diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3f0ecf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+// based on https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/6c46327d7da6419abb353e6e81dc90e93124d8b3/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+{
+  "name": "smtp-mail",
+  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/universal:2-linux",
+  "features": {
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/nix:1": {
+      // fails in the devcontainer sandbox, enable sandbox via config instead
+      "multiUser": false,      
+      "useAttributePath": true,
+      "extraNixConfig": "experimental-features = nix-command flakes,sandbox = true"
+    }
+  },
+  // Fixup permissions inside container.
+  // https://github.com/NixOS/nix/issues/6680#issuecomment-1230902525
+  "postCreateCommand": "sudo apt-get install -y acl",
+  "postStartCommand": "sudo setfacl -k /tmp; if [ -e /dev/kvm ]; then sudo chgrp $(id -g) /dev/kvm; fi"
+}
\ No newline at end of file