diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c9c3c2674..5f453733a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -48,4 +48,5 @@ gradle.properties
 .vscode/settings.json
 public-api/.docker-sync/daemon.log
 public-ui/.angular/cache/*
-public-ui/npmrc
\ No newline at end of file
+public-ui/npmrc
+aou-utils/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/public-api/.gitignore b/public-api/.gitignore
index a530464af..0a91eeaae 100644
--- a/public-api/.gitignore
+++ b/public-api/.gitignore
@@ -19,3 +19,8 @@ hs_err_pid*
 target
 .gradle
 build
+docker-compose.yaml
+db-cdr/generate-cdr/init-new-cdr-db.sh
+libproject/devstart.rb
+src/dev/server/Dockerfile
+src/dev/server/with-uid.sh
diff --git a/public-api/db-cdr/generate-cdr/init-new-cdr-db.sh b/public-api/db-cdr/generate-cdr/init-new-cdr-db.sh
index 4a6d0ba6c..ce27bfc77 100755
--- a/public-api/db-cdr/generate-cdr/init-new-cdr-db.sh
+++ b/public-api/db-cdr/generate-cdr/init-new-cdr-db.sh
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@ then
   exit 1
 fi
 
+# Activate service account if credentials are available
+if [ -n "$GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" ] && [ -f "$GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" ]; then
+    echo "Activating service account: $GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS"
+    gcloud auth activate-service-account --key-file="$GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS"
+else
+    echo "Warning: No service account credentials found at $GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS"
+fi
 
 # export for liquibase to use this
 export CDR_DB_NAME
@@ -91,4 +98,4 @@ then
 fi
 
 # Success
-exit 0
+exit 0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/public-api/libproject/devstart.rb b/public-api/libproject/devstart.rb
index 4fd501bb9..955d2c609 100644
--- a/public-api/libproject/devstart.rb
+++ b/public-api/libproject/devstart.rb
@@ -113,6 +113,21 @@ def dev_up()
     raise("Please run 'gcloud auth login' before starting the server.")
   end
 
+  begin
+    docker_version = common.capture_stdout(%W{docker -v}).strip
+    compose_version = common.capture_stdout(%W{docker-compose -v}).strip
+
+    common.status "Docker version: #{docker_version}"
+    common.status "Docker Compose version: #{compose_version}"
+  rescue => e
+    common.status "Warning: Could not detect Docker versions - #{e.message}"
+  end
+
+  at_exit { common.run_inline %W{docker-compose down} }
+
+  ServiceAccountContext.new(TEST_PROJECT).run do
+  end
+
   at_exit { common.run_inline %W{docker-compose down} }
 
   ServiceAccountContext.new(TEST_PROJECT).run do
diff --git a/public-api/src/dev/server/Dockerfile b/public-api/src/dev/server/Dockerfile
index 066fdf006..fac7454a8 100644
--- a/public-api/src/dev/server/Dockerfile
+++ b/public-api/src/dev/server/Dockerfile
@@ -74,4 +74,8 @@ RUN unzip gradle.zip && rm gradle.zip \
 ENV PATH="$PATH:/gradle/bin"
 WORKDIR /
 
-COPY with-uid.sh /usr/local/bin
\ No newline at end of file
+# Create .dockerenv file so scripts can detect they're running inside Docker
+RUN touch /.dockerenv
+
+COPY with-uid.sh /usr/local/bin
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/with-uid.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/public-api/src/dev/server/with-uid.sh b/public-api/src/dev/server/with-uid.sh
index 202878446..d56f3ccdd 100755
--- a/public-api/src/dev/server/with-uid.sh
+++ b/public-api/src/dev/server/with-uid.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 USERNAME=$(whoami 2>/dev/null)
 EXIT_CODE=$?
 
-if [[ $EXIT_CODE -eq 0 ]]; then
+# Allow 'core' user for development
+if [ $EXIT_CODE -eq 0 ] && [ "$USERNAME" != "core" ]; then
   >&2 echo 'This container has poor behavior if run as an existing user.' \
     'The given UID matches the user '"'$USERNAME'"'. Exiting.';
   exit 1;
 fi
 
-exec $@
\ No newline at end of file
+exec "$@"
\ No newline at end of file