diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index bde97605f6..0000000000
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-# Additions for dev container
-FROM aiidateam/aiida-core:main
-
-# Add test dependencies (not installed in image)
-RUN pip install ./aiida-core[tests,rest,docs,pre-commit]
-# the `locate` command is needed by many tests
-RUN apt-get update \
-    && apt-get install -y mlocate \
-    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-# add aiida user
-RUN /etc/my_init.d/10_create-system-user.sh
-
-# copy updated aiida configuration script
-# this line can be deleted after the new script has been merged
-COPY ../.docker/opt/configure-aiida.sh /opt/configure-aiida.sh
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index 5bbcf39152..4dfd532583 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
 {
     "dockerComposeFile": "docker-compose.yml",
-    "service": "aiida",
-    "workspaceFolder": "/home/aiida/aiida-core",
-    "postCreateCommand": "bash ./.devcontainer/post_create.sh",
-    "waitFor": "postCreateCommand",
+    "service": "daemon",
+    "workspaceFolder": "/workspaces/aiida-core",
+    "postCreateCommand": "/etc/init/aiida-prepare.sh",
+    "postStartCommand": "pip install -e /workspaces/aiida-core[tests,docs,rest,atomic_tools,pre-commit]",
+    "postAttachCommand": "verdi daemon start",
+    "waitFor": "postStartCommand",
+    "containerUser": "aiida",
+    "remoteUser": "aiida",
+    "remoteEnv": {
+        "HOME": "/home/aiida"
+    },
 	"customizations": {
         "vscode": {
             "extensions": ["ms-python.python", "eamodio.gitlens"]
diff --git a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
index 380a0a4760..18e8d3e513 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,54 +1,38 @@
+---
 version: '3.4'
 
 services:
 
-  rabbitmq:
-    image: rabbitmq:3.8.3-management
-    environment:
-        RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER: guest
-        RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS: guest
-    ports:
-      - '5672:5672'
-      - '15672:15672'
+    database:
+        image: postgres:15
+        environment:
+            POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+            POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
+            POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD: trust
+        healthcheck:
+            test: [ "CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready"]
+            interval: 5s
+            timeout: 5s
+            retries: 10
 
-    healthcheck:
-      test: rabbitmq-diagnostics -q ping
-      interval: 30s
-      timeout: 30s
-      retries: 5
-    networks:
-      - aiida
+    messaging:
+        image: rabbitmq:3.8.14-management
+        environment:
+            RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER: guest
+            RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS: guest
+        healthcheck:
+            test: rabbitmq-diagnostics check_port_connectivity
+            interval: 30s
+            timeout: 30s
+            retries: 10
 
-  postgres:
-    image: postgres:12
-    ports:
-      - '5432:5432'
-    networks:
-      - aiida
-    environment:
-      POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD: trust
-
-  aiida:
-    #image: "aiidateam/aiida-core:main"
-    image: "aiida-core-dev"
-    build:
-      # need to add the parent directory to context to copy over new configure-aiida.sh
-      context: ..
-      dockerfile: .devcontainer/Dockerfile
-    user: aiida
-    environment:
-      DB_HOST: postgres
-      BROKER_HOST: rabbitmq
-
-    # no need for /sbin/my_init
-    entrypoint: tail -f /dev/null
-    volumes:
-      - ..:/home/aiida/aiida-core:cached
-    networks:
-      - aiida
-    depends_on:
-      - rabbitmq
-      - postgres
-
-networks:
-  aiida:
+    daemon:
+        image: aiidateam/aiida-core-base:edge
+        user: aiida
+        entrypoint: tail -f /dev/null
+        environment:
+          SETUP_DEFAULT_AIIDA_PROFILE: 'true'
+          TZ: 'Europe/Zurich'
+        depends_on:
+            database:
+                condition: service_healthy
diff --git a/.devcontainer/post_create.sh b/.devcontainer/post_create.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 71f8330853..0000000000
--- a/.devcontainer/post_create.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
- #!/bin/bash
-
-# configure aiida
-/opt/configure-aiida.sh