install inetutils-ping sudo -y
+RUN usermod -aG sudo node
+RUN echo "node ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers
+RUN mkdir -p /workspaces/immich
+RUN chown node -R /workspaces
+
+RUN mkdir /immich-devcontainer && chown node -R /immich-devcontainer
+COPY --chmod=777 ../.devcontainer/server/common.sh /immich-devcontainer/common.sh
+COPY --chmod=777 ../.devcontainer/server/postCreate.sh /immich-devcontainer/postCreate.sh
+COPY --chmod=777 ../.devcontainer/server/startNestApiServer.sh /immich-devcontainer/startNestApiServer.sh
+COPY --chmod=777 ../.devcontainer/server/startViteWebServer.sh /immich-devcontainer/startViteWebServer.sh
+
 
 FROM dev AS prod