diff --git a/.devcontainer/.devrequirements/install-editable-requirements.sh b/.devcontainer/.devrequirements/install-editable-requirements.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..2fed61dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/.devrequirements/install-editable-requirements.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Defaults
+GEONODE_BRANCH="master"
+MAPSTORE_BRANCH="master"
+
+usage() {
+    echo "Usage: $0 [-g|--geonode-branch <branch>] [-m|--mapstore-branch <branch>]"
+    echo ""
+    echo "  -g, --geonode-branch      Branch/tag for geonode/geonode (default: master)"
+    echo "  -m, --mapstore-branch     Branch/tag for GeoNode/geonode-mapstore-client (default: master)"
+    echo "  -h, --help                Show this help message"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+# Parse options
+while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
+    case "$1" in
+        -g|--geonode-branch)
+            GEONODE_BRANCH="$2"
+            shift 2
+            ;;
+        -m|--mapstore-branch)
+            MAPSTORE_BRANCH="$2"
+            shift 2
+            ;;
+        -h|--help)
+            usage
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo "Unknown option: $1"
+            usage
+            ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+# Parent devrequirements directory
+DEV_REQ_DIR="/usr/src/.devrequirements"
+
+# repo_name | folder_name | git_url | egg_name | branch
+REPOS=(
+    "geonode|geonode|https://github.com/GeoNode/geonode.git|geonode|${GEONODE_BRANCH}"
+    "geonode-mapstore-client|django-geonode-mapstore-client|https://github.com/GeoNode/geonode-mapstore-client.git|django_geonode_mapstore_client|${MAPSTORE_BRANCH}"
+)
+
+for entry in "${REPOS[@]}"; do
+    IFS='|' read -r name folder url egg branch <<< "$entry"
+
+    echo ">>> Installing ${name} @ ${branch}"
+
+    # Safely remove the specific subfolder if it exists
+    rm -rf "${DEV_REQ_DIR}/${folder}"
+
+    # Install
+    yes w | pip install --src "$DEV_REQ_DIR" -e "git+${url}@${branch}#egg=${egg}"
+
+    # Fix ownership
+    chown -R 1000:1000 "${DEV_REQ_DIR}/${folder}"
+done
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/.gitignore b/.devcontainer/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..27eb1c54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+.devrequirements/django-geonode-mapstore-client
+.devrequirements/geonode
diff --git a/.devcontainer/.vscode/launch.json b/.devcontainer/.vscode/launch.json
index 8aa448c3..26c54833 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/.vscode/launch.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
                 "0.0.0.0:8000"
             ],
             "env": {
-                "ASYNC_SIGNALS": "True",
+                "ASYNC_SIGNALS": "False",
             },
             "django": true,
             "autoStartBrowser": false,
@@ -95,6 +95,24 @@
             "autoStartBrowser": false,
             "program": "${workspaceFolder}/venv/bin/celery",
             "justMyCode": false
-        }
+        },
+        {
+            "name": "Example test",
+            "type": "debugpy",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "args": [
+                "test",
+                "geonode.base.api.tests.BaseApiTests",
+                "--keepdb"
+            ],
+            "env": {
+                "ASYNC_SIGNALS": "False",
+                "SAFE_URL_CHECK_ENABLED": "False"
+            },
+            "django": true,
+            "autoStartBrowser": false,
+            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/project/manage.py",
+            "justMyCode": false
+        },
     ]
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/README.md b/.devcontainer/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fde66a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Dev Container
+
+A development setup for working on GeoNode inside Docker, with VS Code debugging ready to go.
+
+## 1. Start the containers
+
+```bash
+cd ./.devcontainer
+./docker.sh build
+./docker.sh up -d
+```
+
+`docker.sh` is a thin wrapper that loads `../.env` and runs `docker compose` with both the base `docker-compose.yml` and this folder's override.
+
+Then, in VS Code, open the Command Palette (`Ctrl+Shift+P`, or `Ctrl+P` and type `>`) and run **Dev Containers: Reopen in Container** to attach the editor to the running container.
+
+## 2. Services start idle
+
+The `django` and `celery` containers start **without** their services running (their command is `sleep infinity` in `docker-compose.yml`). This lets you exec into a container and start the services yourself, so you stay in control of when and how they run.
+
+## 3. Debugging from VS Code
+
+The container ships preconfigured with the Python extension and VS Code settings (`.vscode/launch.json`) ready to launch **Django** and **Celery** debug sessions.
+
+- The containers run **synchronously** (`ASYNC_SIGNALS` is `False`).
+- You can also start Django the plain way instead of the debugger:
+
+  ```bash
+  django-admin runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
+  ```
+
+## 4. Editable GeoNode / mapstore-client
+
+`geonode` and `geonode-mapstore-client` are installed in the venv like a standard GeoNode deployment.
+
+To work on them in **editable** mode, the `.devrequirements/` folder (mounted at `/usr/src/.devrequirements`) contains `install-editable-requirements.sh` (take care of making it executable with `chmod +x`), which installs both packages as editable git checkouts into that folder.
+
+The `docker-compose.yml` override also prepends `PYTHONPATH` with those paths. Because the editable packages live in the mounted folder, the installation is **retained across container restarts and rebuilds**.
diff --git a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
index 4522b9e8..d784c630 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - './src:/usr/src/project'
       - './.devcontainer/.vscode:/usr/src/.vscode'
+      - './.devcontainer/.devrequirements:/usr/src/.devrequirements'
       - statics:/mnt/volumes/statics
       - geoserver-data-dir:/geoserver_data/data
       - backup-restore:/backup_restore
@@ -12,7 +13,12 @@ services:
     healthcheck:
       test: "echo 'Alive'"
     entrypoint: ["/usr/src/project/entrypoint.sh"]
+    environment:
+      - ASYNC_SIGNALS=False
+      - PYTHONPATH=/usr/src/.devrequirements/geonode:/usr/src/.devrequirements/geonode-mapstore-client
     command: sleep infinity
   celery:
     entrypoint: ["/usr/src/project/entrypoint.sh"]
+    environment:
+      - PYTHONPATH=/usr/src/.devrequirements/geonode:/usr/src/.devrequirements/geonode-mapstore-client
     command: sleep infinity