diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0aa88d36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{
+    "name": "Curobo Environment",
+    "image": "curobo_docker:user_x86", //optionally point to another image
+    "customizations": {
+        "vscode": {
+            "extensions": [
+                "ms-python.python",
+                "ms-python.vscode-pylance",
+                "ms-python.pylint",
+                "ms-azuretools.vscode-docker",
+                "njpwerner.autodocstring",
+                "charliermarsh.ruff",
+                "mhutchie.git-graph",
+                "tamasfe.even-better-toml"
+            ]
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 640ce54b..e39866df 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -200,4 +200,7 @@ nvidia_curobo*/
 
 *tfevents*
 
-*.csv
\ No newline at end of file
+*.csv
+
+#don't ignore devcontainer files
+!.devcontainer/*
\ No newline at end of file