diff --git a/doenet_docker/dev/Dockerfile b/doenet_docker/dev/Dockerfile
index 28da4e0a4a..378217afaf 100644
--- a/doenet_docker/dev/Dockerfile
+++ b/doenet_docker/dev/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-FROM node:19.8-bullseye
+FROM composer as composer
+WORKDIR /build
+COPY ./doenet_docker/dev/composer.json .
+RUN composer install --ignore-platform-reqs
 
+FROM node:19.8-bullseye
 RUN echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports main" >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/bullseye-backports.list
-
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get -y install \
     gnome-keyring \
@@ -12,8 +15,15 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     gnupg \
     lsb-release \
     #update git to support ssh signing
-    git/bullseye-backports
-
+    git/bullseye-backports \
+    # for php
+    php-common \
+    libapache2-mod-php \
+    php-cli \
+    php-xml \
+    php-mbstring 
+
+# prep Docker
 WORKDIR /
 RUN curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg
 
@@ -28,7 +38,14 @@ RUN rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* &&\
     apt-get -y autoremove && \
     apt-get clean
 
+# prep workspace
 RUN mkdir -p /home/node/workspace/node_modules && chown -R node:node /home/node/workspace
+
+# php composer deps
+WORKDIR /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/api/
+COPY --from=composer /build/vendor ./vendor
+
+# local configs
 WORKDIR /home/node/workspace
 COPY --chown=node:node package*.json vite.config.js ./
 USER node
diff --git a/doenet_docker/dev/composer.json b/doenet_docker/dev/composer.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..82048767ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doenet_docker/dev/composer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "require": {
+    "firebase/php-jwt": "5.2.*",
+    "phpunit/phpunit": "9.6.7"
+  }
+}