diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index bbdb6e4..211cc72 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -4,5 +4,8 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache \
                 nano\
                 openssh \
                 py3-pip
-
-USER node
+ENV USER node
+USER $USER
+# python packages (as mkdocs) are installed in the user's home directory
+# but we need them to be accessible from $PATH
+ENV PATH="$PATH:/home/$USER/.local/bin"
diff --git a/.devcontainer/post-create.sh b/.devcontainer/post-create.sh
index 97aae44..44c9b6b 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/post-create.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/post-create.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 npm install
 pip3 install -r requirements.txt --break-system-packages --no-warn-script-location
-export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"