diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a948ff311
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "name": "DeveloperEnv",
+  "image": "ghcr.io/jageo/autoplex/autoplex:python-3.10",
+  "hostRequirements": {
+   "cpus": 4,
+   "memory": "16gb",
+   "storage": "32gb"
+  },
+  "customizations": {
+    "vscode": {
+      "extensions": [
+        "ms-python.python",
+        "ms-azuretools.vscode-docker"]
+    },
+  },
+  "postCreateCommand": "pip cache purge && uv pip install -e .[strict,docs] && uv pip install ase==3.23.0 && pre-commit install",
+}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..edd292292
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+name: Build and Push Docker Image
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  release:
+    types: [ created ] # Runs only when a new release is created
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: github.repository_owner == 'JaGeo' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      packages: write
+      attestations: write
+      id-token: write
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python-version: [ "3.10", "3.11", "3.12" ]
+
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout code
+      uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+    - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+      uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+
+    - name: Log in to the GitHub Container Registry
+      uses: docker/login-action@v3
+      with:
+        registry: ghcr.io
+        username: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
+        password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+    - name: lowercase github.repository
+      run: |
+        echo "IMAGE_NAME=`echo ${{github.repository}} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'`" >>${GITHUB_ENV}
+
+    # Build Docker image with a custom Python version
+    - name: Build Docker image (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }})
+      run: |
+        docker build \
+        --build-arg PYTHON_VERSION=${{ matrix.python-version }} \
+        -t ghcr.io/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}/autoplex:python-${{ matrix.python-version }} .
+   # Push Docker image to GHCR
+    - name: Push Docker image to GHCR (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }})
+      run: |
+        docker push ghcr.io/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}/autoplex:python-${{ matrix.python-version }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-package.yml b/.github/workflows/python-package.yml
index 8b589a683..78f908f14 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-package.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-package.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@
 name: Testing Linux
 
 on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
   push:
-    branches: '*'
+    branches: ['*']
   pull_request:
     branches: [ main ]
 
@@ -16,55 +17,35 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
-        split: [1] #, 2, 3, 4]  # Number of splits
+        python-version: ["3.10", "3.11"]
+        split: [1, 2, 3, 4]  # Number of splits
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-    - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-      with:
-        python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-    - name: Install dependencies
-      run: |
-        python -m pip cache purge
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-        python -m pip install flake8 pytest pytest-mock pytest-split pytest-cov
-        python -m pip install types-setuptools
-        python -m pip cache purge
-        python -m pip install .[strict]
-        python -m pip cache purge
-        python -m pip install ase==3.23.0
-    - name: Print installed package versions
-      run: |
-        pip show torch torchdata
-    - name: Install Buildcell
-      run: |
-        curl -O https://www.mtg.msm.cam.ac.uk/files/airss-0.9.3.tgz; tar -xf airss-0.9.3.tgz; rm airss-0.9.3.tgz; cd airss; make ; make install ; make neat; cd ..
-    - name: Add Buildcell to PATH
-      run: echo "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/airss/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
-    - name: Install Julia
-      run: curl -fsSL https://install.julialang.org | sh -s -- -y
-    - name: Set up Julia environment (Needed for ACEpotentials.jl interface)
-      run: |
-        julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.Registry.add("General"); Pkg.Registry.add(Pkg.Registry.RegistrySpec(url="https://github.com/ACEsuit/ACEregistry")); Pkg.add("ACEpotentials"); Pkg.add("DataFrames"); Pkg.add("CSV")'
-    - name: Linting with flake8
-      run: |
-        # stop the build if there are Python syntax errors or undefined names
-        flake8 . --count --select=E9,F63,F7,F82 --show-source --statistics
-        # exit-zero treats all errors as warnings. The GitHub editor is 127 chars wide
-        flake8 . --count --exit-zero --max-complexity=10 --max-line-length=127 --statistics
-    - name: Test with pytest and coverage
+    - name: Run tests using Docker image for Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
       run: |
-        # run the line below locally to update tests durations file
-        # pytest --cov=autoplex --cov-append --splits 1 --group 1 --durations-path ./tests/test_data/.pytest-split-durations --store-durations
-        pytest --cov=autoplex --cov-report term-missing --cov-append --splits 1 --group ${{ matrix.split }} -vv --durations-path ./tests/test_data/.pytest-split-durations
+        docker pull ghcr.io/jageo/autoplex/autoplex:python-${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        docker run --rm \
+          -v ${{ github.workspace }}:/workspace \
+          -w /workspace \
+          ghcr.io/jageo/autoplex/autoplex:python-${{ matrix.python-version }} \
+          bash -c "
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip && \
+          python -m uv pip install pytest pytest-mock pytest-split pytest-cov types-setuptools && \
+          python -m uv pip install .[strict] && \
+          python -m uv pip install ase==3.23.0 && \
+          flake8 . --count --select=E9,F63,F7,F82 --show-source --statistics && \ 
+          flake8 . --count --exit-zero --max-complexity=10 --max-line-length=127 --statistics && \
+          pytest --cov=autoplex --cov-report term-missing --cov-append --splits 4 --group ${{ matrix.split }} -vv --durations-path /workspace/tests/test_data/.pytest-split-durations
+        "
     - name: Upload coverage
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
       with:
-        name: coverage-${{ matrix.split }}
-        path: .coverage
-        
+        name: coverage-${{ matrix.python-version }}-${{ matrix.split }}
+        include-hidden-files: true
+        overwrite: false
+        path: ./.coverage
+
   coverage:
       needs: build
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -88,20 +69,24 @@ jobs:
 
   docs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash -l {0} # enables conda/mamba env activation by reading bash profile
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-        with:
-          python-version: "3.9"
-          cache: pip
-          cache-dependency-path: pyproject.toml
-
-      - name: Install dependencies
+      - name: Check out repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Set up micromamba
+        uses: mamba-org/setup-micromamba@main
+      - name: Create mamba environment
         run: |
-          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          pip install .[docs,strict]
-
+            micromamba create -n autoplex_docs python=3.10 --yes
+      - name: Install uv
+        run: micromamba run -n autoplex_docs pip install uv
+      - name: Install autoplex and dependencies
+        run: |
+            micromamba activate autoplex_docs
+            uv pip install --upgrade pip
+            uv pip install .[docs,strict]
       - name: Build
-        run: sphinx-build -W docs _build
+        run: micromamba run -n autoplex_docs sphinx-build -W docs _build
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 87e0bfc35..94daf6a92 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ target/
 # Pycharm
 .idea/*
 
+# VSCode
+.vscode/
+
 # Jupyter Notebook
 .ipynb_checkpoints
 
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e92e9d7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Guidelines for contributions to autoplex
+- Please write unit tests; this is a requirement for any added code to be accepted. (Automated testing will be performed using `pytest`; you can look into the `tests` folder for examples).
+- Please ensure high coverage of the code based on the tests (you can test this with `coverage`).
+- Please use numpy docstrings (use an IDE and switch on this docstring type; you can check examples in our code base; the docstring should be useful for other people)
+- Please ensure that type hints are added for each variable, function, class, and method (this helps code readability, especially if someone else wants to build on your code).
+- Please write the code in a way that gives users the option to change parameters (this is mainly applicable, for example, fitting protocols/flows). In other words, please avoid hardcoding settings or physical properties.
+Reasonable default values should be set, but the user needs to have the opportunity to modify them if they wish.
+
+## General code structure
+- We are currently aiming to follow the code structure below for each submodule (This is an initial idea; of course, this could change depending on the needs in the future)
+  - autoplex/submodule/job.py (any jobs defined will be inside this module)
+  - autoplex/submodule/flows.py (workflows defined will be hosted in this module)
+  - autoplex/submodule/utils.py (all functions that act as utilities for defining flow or job, for example, a small subtask to calculate some metric or plotting, will be hosted in this module)
+
+## Formatting requirements
+- Variable names should be descriptive and should use snake case (`variable_name`, not `VariableName`).
+- If you define a `Maker`, please use python class naming convention (e.g., `PhononMaker`, `RssMaker`).
+
+## Commit guidelines
+1. `pip install pre-commit`.
+2. Next, run `pre-commit install` (this will install all the hooks from pre-commit-config.yaml)
+3. Step 1 and 2 needs to be done only once in the local repository
+4. Proceed with modifying the code and adding commits as usual. This should automatically run the linters.
+5. To manually run the pre-commit hooks on all files, just use `pre-commit run --all-files`
+6. To run pre-commit on a specific file, use `pre-commit run --files path/to/your/modified/module/`
+
+Please check out atomate2 for example code (https://github.com/materialsproject/atomate2)
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8e5856155
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Use an official micromamba image as the base image
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.10
+
+FROM mambaorg/micromamba:1.5.10
+
+
+# Set environment variables for micromamba
+ENV MAMBA_DOCKERFILE_ACTIVATE=1
+ENV MAMBA_ROOT_PREFIX=/opt/conda
+
+# Switch to root to install all dependencies (using non-root user causes permission issues)
+USER root
+
+# Make arg accessible to the rest of the Dockerfile
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION
+
+# Install system dependencies
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    build-essential \
+    bash \
+    bc \
+    unzip \
+    wget \
+    gfortran \
+    liblapack-dev \
+    libblas-dev \
+    cmake \
+    make \
+    curl \
+    git \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Install Python
+RUN micromamba install -y -n base -c conda-forge \ python=${PYTHON_VERSION} && \
+    micromamba clean --all --yes
+
+# Install testing dependencies
+RUN python -m pip install --upgrade pip \
+    && pip install uv \
+    && uv pip install flake8 pre-commit pytest pytest-mock pytest-split pytest-cov types-setuptools
+
+# Install Julia
+RUN curl -fsSL https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/bin/linux/x64/1.9/julia-1.9.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | tar -xz -C /opt \
+    && ln -s /opt/julia-1.9.2/bin/julia /usr/local/bin/julia
+
+
+# Set up Julia environment (ACEpotentials.jl interface)
+RUN julia -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.Registry.add("General"); Pkg.Registry.add(Pkg.Registry.RegistrySpec(url="https://github.com/ACEsuit/ACEregistry")); Pkg.add("ACEpotentials"); Pkg.add("DataFrames"); Pkg.add("CSV")'
+
+# Install Buildcell (airss)
+RUN curl -fsSL https://www.mtg.msm.cam.ac.uk/files/airss-0.9.3.tgz -o /opt/airss-0.9.3.tgz \
+    && tar -xf /opt/airss-0.9.3.tgz -C /opt \
+    && rm /opt/airss-0.9.3.tgz \
+    && cd /opt/airss \
+    && make \
+    && make install \
+    && make neat
+
+# Add Buildcell to PATH
+ENV PATH="${PATH}:/opt/airss/bin"
diff --git a/docs/dev/contributing.md b/docs/dev/contributing.md
index 3d0896f70..e75758cf1 100644
--- a/docs/dev/contributing.md
+++ b/docs/dev/contributing.md
@@ -1,27 +1,2 @@
-# Guidelines for contributions
-- Please write unit tests; this is a requirement for any added code to be accepted. (Automated testing will be performed using `pytest`; you can look into the `tests` folder for examples).
-- Please ensure high coverage of the code based on the tests (you can test this with `coverage`).
-- Please use numpy docstrings (use an IDE and switch on this docstring type; you can check examples in our code base; the docstring should be useful for other people)
-- Please ensure that type hints are added for each variable, function, class, and method (this helps code readability, especially if someone else wants to build on your code).
-- Please write the code in a way that gives users the option to change parameters (this is mainly applicable, for example, fitting protocols/flows). In other words, please avoid hardcoding settings or physical properties. 
-Reasonable default values should be set, but the user needs to have the opportunity to modify them if they wish.
-
-## General code structure
-- We are currently aiming to follow the code structure below for each submodule (This is an initial idea; of course, this could change depending on the needs in the future)
-  - autoplex/submodule/job.py (any jobs defined will be inside this module)
-  - autoplex/submodule/flows.py (workflows defined will be hosted in this module)
-  - autoplex/submodule/utils.py (all functions that act as utilities for defining flow or job, for example, a small subtask to calculate some metric or plotting, will be hosted in this module)
-
-## Formatting requirements
-- Variable names should be descriptive and should use snake case (`variable_name`, not `VariableName`).
-- If you define a `Maker`, please use python class naming convention (e.g., `PhononMaker`, `RssMaker`).
-
-## Commit guidelines
-1. `pip install pre-commit`.
-2. Next, run `pre-commit install` (this will install all the hooks from pre-commit-config.yaml)
-3. Step 1 and 2 needs to be done only once in the local repository
-4. Proceed with modifying the code and adding commits as usual. This should automatically run the linters.
-5. To manually run the pre-commit hooks on all files, just use `pre-commit run --all-files`
-6. To run pre-commit on a specific file, use `pre-commit run --files path/to/your/modified/module/`
-
-Please check out atomate2 for example code (https://github.com/materialsproject/atomate2)
\ No newline at end of file
+```{include} ../../CONTRIBUTING.md
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/dev/dev_install.md b/docs/dev/dev_install.md
index 1d3cd7a4b..cd9e71efc 100644
--- a/docs/dev/dev_install.md
+++ b/docs/dev/dev_install.md
@@ -7,7 +7,13 @@ git clone https://github.com/JaGeo/autoplex.git
 cd autoplex
 pip install -e .[docs,strict,dev]
 ```
-This will install autoplex will all dependencies for tests, pre-commit and docs building.
+This will install autoplex will all dependencies for tests, pre-commit and docs building. 
+However, note that non-python programs like `buildcell` and `julia` needed for ACE potential fitting will not be installed with above command. One needs to install these 
+seperately.
+
+Alternatively, one can use the `devcontainer` provided to have your developer environment setup automatically in your IDE. It has been tested to work in [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers#_quick-start-open-an-existing-folder-in-a-container) and [PyCharm](https://blog.jetbrains.com/pycharm/2023/06/2023-2-eap-4/). 
+Only prerequisite is one has [docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-started/get-docker/) installed on the system as it uses the published docker images to create this developer env. 
+
 
 ## Running unit tests
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e6f59958c..98dff972e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -25,11 +25,9 @@ classifiers = [
 requires-python = ">=3.9"
 dependencies = [
      "pymatgen>=2024.9.17.1",
-     "atomate2[strict]@git+https://github.com/QuantumChemist/atomate2.git@adjust_get_supercell_size",
-     #"FireWorks>=2.0.3",
+     "atomate2[strict,strict-forcefields]@git+https://github.com/QuantumChemist/atomate2.git@adjust_get_supercell_size",
      "ase==3.23.0",
      "matgl==1.1.3",
-     #"quippy-ase==0.9.14",
      "numpy==1.26.4",
      "mace-torch==0.3.4",
      "lightning-utilities==0.11.2",
@@ -65,19 +63,12 @@ docs = [
 
 strict = [
      "pymatgen>=2024.8.9",
-     "atomate2[strict]@git+https://github.com/QuantumChemist/atomate2.git@adjust_get_supercell_size",
-     #"FireWorks==2.0.3",
-     # last known working ASE version: https://gitlab.com/ase/ase@2bab58f4e
-     #"ase@git+https://gitlab.com/ase/ase.git@2bab58f4e",
-     #"quippy-ase==0.9.14",
+     "atomate2[strict,strict-forcefields]@git+https://github.com/QuantumChemist/atomate2.git@adjust_get_supercell_size",
      "ase==3.23.0",
      "mace-torch==0.3.4",
      "lightning-utilities==0.11.2",
      "numpy==1.26.4",
      "typing",
-     #"jobflow==0.1.13",
-     #"pydantic==1.10.9",
-     #"pymatgen-analysis-defects==2023.8.22",
      "dgl==2.1.0",
      "torchdata==0.7.1",
 ]
@@ -178,7 +169,12 @@ exclude_lines = [
   "show_plot",
 ]
 
-# omit everything in test directory from coverage
+[tool.coverage.paths]
+source = [
+    "autoplex/",
+    "/workspace/autoplex/",
+]
+
 [tool.coverage.run]
 include = ["autoplex/*"]