diff --git a/dev/local/Makefile b/dev/local/Makefile
index d0854a064..87cee7a12 100644
--- a/dev/local/Makefile
+++ b/dev/local/Makefile
@@ -120,6 +120,42 @@ web:
 		--network delphi-net --name delphi_web_epidata \
 		delphi_web_epidata >$(LOG_WEB) 2>&1 &
 
+.PHONY=web_vscodedebug
+web_vscodedebug:
+	@# Full giude can be found by the link below:
+	@# https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RMxsPO3uYqjAqBNzhDJTtLM0Xglm7kAijFi2W2tzd6U/edit?usp=sharing
+
+	@# Stop container if running
+	@if [ $(WEB_CONTAINER_ID) ]; then\
+		docker stop $(WEB_CONTAINER_ID);\
+	fi
+
+	@# Setup virtual network if it doesn't exist
+	@docker network ls | grep delphi-net || docker network create --driver bridge delphi-net
+
+	@# Build the web_epidata image
+	@cd repos/delphi/delphi-epidata; \
+		docker build -t delphi_web_epidata \
+			$(M1) \
+			-f ./devops/Dockerfile .;\
+		cd -
+
+	@# Run the web server
+	@# MODULE_NAME specifies the location of the `app` variable, the actual WSGI application object to run.
+	@# see https://github.com/tiangolo/meinheld-gunicorn-docker#module_name
+
+	@# mount the debuging start script (start_vscodedebug.sh) into the container so the webserver uses it
+	@docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:5000:5000 -p 127.0.0.1:5678:5678 \
+		$(M1) \
+		--mount type=bind,source=$(CWD)repos/delphi/delphi-epidata/devops/start_vscodedebug.sh,target=/start_vscodedebug.sh,readonly \
+		--mount type=bind,source=$(CWD)repos/delphi/delphi-epidata/src/server,target=/app/delphi/epidata/server \
+		--env "MODULE_NAME=delphi.epidata.server.main" \
+		--env "SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI=$(sqlalchemy_uri)" \
+		--env "FLASK_SECRET=abc" --env "FLASK_PREFIX=/epidata" --env "LOG_DEBUG" \
+		--network delphi-net --name delphi_web_epidata \
+		delphi_web_epidata >$(LOG_WEB) 2>&1 &
+
+
 .PHONY=db
 db:
 	@# Stop container if running
@@ -175,6 +211,9 @@ redis:
 .PHONY=all
 all: db web py redis
 
+.PHONY=debug
+debug: db web_vscodedebug py
+
 .PHONY=test
 test:
 	@docker run -i --rm --network delphi-net \
diff --git a/devops/start_vscodedebug.sh b/devops/start_vscodedebug.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e7d53a50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devops/start_vscodedebug.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env sh
+set -e
+
+# If there's a prestart.sh script in the /app directory, run it before starting
+PRE_START_PATH=/app/prestart.sh
+echo "Checking for script in $PRE_START_PATH"
+if [ -f $PRE_START_PATH ] ; then
+    echo "Running script $PRE_START_PATH"
+    . "$PRE_START_PATH"
+else
+    echo "There is no script $PRE_START_PATH"
+fi
+
+export FLASK_APP=delphi.epidata.server.main
+
+pip install debugpy
+
+python -m debugpy --listen 0.0.0.0:5678 --wait-for-client -m flask run -h 0.0.0.0 -p 5000
\ No newline at end of file