diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8e7826259
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+// For use with Visual Studio Code
+{
+  "name": "${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}",
+  "dockerComposeFile": [
+    "../docker-compose.yaml",
+    "docker-compose.extend.yaml"
+  ],
+  "remoteUser": "rigetti",
+  "service": "lab",
+  "workspaceFolder": "/home/rigetti/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}",
+  "shutdownAction": "stopCompose",
+  "extensions": [
+    "ms-python.python",
+    "ms-python.vscode-pylance",
+    "ms-toolsai.jupyter",
+  ],
+  "settings": {
+    "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "/home/quil/.venv/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}/bin/python",
+    "python.pythonpath": "/home/rigetti/.venv/${localWorkspaceFolderBasename}/bin/python"
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/docker-compose.extend.yaml b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.extend.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5322049db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/docker-compose.extend.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+version: '3'
+services:
+  lab:
+    # Overrides default command so things don't shut down after the process ends.
+    command: /bin/bash -c "while sleep 1000; do :; done"
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2f49e0de3..175510a34 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,34 +1,67 @@
-# use multi-stage builds to independently pull dependency versions
-ARG quilc_version=1.20.0
-ARG qvm_version=1.17.1
-ARG python_version=3.7
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.3
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.9
+FROM python:$PYTHON_VERSION AS dev
 
-# use multi-stage builds to independently pull dependency versions
-FROM rigetti/quilc:$quilc_version as quilc
-FROM rigetti/qvm:$qvm_version as qvm
-FROM python:$python_version-buster
+USER root
 
-ARG pyquil_version
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install -y \
+    curl \
+    wget \
+    git \
+    build-essential \
+    software-properties-common \
+    bash-completion \
+    libblas-dev \
+    libffi-dev \
+    liblapack-dev \ 
+    libzmq3-dev \
+    sudo
 
-# copy over the pre-built quilc binary from the first build stage
-COPY --from=quilc /src/quilc/quilc /src/quilc/quilc
+# Create the docker user 'rigetti'
+ENV USER=rigetti
+ARG UID=1000
+ARG GID=1000
+RUN addgroup --gid ${GID} ${USER} \
+    && adduser \
+    --disabled-password \
+    --gecos ${USER} \
+    --gid ${GID} \
+    --uid ${UID} \
+    --home /home/rigetti/ \
+    ${USER} \
+    && usermod -aG sudo ${USER} \
+    && passwd -d ${USER}
 
-# copy over the pre-built qvm binary from the second build stage
-COPY --from=qvm /src/qvm/qvm /src/qvm/qvm
+# Create our project directory and switch to it
+ARG PROJECT_SLUG=pyquil
+ARG SRC_DIR=.
+ENV APP_DIR=/home/${USER}/${PROJECT_SLUG}
+RUN mkdir -p ${APP_DIR}/${SRC_DIR} && chown -R ${USER}:${USER} ${APP_DIR}/${SRC_DIR}
 
-# install the missing apt packages that aren't copied over
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get -yq dist-upgrade && \
-    apt-get install --no-install-recommends -yq \
-    git libblas-dev libffi-dev liblapack-dev libzmq3-dev && \
-    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+WORKDIR ${APP_DIR}/${SRC_DIR}
 
-# install ipython
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir ipython
+USER ${USER}
 
-# install pyquil
-RUN pip install pyquil==$pyquil_version
+# Install poetry
+RUN curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -
+ENV PATH="${PATH}:/home/${USER}/.local/bin"
+RUN mkdir -p /home/${USER}/.config/pypoetry/
 
-# use an entrypoint script to add startup commands (qvm & quilc server spinup)
-COPY ./entrypoint.sh /src/pyquil/entrypoint.sh
-ENTRYPOINT ["/src/pyquil/entrypoint.sh"]
-CMD ["ipython"]
+# Install the package
+COPY --chown=${USER}:${USER} ${SRC_DIR}/README.md ${SRC_DIR}/pyproject.toml ${SRC_DIR}/poetry.lock ./
+COPY --chown=${USER}:${USER} --chmod=775 ${SRC_DIR}/pyquil/__init__.py ./pyquil/__init__.py
+RUN poetry install \
+    --no-interaction \
+    --no-ansi \
+    --extras latex
+RUN rm -r ./pyquil
+
+# Set up the venv
+RUN mkdir ${HOME}/.venv/ && ln -s $(poetry env info -p) /home/${USER}/.venv/${PROJECT_SLUG}
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/home/${USER}/.venv/${PROJECT_SLUG}
+ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
+
+WORKDIR ${APP_DIR}
+ENV SHELL /bin/bash
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index 45c062e74..f43c553eb 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -1,27 +1,27 @@
-version: '3'
+version: '3.5'
 
 services:
+  lab:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      args:
+        PYTHON_VERSION: ${PYTHON_VERSION:-3.9}
+    volumes:
+      - .:/home/rigetti/pyquil/
+    environment:
+      - QCS_SETTINGS_APPLICATIONS_PYQUIL_QVM_URL=http://qvm:5000
+      - QCS_SETTINGS_APPLICATIONS_PYQUIL_QUILC_URL=tcp://quilc:5555
   quilc:
     image: rigetti/quilc
-    command: -S
-    expose:
+    command:
+      - -R
+      - -p
       - "5555"
-    ports:
-    - '5555:5555'
-    networks:
-      - test
-
+      - -P
   qvm:
     image: rigetti/qvm
-    command: -S
-    expose:
+    command:
+      - -p
       - "5000"
-    ports:
-    - '5000:5000'
-    networks:
-      - test
-
-networks:
-  test:
-    driver: bridge
-
+      - -S
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 946cec47d..000000000
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-echo -e "========================================="
-echo -e "=   WELCOME TO THE RIGETTI FOREST SDK   ="
-echo -e "========================================="
-echo -e "Copyright (c) 2016-2019 Rigetti Computing\n"
-
-/src/quilc/quilc --quiet -R &> quilc.log &
-/src/qvm/qvm --quiet -S &> qvm.log &
-
-exec "$@"