diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3926fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+FROM python:3.11-slim
+
+# Dev tools — not needed in production, but essential for development
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    git \
+    curl \
+    ffmpeg \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Install Python dependencies
+COPY requirements.txt .
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+
+# Environment defaults (override via devcontainer.json remoteEnv)
+ENV OLLAMA_URL=http://host.docker.internal:11434/api/generate
+ENV MODEL_NAME=gemma4:e2b
+ENV PORT=8080
+ENV POLL_INTERVAL=21600
+ENV DATA_DIR=/app/data
+ENV TTS_VOICE=af_heart
+
+RUN mkdir -p /app/data/audio
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee1c3db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{
+  "name": "Guardian Newscast Pipeline",
+  "build": {
+    "dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
+  },
+  "forwardPorts": [8080],
+  "portsAttributes": {
+    "8080": {
+      "label": "Newscast API",
+      "onAutoForward": "notify"
+    }
+  },
+  "postCreateCommand": "pip install -r requirements.txt",
+  "customizations": {
+    "vscode": {
+      "extensions": [
+        "ms-python.python",
+        "ms-python.vscode-pylance"
+      ],
+      "settings": {
+        "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "/usr/local/bin/python",
+        "python.envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.env"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "remoteEnv": {
+    "OLLAMA_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:11434/api/generate",
+    "MODEL_NAME": "gemma4:e2b",
+    "PORT": "8080",
+    "POLL_INTERVAL": "21600",
+    "TTS_VOICE": "af_heart",
+    "DATA_DIR": "${workspaceFolder}/data"
+  }
+}