diff --git a/.env b/.env
index ede15fff02..42eb831815 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 ENVIRONMENT=devel
 PORT=8407
 LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP=172.17.0.1
+VITE_PORT=3000
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml b/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml
index 7066d88745..7d8aa76b8c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/coverage.yaml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ jobs:
           ENVIRONMENT: devel
           PORT: 8407
           LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP: 172.17.0.1
+          VITE_PORT: 3000
         run: |
           dotrun &
           curl --head --fail --retry-delay 2 --retry 100 --retry-connrefused --insecure https://localhost:8407
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
index 21f63f6664..235c8f0418 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ jobs:
           ENVIRONMENT: devel
           PORT: 8407
           LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP: 172.17.0.1
+          VITE_PORT: 3000
         run: |
           dotrun &
           curl --head --fail --retry-delay 2 --retry 100 --retry-connrefused --insecure https://localhost:8407
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index dad2537bd3..a221634f10 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@
     You should enable a firewall as `dotrun` exposes an api to start or interact with unprivileged containers on your public
     ip via port `8407`. Ensure that the lxd API on port `8443` is open, so `dotrun` can access it.
 
+    For local development, the UI is served by the Vite development server, which uses port 3000 by default. 
+    If this port conflicts with another process on your system, you can set a different port by specifying `VITE_PORT` in the `.env.local` file.
+
     The first time, running `dotrun` will generate certificates for you. You can find them in the `keys` folder on the top level of
     the repo. Trust them from your local `lxc` with
 
diff --git a/entrypoint b/entrypoint
index 5de2c1a8b8..2dd41f3358 100755
--- a/entrypoint
+++ b/entrypoint
@@ -1,26 +1,37 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env bash
 set -e
 
+load_env_file() {
+  if [ -f "$1" ]; then
+    set -o allexport
+    source "$1"
+    set +o allexport
+  fi
+}
+
+load_env_file .env
+load_env_file .env.local
+# default to 3000 if VITE_PORT is not set, in demo environment
+VITE_PORT="${VITE_PORT:-3000}"
+
 # demo config
 if [[ ! -z "$LXD_UI_BACKEND_KEY_PEM" ]]; then
   printf %s "$LXD_UI_BACKEND_KEY_PEM" > key.pem
   cp haproxy-demo.cfg /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
   sed -i "s#LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP#$LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP#" /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
   sed -i "s#LXD_UI_BACKEND_SECRET#$LXD_UI_BACKEND_SECRET#" /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
+  sed -i "s#VITE_PORT#$VITE_PORT#" /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
   . /usr/local/nvm/nvm.sh
 
   haproxy -f /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
-  npx serve --single --no-clipboard -l 3000 build
+  npx serve --single --no-clipboard -l $VITE_PORT build
 
 # dev config
 else
   cp haproxy-dev.cfg /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
-  set -o allexport; source .env; set +o allexport
-  if [ -f .env.local ]
-  then
-    set -o allexport; source .env.local; set +o allexport
-  fi
   sed -i "s#LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP#$LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP#" /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
+  sed -i "s#VITE_PORT#$VITE_PORT#" /tmp/haproxy-local.cfg
+
   # generate certificates for dev environment
   if [ ! -d "keys" ]; then
     mkdir -p keys
diff --git a/haproxy-demo.cfg b/haproxy-demo.cfg
index e7dd7bb00d..995ffa990b 100644
--- a/haproxy-demo.cfg
+++ b/haproxy-demo.cfg
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ frontend lxd_frontend
   default_backend lxd_ui
 
 backend lxd_ui
-  server yarn_serve_port 127.0.0.1:3000
+  server yarn_serve_port 127.0.0.1:VITE_PORT
 
 backend lxd_core
   server lxd_https LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP:8443 ssl verify none crt /srv/key.pem
diff --git a/haproxy-dev.cfg b/haproxy-dev.cfg
index 486569c447..b61dd92b51 100644
--- a/haproxy-dev.cfg
+++ b/haproxy-dev.cfg
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ frontend lxd_frontend
   default_backend lxd_ui
 
 backend lxd_ui
-  server yarn_serve_port 127.0.0.1:3000
+  server yarn_serve_port 127.0.0.1:VITE_PORT
 
 backend lxd_core
   server lxd_https LXD_UI_BACKEND_IP:8443 ssl verify none crt keys/lxd-ui.pem
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9dc77e2741..037a7ca685 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     "lint-js": "tsc --noEmit && yarn lint-js-eslint && yarn lint-js-prettier",
     "hooks-add": "husky install",
     "hooks-remove": "husky uninstall",
-    "start": "concurrently --kill-others --raw 'vite --host | grep -v 3000' 'yarn serve'",
+    "start": "concurrently --kill-others --raw 'vite --host | grep -v http:' 'yarn serve'",
     "serve": "./entrypoint",
     "test-js": "vitest --run",
     "test-e2e-edge": "tests/scripts/setup_test && npx playwright test --project chromium:lxd-latest-edge firefox:lxd-latest-edge && tests/scripts/teardown_test",
diff --git a/vite.config.ts b/vite.config.ts
index 4a763715d2..e39aba0efd 100644
--- a/vite.config.ts
+++ b/vite.config.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 import { defineConfig } from "vite";
 import react from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
 import tsconfigPaths from "vite-tsconfig-paths";
+import * as dotenv from "dotenv";
+import * as fs from "fs";
+
+// Load .env.local if it exists, otherwise load .env
+if (fs.existsSync(".env.local")) {
+  dotenv.config({ path: ".env.local" });
+} else {
+  dotenv.config({ path: ".env" });
+}
 
 export default defineConfig({
   css: {
@@ -13,7 +22,8 @@ export default defineConfig({
   },
   plugins: [tsconfigPaths(), react()],
   server: {
-    port: 3000,
+    port: process.env.VITE_PORT ? Number(process.env.VITE_PORT) : 3000,
+    strictPort: true,
     proxy: {
       "/ui/assets": {
         target: "https://localhost:8407/",