diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index aa2270236..66b1738a3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -102,8 +102,12 @@ node_modules
 bower_components
 npm-debug.log
 
+# Mac + local
+*.DS_Store
 environment.sh
 .envrc
+.env
+.env*
 
 # CloudFoundry
 .cf
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 71d631b9c..b72616f0f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -26,15 +26,20 @@ VIRTUALENV_ROOT := $(shell [ -z $$VIRTUAL_ENV ] && echo $$(pwd)/venv || echo $$V
 bootstrap: generate-version-file ## Set up everything to run the app
 	pip3 install -r requirements_for_test.txt
 	source $(HOME)/.nvm/nvm.sh && nvm install && npm ci --no-audit
-	. environment.sh; source $(HOME)/.nvm/nvm.sh && npm run build
+	source $(HOME)/.nvm/nvm.sh && npm run build
+
+.PHONY: bootstrap-with-docker
+bootstrap-with-docker: generate-version-file ## Set up everything to run the app
+	# npm ci --no-audit
+	npm run build
 
 .PHONY: watch-frontend
 watch-frontend:  ## Build frontend and watch for changes
-	. environment.sh; npm run watch
+	npm run watch
 
 .PHONY: run-flask
 run-flask:  ## Run flask
-	. environment.sh && flask run -p 6012
+	flask run -p 6012
 
 .PHONY: npm-audit
 npm-audit:  ## Check for vulnerabilities in NPM packages
diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index 63da11bf7..041e17ada 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -104,9 +104,9 @@ class Development(Config):
     MOU_BUCKET_NAME = 'notify.tools-mou'
     TRANSIENT_UPLOADED_LETTERS = 'development-transient-uploaded-letters'
     PRECOMPILED_ORIGINALS_BACKUP_LETTERS = 'development-letters-precompiled-originals-backup'
-
     ADMIN_CLIENT_SECRET = 'dev-notify-secret-key'
-    API_HOST_NAME = 'http://localhost:6011'
+    # check for local compose orchestration variable
+    API_HOST_NAME = os.environ.get('DEV_API_HOST_NAME', 'http://dev:6011')
     DANGEROUS_SALT = 'dev-notify-salt'
     SECRET_KEY = 'dev-notify-secret-key'
     ANTIVIRUS_API_HOST = 'http://localhost:6016'
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@ class Development(Config):
 
     ASSET_PATH = '/static/'
 
-    REDIS_URL = 'redis://localhost:6379/0'
+    REDIS_URL = os.environ.get('DEV_REDIS_URL', 'http://redis:6379')
+    
     REDIS_ENABLED = os.environ.get('REDIS_ENABLED') == '1'
 
 
diff --git a/app/utils/email_domains.txt b/app/utils/email_domains.txt
index a74de1640..a090b14ba 100644
--- a/app/utils/email_domains.txt
+++ b/app/utils/email_domains.txt
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
-gov.uk
-nhs.uk
-nhs.net
-nhs.scot
-police.uk
-cjsm.net
-ac.uk
-sch.uk
-onevoicewales.wales
-suttonmail.org
-hscni.net
+gsa.gov
+gmail.com
+dispostable.com
+simulator.amazonses.com
+amazonses.com
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/devcontainer-admin/.devcontainer.json b/devcontainer-admin/.devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d14e66411
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devcontainer-admin/.devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+    "name": "notification-admin",
+    "dockerComposeFile": "../docker-compose.devcontainer.yml",
+    "service": "admin",
+    "workspaceFolder": "/workspace",
+    "shutdownAction": "stopCompose",
+    "remoteEnv": {
+        "PATH": "/home/vscode/.local/bin:${containerEnv:PATH}" // give our installed Python modules precedence
+    },
+    "settings": {
+        "[python]": {
+            "editor.formatOnSave": true
+        },
+        "python.linting.enabled": true,
+        "python.linting.pylintEnabled": true,
+        "python.pythonPath": "/usr/local/bin/python"
+    },
+    "features": {
+        "docker-from-docker": {
+            "version": "latest",
+            "moby": true
+        }
+    },
+    "extensions": [
+        "ms-python.black-formatter",
+        "donjayamanne.python-extension-pack",
+        "ms-azuretools.vscode-docker",
+        "ms-python.vscode-pylance",
+        "eamodio.gitlens",
+        "wholroyd.jinja",
+        "pmbenjamin.vscode-snyk",
+        "visualstudioexptteam.vscodeintellicode",
+        "yzhang.markdown-all-in-one",
+        "ms-ossdata.vscode-postgresql",
+        "GitHub.copilot"
+    ],
+    "forwardPorts": [
+        6012
+    ],
+    "postCreateCommand": "chmod u+x devcontainer-admin/scripts/notify-admin-entrypoint.sh && ./devcontainer-admin/scripts/notify-admin-entrypoint.sh",
+    "remoteUser": "vscode"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/devcontainer-admin/Dockerfile b/devcontainer-admin/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2510859f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devcontainer-admin/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+FROM mcr.microsoft.com/vscode/devcontainers/python:0-3.9
+
+# RUN groupadd --gid 1000 node \
+#     && useradd --uid 1000 --gid node --shell /bin/bash --create-home node
+
+ENV NODE_VERSION 16.15.1
+
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends apt-utils 2>&1 \
+    && apt-get -y install \
+    curl \
+    emacs \
+    exa \
+    fd-find \
+    git \ 
+    iproute2 \
+    less \ 
+    libsodium-dev \
+    lsb-release \ 
+    man-db \
+    manpages \
+    net-tools \
+    nodejs \ 
+    npm \
+    openssh-client \ 
+    procps \ 
+    sudo \
+    tldr \
+    unzip \
+    vim \
+    && apt-get autoremove -y \
+    && apt-get clean -y \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN echo $(node --version)
+RUN echo $(npm --version)
+
+# Upgrade pip
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip
+
+RUN groupadd --gid 1001 node \
+    && useradd --uid 1001 --gid node --shell /bin/bash --create-home node
+
+COPY package-lock.json ./
+COPY package.json ./
+COPY devcontainer-admin/scripts/notify-admin-entrypoint.sh ./
+
+RUN npm ci --no-audit
+
+ENV SHELL /bin/zsh
+
+EXPOSE 6012
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/devcontainer-admin/scripts/notify-admin-entrypoint.sh b/devcontainer-admin/scripts/notify-admin-entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..26a300fa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devcontainer-admin/scripts/notify-admin-entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -ex 
+
+###################################################################
+# This script will get executed *once* the Docker container has 
+# been built. Commands that need to be executed with all available
+# tools and the filesystem mount enabled should be located here. 
+###################################################################
+
+# Define aliases
+echo -e "\n\n# User's Aliases" >> ~/.zshrc
+echo -e "alias fd=fdfind" >> ~/.zshrc
+echo -e "alias l='ls -al --color'" >> ~/.zshrc
+echo -e "alias ls='exa'" >> ~/.zshrc
+echo -e "alias l='exa -alh'" >> ~/.zshrc
+echo -e "alias ll='exa -alh@ --git'" >> ~/.zshrc
+echo -e "alias lt='exa -al -T -L 2'" >> ~/.zshrc
+
+cd /workspace
+
+# Warm up git index prior to display status in prompt else it will 
+# be quite slow on every invocation of starship.
+git status
+
+pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+pip3 install -r requirements_for_test.txt
+
+# npm rebuild node-sass
+make generate-version-file
+# make babel
+
+# npm ci install
+npm run build
+
+# run flask
+# make run
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.devcontainer.yml b/docker-compose.devcontainer.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eeaad2650
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.devcontainer.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+version: '3'
+
+services:
+  admin:
+    container_name: admin
+    image: notification-admin
+    env_file: .env
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: devcontainer-admin/Dockerfile
+    command: sleep infinity
+    volumes:
+      - .:/workspace:cached
+    ports:
+      - "6012:6012"
+    expose:
+      - "6012"
+  adminredis:
+    container_name: adminredis
+    image: redis:latest
+
+networks:
+  default:
+    name: notify-network
+    external: true
diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index f7f0afbe2..dd5ab2761 100644
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ notifications-python-client==6.3.0
 rtreelib==0.2.0
 fido2==0.9.3
 pyproj==3.3.1
+python-dotenv==0.20.0
 
 # PaaS
 awscli-cwlogs>=1.4,<1.5
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 7e4f4dc29..f3cb81f49 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -172,6 +172,8 @@ python-dateutil==2.8.2
     # via
     #   awscli-cwlogs
     #   botocore
+python-dotenv==0.20.0
+    # via -r requirements.in
 python-json-logger==2.0.2
     # via notifications-utils
 pytz==2022.1