diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b126df693
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Make sure RUBY_VERSION matches the Ruby version in .ruby-version
+ARG RUBY_VERSION=3.3.0
+FROM ghcr.io/rails/devcontainer/images/ruby:$RUBY_VERSION
+
+# Install packages needed to build gems
+RUN apt-get update -qq && \
+  apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
+  libpq-dev libvips \
+  #  For video thumbnails
+  ffmpeg \
+  # For pdf thumbnails. If you want to use mupdf instead of poppler,
+  poppler-utils
diff --git a/.devcontainer/compose.yaml b/.devcontainer/compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fd268f00b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+services:
+  rails-app:
+    build:
+      context: ..
+      dockerfile: .devcontainer/Dockerfile
+
+    volumes:
+    - ../..:/workspaces:cached
+
+    command: sleep infinity
+
+    networks:
+    - default
+
+    user: vscode
+
+    ports:
+    - 45678:45678
+
+    depends_on:
+    - selenium
+    - redis
+    - postgres
+
+  selenium:
+    image: seleniarm/standalone-chromium
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    networks:
+    - default
+
+  redis:
+    image: redis:7.2
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    networks:
+    - default
+    volumes:
+    - redis-data:/data
+
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:16.1
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    networks:
+    - default
+    volumes:
+    - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    environment:
+        POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+        POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
+
+volumes:
+  redis-data:
+  postgres-data:
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9ad83d01b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+  "name": "gibct-data-service",
+  "dockerComposeFile": "compose.yaml",
+  "service": "rails-app",
+  "workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}",
+
+  "features": {
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-outside-of-docker": {},
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/github-cli:1": {},
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/sshd:1": { }
+  },
+
+  "containerEnv": {
+    "CAPYBARA_SERVER_PORT": "45678",
+    "SELENIUM_HOST": "selenium",
+    "REDIS_URL": "redis://redis:6379/1",
+    "DATABASE_URL": "postgres://postgres:postgres@postgres:5432/gibct-data-service_development?pool=4"
+  },
+
+  "forwardPorts": [3000],
+
+  "onCreateCommand": "bin/setup",
+  "postCreateCommand": "bin/setup"
+}
diff --git a/bin/setup b/bin/setup
index 507a253db..f9c0d11f2 100755
--- a/bin/setup
+++ b/bin/setup
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ def system!(*args)
   system(*args) || abort("\n== Command #{args} failed ==")
 end
 
-chdir APP_ROOT do
+Dir.chdir APP_ROOT do
   # This script is a way to set up or update your development environment automatically.
   # This script is idempotent, so that you can run it at any time and get an expectable outcome.
 
@@ -18,10 +18,8 @@ chdir APP_ROOT do
   system! 'gem install bundler --conservative'
   system('bundle check') || system!('bundle install')
 
-  # puts "\n== Copying sample files =="
-  # unless File.exist?('config/database.yml')
-  #   FileUtils.cp 'config/database.yml.sample', 'config/database.yml'
-  # end
+  puts "\n== Copying sample files =="
+  FileUtils.cp 'config/application.yml.example', 'config/application.yml' unless File.exist?('config/application.yml')
 
   puts "\n== Preparing database =="
   system! 'bin/rails db:setup'
diff --git a/config/application.yml.example b/config/application.yml.example
index 4901cd732..da61ec616 100644
--- a/config/application.yml.example
+++ b/config/application.yml.example
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-ADMIN_EMAIL: 'something...'
-ADMIN_PW: 'something...'
+ADMIN_EMAIL: 'admin@example.com'
+ADMIN_PW: 'password'
+DEPLOYMENT_ENV: 'vagov-dev'
 SECRET_KEY_BASE: 'something ...'
 LINK_HOST: 'http://localhost:3000' # https://api.va.gov
+GOVDELIVERY_URL: 'stage-tms.govdelivery.com'
+GOVDELIVERY_TOKEN: 'abc123'
+GOVDELIVERY_STAGING_SERVICE: 'false'
 GIBCT_URL: 'http://localhost:3002/gi-bill-comparison-tool'
 SANDBOX_URL: 'http://localhost:3001/gi-bill-comparison-tool-sandbox'
 
diff --git a/config/settings.yml b/config/settings.yml
index 71a88269a..bf67f98db 100644
--- a/config/settings.yml
+++ b/config/settings.yml
@@ -58,7 +58,4 @@ search:
     - "&"
     - "-"
 
-virtual_hosts: ["127.0.0.1", "localhost", "10.0.2.2", "192.168.2.2", "host.docker.internal"] # Safe host names
-
-
-
+virtual_hosts: ["127.0.0.1", "localhost", "10.0.2.2", "192.168.2.2", "host.docker.internal", !ruby/regexp /.*\.app\.github\.dev/] # Safe host names
diff --git a/db/seeds/01_users.rb b/db/seeds/01_users.rb
index 9a5814453..7d5cb1c94 100644
--- a/db/seeds/01_users.rb
+++ b/db/seeds/01_users.rb
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
   puts 'Destroy previous users ... '
   User.destroy_all
 
-  user = User.create(email: ENV['ADMIN_EMAIL'], password: ENV['ADMIN_PW'])
+  user = User.create(email: ENV.fetch('ADMIN_EMAIL'), password: ENV.fetch('ADMIN_PW'))
   unless user.persisted?
     puts "Error creating #{user.email}: "
+    raise
   else
     puts 'created user.'
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end