diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index adebb0e5fd..5906bc0dcc 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:3.11
+FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:3.11-bookworm
 
 # Makes installation faster
 ENV UV_COMPILE_BYTECODE=1
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-c"]
 
@@ -11,66 +12,61 @@ USER root
 RUN rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list 2>/dev/null || true
 
 # Install required system packages + ODBC prerequisites
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
-    sudo \
-    unixodbc \
-    unixodbc-dev \
-    libgl1 \
-    git \
-    curl \
-    xdg-utils \
-    build-essential \
- && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt \
+    --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt \
+    apt-get update \
+ && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+      sudo \
+      unixodbc \
+      unixodbc-dev \
+      libgl1 \
+      git \
+      curl \
+      xdg-utils \
+      build-essential
 
-# Install the Azure CLI, Microsoft ODBC Driver 18 & SQL tools
+# Install Microsoft ODBC Driver 18 & SQL tools
 # Note: Debian Trixie's sqv rejects SHA1 signatures, so we use gpg directly to import the Microsoft key
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
-      apt-transport-https \
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt \
+    --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt \
+    apt-get update \
+ && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
       ca-certificates \
       gnupg \
-      lsb-release \
  && curl -sL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc \
       | gpg --dearmor \
       > /usr/share/keyrings/microsoft-archive-keyring.gpg \
  && echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm main" \
       > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft.list \
  && apt-get update \
- && ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql18 mssql-tools18 \
- && apt-get install -y azure-cli \
- && echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools18/bin"' >> /etc/profile.d/sqltools.sh \
- && apt-get clean \
- && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+ && ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+      msodbcsql18 \
+      mssql-tools18 \
+ && echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools18/bin"' >> /etc/profile.d/sqltools.sh
 
 # audio back-ends needed by Azure Speech SDK
-RUN apt-get update \
- && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
- apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt \
+    --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt \
+    apt-get update \
+ && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
       libasound2 \
-      libpulse0 \
- && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+      libpulse0
+
+# Install Node.js 24.x LTS for frontend development
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt \
+    --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt \
+    curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | bash - \
+ && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends nodejs
 
 # Install uv system-wide and create pyrit-dev venv
-RUN curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh \
- && mv /root/.local/bin/uv /usr/local/bin/uv \
- && rm -rf /opt/venv \
- && uv venv /opt/venv --python 3.11 --prompt pyrit-dev \
- && chown -R vscode:vscode /opt/venv \
- && ls -la /opt/venv/bin/activate
+COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:0.10.8 /uv /uvx /bin/
+RUN uv venv /opt/venv --python 3.11 --prompt pyrit-dev \
+ && chown -R vscode:vscode /opt/venv
 ENV PATH="/opt/venv/bin:$PATH"
 
 # vscode user already exists in the base image, just ensure sudo access
 RUN echo "vscode ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >> /etc/sudoers
 
-# Install Node.js 20.x and npm for frontend development
-RUN curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash - \
- && apt-get install -y nodejs \
- && npm install -g npm@latest \
- && npm install -g @github/copilot@0.0.421 \
- && npm cache clean --force \
- && rm -rf /root/.npm \
- && apt-get clean \
- && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
 # Pre-create common user caches and fix permissions
 RUN mkdir -p /home/vscode/.cache/pre-commit \
  && mkdir -p /home/vscode/.vscode-server \
@@ -79,7 +75,7 @@ RUN mkdir -p /home/vscode/.cache/pre-commit \
  && mkdir -p /home/vscode/.cache/venv \
  && mkdir -p /home/vscode/.cache/pylance \
  && chown -R vscode:vscode /home/vscode/.cache /home/vscode/.vscode-server \
- && chmod -R 777 /home/vscode/.cache/pip /home/vscode/.cache/pylance /home/vscode/.cache/venv /home/vscode/.cache/uv\
+ && chmod -R 755 /home/vscode/.cache/pip /home/vscode/.cache/pylance /home/vscode/.cache/venv /home/vscode/.cache/uv \
  && chmod -R 755 /home/vscode/.vscode-server
 
 USER vscode
@@ -95,6 +91,6 @@ RUN git config --global core.preloadindex true \
  && git config --global status.showUntrackedFiles all \
  && git config --global core.fsmonitor true
 
- # Set cache directories so they can be mounted
+# Set cache directories so they can be mounted
 ENV PIP_CACHE_DIR="/home/vscode/.cache/pip"
 ENV UV_CACHE_DIR="/home/vscode/.cache/uv"
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index ca80e23a03..2f762555c5 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -90,6 +90,14 @@
       ]
     }
   },
+  "features": {
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/azure-cli:1": {
+      "version": "latest"
+    },
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/copilot-cli:1": {
+      "version": "latest"
+    }
+  },
   "postCreateCommand": "/bin/bash -i .devcontainer/devcontainer_setup.sh",
   "forwardPorts": [3000, 4213, 5000, 8000, 8888]
 }
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer_setup.sh b/.devcontainer/devcontainer_setup.sh
index 3657b804ff..46033fd2db 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer_setup.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer_setup.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ if [ ! -d "$MYPY_CACHE" ]; then
     echo "Creating mypy cache directory..."
     sudo mkdir -p $MYPY_CACHE
     sudo chown vscode:vscode $MYPY_CACHE
-    sudo chmod 777 $MYPY_CACHE
+    sudo chmod 755 $MYPY_CACHE
 else
     # Check ownership
     OWNER=$(stat -c '%U:%G' $MYPY_CACHE)
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ else
     # Check permissions
     PERMS=$(stat -c '%a' $MYPY_CACHE)
 
-    if [ "$PERMS" != "777" ]; then
+    if [ "$PERMS" != "755" ]; then
         echo "Fixing mypy cache directory permissions..."
-        sudo chmod -R 777 $MYPY_CACHE
+        sudo chmod -R 755 $MYPY_CACHE
     fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/build_scripts/prepare_package.py b/build_scripts/prepare_package.py
index 0eec9f3d69..8e999c8129 100644
--- a/build_scripts/prepare_package.py
+++ b/build_scripts/prepare_package.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
 # Licensed under the MIT license.
 
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ def build_frontend(frontend_dir: Path) -> bool:
         print(f"Found npm version: {result.stdout.strip()}")
     except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, FileNotFoundError):
         print("ERROR: npm is not installed or not in PATH")
-        print("Please install Node.js 20.x and npm from https://nodejs.org/")
+        print("Please install Node.js 24.x and npm from https://nodejs.org/")
         return False
 
     # Check if package.json exists
diff --git a/docker/build_pyrit_docker.py b/docker/build_pyrit_docker.py
index 406647d84d..07f77abe1f 100644
--- a/docker/build_pyrit_docker.py
+++ b/docker/build_pyrit_docker.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
 # Licensed under the MIT license.
 
diff --git a/docker/run_pyrit_docker.py b/docker/run_pyrit_docker.py
index 63bdcbd150..c2fdad82c6 100644
--- a/docker/run_pyrit_docker.py
+++ b/docker/run_pyrit_docker.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
 # Licensed under the MIT license.