diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 50d39eda5..b60d80b2d 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ Dockerfile
 docker-compose*.yml
 .vagrant/
 codecov/
+.dev/
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 81939ad6c..83f9d73ff 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ lib/
 log/
 .vagrant/
 codecov/
+.dev/
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 1b2624a7f..fac5e24da 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ RUN sudo python3 prerequisites.py --yes --cmsuser=cmsuser install
 
 RUN sudo sed 's|/cmsuser:your_password_here@localhost:5432/cmsdb"|/postgres@testdb:5432/cmsdbfortesting"|' ./config/cms.conf.sample \
     | sudo tee /usr/local/etc/cms-testdb.conf
+RUN sudo sed 's|/cmsuser:your_password_here@localhost:5432/cmsdb"|/postgres@devdb:5432/cmsdb"|' ./config/cms.conf.sample \
+    | sudo tee /usr/local/etc/cms-devdb.conf
 
 ENV LANG C.UTF-8
 
diff --git a/cms-dev.sh b/cms-dev.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..875c11b8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cms-dev.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -x
+
+GIT_BRANCH_NAME=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+
+docker compose -p $GIT_BRANCH_NAME -f docker-compose.dev.yml run  --build --rm --service-ports devcms
diff --git a/cms-test.sh b/cms-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..1202d4f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cms-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -x
+
+GIT_BRANCH_NAME=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+
+docker compose -p $GIT_BRANCH_NAME -f docker-compose.test.yml run --build --rm testcms
diff --git a/docker-compose.dev.yml b/docker-compose.dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..acd09af89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+services:
+  devdb:
+    image: postgres
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD: trust
+    volumes:
+      - "./.dev/postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
+
+  devcms:
+    build: .
+    depends_on:
+      - "devdb"
+    environment:
+      CMS_CONFIG: /usr/local/etc/cms-devdb.conf
+    volumes:
+      - "./.dev/home:/home/cmsuser"
+      - ".:/home/cmsuser/cms"
+    privileged: true
+    cgroup: host
+    command: >
+      wait-for-it devdb:5432 -- bash
+    ports:
+      - 8888:8888
+      - 8889:8889
+      - 8890:8890
diff --git a/docs/Docker image.rst b/docs/Docker image.rst
index d8058ea38..99d32051b 100644
--- a/docs/Docker image.rst	
+++ b/docs/Docker image.rst	
@@ -3,8 +3,19 @@ Docker image
 
 We provide a docker image (defined in :gh_blob:`Dockerfile`) that can be used to
 easily get an instance of CMS running locally with all the necessary
-dependencies. We also provide a :gh_blob:`docker-compose.test.yml` files that
-uses said docker image to run the tests.
+dependencies. We also provide:
+
+* :gh_blob:`cms-test.sh`: This file uses :gh_blob:`docker-compose.test.yml` to
+     spawn a volatile database (not persisted on disk) as well as a CMS instance
+     that automatically runs all tests.
+
+* :gh_blob:`cms-dev.sh`: This file uses :gh_blob:`docker-compose.dev.yml` to
+     spawn a database (persisted in the local ``.dev/postgres-data`` folder
+     within the repository) as well as a CMS instance that only runs `bash`,
+     leaving you with a shell from where you can start cms services and servers.
+     The DB port and CMS server ports are also automatically forwarded on the
+     host machine (respectively to ``15432`` for the database, and ``8888-8890``
+     for CMS).
 
 Make sure that you have a recent version of Docker installed, as well as Docker
 Compose.
@@ -14,45 +25,109 @@ Compose.
 Running tests
 =============
 
-First you need to build the docker image, then you use it to run the tests.
+You can simply run:
+
+.. sourcecode:: bash
+
+    ./cms-test.sh
+
+Or, you can issue the full command (that is defined in ``cms-test.sh``) which
+is similar to:
+
+.. sourcecode:: bash
+
+    docker compose -p someprojectname -f docker-compose.test.yml run --build --rm testcms
 
 .. note::
 
+    Some versions of docker require to specify ``-p``, some version will fill it
+    for you based on the current folder's name (which for us would be equivalent
+    to passing ``-p cms``).
+
     The ``-p`` flag is used as a namespace for the containers that will be
     created. When you're running tests on a separate branch, it can be useful to
-    include the branch name there, to avoid any conflict. (You can also omit the
-    flag and specify the name via the ``COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME`` environment
-    variable.)
+    include the branch name there, to avoid any conflict. The ``cms-test.sh``
+    script uses the **name of the current git branch** and passes it to ``-p``.
+
+    Note also that if you are not part of the ``docker`` group then you'll need
+    to run every docker command with ``sudo``, including ``sudo ./cms-test.sh``.
+    We recommend adding yourself to the ``docker`` group.
+
+What the ``cms-test.sh`` command does is: first build a fresh CMS image when
+necessary, and then create (assuming you didn't specify the ``-p`` flag) a
+``cms-testdb-1`` container for the database, and a
+``cms-testcms-run-<random_string>`` container for CMS.
+
+The database container **will not** be automatically deleted, while the CMS
+container will be automatically deleted upon exiting (because of the ``--rm``
+flag).
+
+To delete the ``cms-testdb-1`` container after testing you can run:
+
+.. sourcecode:: bash
 
-    If you are not part of the ``docker`` group, then you need to run every
-    docker command with ``sudo``.
+    docker rm -f cms-testdb-1
 
-To build the image:
+Developing CMS
+==============
+
+To run a local development instance of CMS, you can simply run:
 
 .. sourcecode:: bash
 
-    docker compose -p cms -f docker-compose.test.yml build testcms
+    ./cms-dev.sh
 
-To run the tests:
+Or, you can issue the full command (that is defined in ``cms-dev.sh``) which is
+similar to:
 
 .. sourcecode:: bash
 
-    docker compose -p cms -f docker-compose.test.yml run --rm testcms
+    docker compose -p someprojectname -f docker-compose.dev.yml run --build --rm --service-ports devcms
+
+The command will build a fresh CMS image when necessary, and drop you into a
+bash prompt where the repository is mounted on ``~/cms`` for ease of
+development. You can edit the code from the host (i.e. outside the container)
+and then reinstall CMS (``python3 setup.py install``) directly from inside the
+container, without having to rebuild the image every time.
 
-Another option is to add the ``--build`` flag to the ``run`` command, to perform
-a new build before running the tests:
+Upon running ``cms-dev.sh`` for the first time, the database will initially be
+empty. You need to initialize it (notice that the following commands are
+indicated with a ``>>>`` prompt because they are meant to be executed **inside**
+the container, from the prompt that you get to after running ``cms-dev.sh``)
+like so:
 
 .. sourcecode:: bash
 
-    docker compose -p cms -f docker-compose.test.yml run --build --rm testcms
+    >>> createdb -h devdb -U postgres cmsdb
+    >>> cmsInitDB
 
-This command will create (assuming you used ``-p cms``) a ``cms-testdb-1``
-container for the database which **will not** be automatically deleted, and a
-``cms-testcms-run-<random_string>`` container for CMS which will be
-automatically deleted (because of the ``--rm`` flag) upon exiting.
+Then you probably want to download a test contest and import it, for example
+like this:
 
-To delete the ``cms-testdb-1`` container after testing you can run:
+.. sourcecode:: bash
+
+    >>> git clone https://github.com/cms-dev/con_test.git
+    >>> cd con_test
+    >>> cmsImportUser --all
+    >>> cmsImportContest -i .
+
+If this succeeds, you can then run one of the servers, for example the
+ContestWebServer, like so:
 
 .. sourcecode:: bash
 
-    docker rm -f cms-testdb-1
+    >>> cmsContestWebServer
+
+When it prompts you to choose a contest ID, you can simply hit Enter.
+
+When the server is finally running, you can check (from the host machine) that
+the server is reachable at http://localhost:8888/
+
+You can also verify that upon exiting the container's bash shell and reentering
+it (by running ``cms-dev.sh`` again) you won't need to re-import the contest, as
+the database is persisted on disk on the host machine. Even manually destroying
+and recreating the database container will retain the same data. If for some
+reason you need to reset the database, we recommend using the ``dropdb -h devdb
+-U postgres cmsdb`` command inside the container. To remove any trace of the
+database data, you can delete the ``.dev/postgres-data`` folder within the git
+repository.