diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ae5203957bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the
+// README at: https://github.com/devcontainers/templates/tree/main/src/go-postgres
+{
+	"name": "DefectDojo",
+	"dockerComposeFile": ["../docker-compose.yml", "../docker-compose.override.dev.yml", "docker-compose.override.dc.yml"],
+	"service": "uwsgi",
+	"workspaceFolder": "/app/",
+
+	// Configure tool-specific properties - https://containers.dev/supporting
+	"customizations": {
+		"extensions": ["ms-azuretools.vscode-docker", "ms-python.python", "ms-python.debugpy"]
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.override.dc.yml b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.override.dc.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7cca0c725f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.override.dc.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+---
+services:
+  uwsgi:
+    entrypoint: ['sleep', 'infinity']
+    ports:
+      - target: 8080
+        published: ${DD_PORT:-8080}
+        protocol: tcp
+        mode: host
+    build:
+      context: ./
+      dockerfile: "Dockerfile.django-debian"
+      target: devcontainer
+  node-static:
+    # yarn cleans node_modules, including .gitkeep - alternative to readding it is to configure autoclean/.yarnclean
+    command: sh -c "yarn; touch node_modules/.gitkeep"
+    working_dir: /app/components
+    volumes:
+      - '.:/app:z'
+    build:
+      context: ./
+      dockerfile: "Dockerfile.nginx-debian"
+      target: collectstatic
+  nginx:
+    deploy:
+      # disable nginx - serve static directly from Django
+      replicas: 0
diff --git a/Dockerfile.django-debian b/Dockerfile.django-debian
index 26c27cad391..50f07e00b2d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.django-debian
+++ b/Dockerfile.django-debian
@@ -137,5 +137,18 @@ ENV \
   DD_UWSGI_NUM_OF_THREADS="2"
 ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint-uwsgi.sh"]
 
+FROM django AS devcontainer
+
+USER root
+RUN usermod -d /home/${appuser} -s /usr/bin/bash ${appuser} \
+ && mkdir /home/${appuser} \
+ && chown ${appuser}:${appuser} /home/${appuser}
+
+# do not clean cache as it can be useful in dev
+RUN apt update \
+ && apt install -y procps
+
+USER ${appuser}
+
 FROM django AS django-unittests
 COPY unittests/ ./unittests/