diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 76ac9e1..f7f1228 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,18 +1,16 @@
 FROM ubuntu:20.04 as aprsd
 
-
 ENV VERSION=1.0.0
 ENV APRS_USER=aprs
 ENV HOME=/home/aprs
-ENV APRSD=http://github.com/craigerl/aprsd.git
-ENV APRSD_BRANCH="master"
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=$HOME/.venv3
 
 ENV INSTALL=$HOME/install
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 RUN apt-get -y update
 RUN apt-get install -y wget gnupg git-core
-RUN apt-get install -y apt-utils pkg-config sudo
-RUN apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-virtualenv
+RUN apt-get install -y apt-utils pkg-config sudo vim
+RUN apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-virtualenv python3-venv
 
 # Setup Timezone
 ENV TZ=US/Eastern
@@ -24,17 +22,21 @@ RUN dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive tzdata
 RUN addgroup --gid 1000 $APRS_USER
 RUN useradd -m -u 1000 -g 1000 -p $APRS_USER $APRS_USER
 
+ENV LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
+ENV LANG=C.UTF-8
+
 USER $APRS_USER
+RUN pip3 install wheel
+RUN python3 -m venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
+ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
 RUN echo "export PATH=\$PATH:\$HOME/.local/bin" >> $HOME/.bashrc
-VOLUME ["/config"]
+VOLUME ["/config", "/plugins"]
 
 WORKDIR $HOME
-RUN mkdir $INSTALL
-# install librtlsdr from source
-RUN git clone -b $APRSD_BRANCH $APRSD $INSTALL/aprsd
+RUN pip install aprsd
 USER root
-RUN cd $INSTALL/aprsd && pip3 install .
 RUN aprsd sample-config > /config/aprsd.yml
+RUN chown -R $APRS_USER:$APRS_USER /config
 
 # override this to run another configuration
 ENV CONF default
diff --git a/Dockerfile-dev b/Dockerfile-dev
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca64f44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile-dev
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+FROM ubuntu:20.04 as aprsd
+
+# Dockerfile for building a container during aprsd development.
+
+ENV VERSION=1.0.0
+ENV APRS_USER=aprs
+ENV HOME=/home/aprs
+ENV APRSD=http://github.com/craigerl/aprsd.git
+ENV APRSD_BRANCH="master"
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=$HOME/.venv3
+
+ENV INSTALL=$HOME/install
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+RUN apt-get -y update
+RUN apt-get install -y wget gnupg git-core
+RUN apt-get install -y apt-utils pkg-config sudo vim
+RUN apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-virtualenv python3-venv
+
+# Setup Timezone
+ENV TZ=US/Eastern
+RUN ln -snf /usr/share/zoneinfo/$TZ /etc/localtime && echo $TZ > /etc/timezone
+RUN apt-get install -y tzdata
+RUN dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive tzdata
+
+
+RUN addgroup --gid 1000 $APRS_USER
+RUN useradd -m -u 1000 -g 1000 -p $APRS_USER $APRS_USER
+
+ENV LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
+ENV LANG=C.UTF-8
+
+USER $APRS_USER
+RUN pip3 install wheel
+RUN python3 -m venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
+ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
+RUN echo "export PATH=\$PATH:\$HOME/.local/bin" >> $HOME/.bashrc
+VOLUME ["/config", "/plugins"]
+
+WORKDIR $HOME
+RUN mkdir $INSTALL
+RUN git clone -b $APRSD_BRANCH $APRSD $INSTALL/aprsd
+RUN    cd $INSTALL/aprsd && pip3 install .
+RUN which aprsd
+USER root
+RUN aprsd sample-config > /config/aprsd.yml
+RUN chown -R $APRS_USER:$APRS_USER /config
+
+# override this to run another configuration
+ENV CONF default
+USER $APRS_USER
+
+ADD build/bin/run.sh $HOME/
+ENTRYPOINT ["/home/aprs/run.sh"]
diff --git a/build/bin/run.sh b/build/bin/run.sh
index 213d34b..a0d155c 100755
--- a/build/bin/run.sh
+++ b/build/bin/run.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,21 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -x
 
 export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin
+export VIRTUAL_ENV=$HOME/.venv3
+source $VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/activate
+
+if [ ! -z "${APRS_PLUGINS}" ]; then
+    OLDIFS=$IFS
+    IFS=','
+    echo "Installing pypi plugins '$APRS_PLUGINS'";
+    for plugin in ${APRS_PLUGINS}; do
+        IFS=$OLDIFS
+        # call your procedure/other scripts here below
+        echo "Installing '$plugin'"
+        pip3 install $plugin
+    done
+fi
 
 # check to see if there is a config file
 APRSD_CONFIG="/config/aprsd.yml"
@@ -8,5 +23,4 @@ if [ ! -e "$APRSD_CONFIG" ]; then
     echo "'$APRSD_CONFIG' File does not exist. Creating."
     aprsd sample-config > $APRSD_CONFIG
 fi
-
-aprsd server -c $APRSD_CONFIG
+$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/aprsd server -c $APRSD_CONFIG
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 87030e6..54c1397 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ services:
     container_name: aprsd
     volumes:
         - /opt/docker/aprsd/config:/config
+        - /opt/docker/aprsd/plugins:/plugins
     restart: unless-stopped
     environment:
         - TZ=America/New_York
+        - APRS_PLUGINS=aprsd-slack-plugin