diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 04d7247..8a5b3e4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ src/main/webapp/*
 !src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/
 
 .idea/
+.vscode
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index a4aeb36..0000000
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-stages:
-  - build
-  
-before_script:
-  - set -euxo pipefail
-
-build-webapp:
-  image: privacybydesign/node_yarn:latest
-  stage: build
-  script:
-    - cd webapp
-    - yarn install
-    - cd ..
-    - mkdir -p artifacts/webapp
-    - ./webapp/build.sh en
-    - mv webapp/build artifacts/webapp/en
-    - ./webapp/build.sh nl
-    - mv webapp/build artifacts/webapp/nl
-  artifacts:
-    # Disabling artifact expiry is not supported yet, so make
-    expire_in: 100 year
-    paths:
-      - artifacts/webapp
-
-build-war:
-  image: privacybydesign/jdk11:latest
-  stage: build
-  script:
-    - mkdir artifacts
-    - gradle clean
-    - gradle build
-    - mv build/libs/irma_email_issuer-*.war ./irma_email_issuer.war
-  artifacts:
-    # Disabling artifact expiry is not supported yet, so make
-    expire_in: 100 year
-    paths:
-      - irma_email_issuer.war
-    
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
deleted file mode 100644
index d53ecaf..0000000
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "java.compile.nullAnalysis.mode": "automatic",
-    "java.configuration.updateBuildConfiguration": "automatic"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f38be64..971072e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -12,14 +12,21 @@ RUN ./build.sh nl && mv build /www/nl
 # Let root redirect to the english version
 RUN cp /webapp/redirect-en.html /www/index.html
 
-FROM gradle:7.6-jdk11 as javabuild
+# --------------------------------------------------------
+
+FROM gradle:7.6-jdk11 AS javabuild
 
 # Build the java app
 COPY ./ /app/
 WORKDIR /app
 RUN gradle build
 
+# --------------------------------------------------------
+
 FROM tomee:9.1-jre11
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install gettext-base
+
+WORKDIR /server
 
 # Copy the webapp to the webapps directory
 RUN rm -rf /usr/local/tomee/webapps/*
@@ -32,12 +39,13 @@ COPY --from=javabuild /app/build/libs/irma_email_issuer.war /usr/local/tomee/web
 COPY ./src/main/resources/email-en.html /email-templates/email-en.html
 COPY ./src/main/resources/email-nl.html /email-templates/email-nl.html
 
+COPY --from=javabuild /app/start.sh ./start.sh
+RUN chmod +x ./start.sh
 
 RUN mkdir /usr/local/keys
-
-ENV IRMA_CONF="/config/"
+RUN mkdir /irma-config
+ENV IRMA_CONF="/irma-config/"
 ENV EMAIL_TEMPLATE_DIR="/email-templates/"
 EXPOSE 8080
 
-# Copy the config file to the webapp. This is done at runtime so that the config file can be mounted as a volume.
-CMD [ "/bin/sh", "-c", "openssl rsa -in /irma-jwt-key/priv.pem -outform der -out /usr/local/keys/priv.der && for lang in 'en' 'nl'; do cp /config/config.js /usr/local/tomee/webapps/ROOT/$lang/assets/config.js; done && exec catalina.sh run" ]
+CMD [ "/bin/sh", "-C", "./start.sh" ]
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8228a3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# this is the startup script in the docker container,
+# doing a bunch of config at runtime before starting the actual server
+
+set -e # exit the script immediately when an error is encountered
+
+# in some cases secrets from different places might be required to be used together
+# so this provides the option to provide a config template with some environment variables
+echo "creating config.json based on template"
+envsubst < /config/config.json > $IRMA_CONF/config.json
+
+echo "generating binary file for private key"
+openssl rsa -in /irma-jwt-key/priv.pem -outform der -out /usr/local/keys/priv.der
+
+echo "copying config files to web app dir"
+for lang in 'en' 'nl'; do
+    cp /config/config.js /usr/local/tomee/webapps/ROOT/$lang/assets/config.js;
+done
+
+
+echo "starting up server"
+exec catalina.sh run