diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 3f9d2af7..252fe7ce 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -33,3 +33,4 @@ COPY . /tmp/module_build_service/
 WORKDIR /tmp/module_build_service/
 ENV MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV=1
 RUN python setup.py develop
+RUN pip install -r test-requirements.txt
diff --git a/Vagrantfile b/Vagrantfile
index 1c461a41..2cad9aba 100644
--- a/Vagrantfile
+++ b/Vagrantfile
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # vi: set ft=ruby :
 
 $script = <<SCRIPT
+    grep -q '^127\.0\.0\.1 fedmsg-relay$' /etc/hosts || echo "127.0.0.1 fedmsg-relay" >> /etc/hosts
     echo "export KRB5CCNAME=FILE:/var/tmp/krbcc" > /etc/profile.d/module_build_service_developer_env.sh
     echo "export MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV=1" >> /etc/profile.d/module_build_service_developer_env.sh
     source /etc/profile.d/module_build_service_developer_env.sh
@@ -30,23 +31,28 @@ $script = <<SCRIPT
         systemd-devel
     mkdir /usr/share/fedmsg
     chown fedmsg:fedmsg /usr/share/fedmsg
-    systemctl enable fedmsg-relay
-    systemctl start fedmsg-relay
     mkdir /etc/module-build-service/
     cd /tmp/module_build_service
     python setup.py develop
-    pip install -r /tmp/module_build_service/test-requirements.txt
-    mbs-upgradedb
-    mbs-gencert
+    pip install -r test-requirements.txt
 SCRIPT
 
+$script_services = <<SCRIPT_SERVICES
+    cd /tmp/module_build_service
+    mbs-upgradedb > /tmp/mbs-base.out 2>&1
+    mbs-gencert >> /tmp/mbs-base.out 2>&1
+    fedmsg-relay < /dev/null >& /tmp/fedmsg-relay.out &
+    fedmsg-hub < /dev/null >& /tmp/fedmsg-hub.out &
+    mbs-frontend < /dev/null >& /tmp/mbs-frontend.out &
+SCRIPT_SERVICES
+
 Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
   config.vm.box = "fedora/24-cloud-base"
   config.vm.synced_folder "./", "/tmp/module_build_service"
   config.vm.provision "file", source: "/var/tmp/krbcc", destination: "/var/tmp/krbcc", run: "always"
-  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 5000, host: 5000
-  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 13747, host: 13747
+  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest_ip: "127.0.0.1", guest: 5000, host: 5000
+  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest_ip: "127.0.0.1", guest: 2001, host: 5001
+  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest_ip: "127.0.0.1", guest: 13747, host: 13747
   config.vm.provision "shell", inline: $script
-  config.vm.provision :shell, inline: "mbs-frontend &", run: "always"
-  config.vm.provision :shell, inline: "cd /tmp/module_build_service && fedmsg-hub &", run: "always"
+  config.vm.provision "shell", inline: $script_services, run: "always"
 end
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index abd5f6c2..a348e567 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ services:
     expose:
       - 2001
       - 2003
+    ports:
+      - "5001:2001"
     volumes_from:
       - base
 
diff --git a/docs/CONTRIBUTING.rst b/docs/CONTRIBUTING.rst
index f999bf1c..83c94fc3 100644
--- a/docs/CONTRIBUTING.rst
+++ b/docs/CONTRIBUTING.rst
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 Development
 ===========
 
-We have two mechanisms for quickly setting up a development environment.  `docker-compose` and `vagrant`.
+We have two mechanisms for quickly setting up a development environment,
+`docker-compose` and `vagrant`.
 
 In order to to setup a development environment, it is required that you have
 your Fedora kerberos credentials generated in a *special location*. Before
@@ -11,16 +12,46 @@ starting your development environment, run the following::
 
 If you have problems in later steps with kerberos reading those credentials
 inside the `scheduler` container, you should check that `/var/tmp/krbcc` exists
-on your machine and that *it is not a directory*.  Try removing it with `$ sudo
-rm -rf /var/tmp/krbcc` and running `kinit` again.
+on your machine and that *it is not a directory*. Try removing it with `$ sudo
+rm -rf /var/tmp/krbcc` and running `kinit` again. Also, check for permissions
+and SELinux context of the credentials cache file.
+
+PDC and pdc-updater
+-------------------
+
+To be able to communicate with PDC, your development instance will need to
+be able to access the URL defined in the configuration option `PDC_URL`,
+located in your local `conf/config.py`
+
+To communicate with pdc-updater, you will need to configure SSH on your host
+machine to forward remote ports from pdc-updater's devel instance, typically
+`modularity.fedorainfracloud.org`. This enables communication between PDC
+and your Module Build Service development instance.
+
+Your `ssh_config` should look like this::
+
+    Host MODULARITY-DEV
+        HostName modularity.fedorainfracloud.org
+        User fedora
+        RemoteForward 300x 127.0.0.1:5001  # x is one of 0...9
+
+The configuration above assumes that the development instance with
+pdc-updater has the following endpoints configured (typically in
+`/etc/fedmsg.d/endpoints.py`).
+
+    endpoints={
+        "rida.local": [
+            "tcp://127.0.0.1:300%i" % i for i in range(10)
+        ],
+        ...
 
 Docker
 ------
 
-You can use docker containers for development.  Here's a guide on how to setup
+You can use docker containers for development. Here's a guide on how to setup
 `docker <https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tools/docker/about.html>`_ and
 `docker-compose <https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tools/docker/compose.html>`_
-for Fedora users (it's just a `dnf install` away).  Mac users should see `these
+for Fedora users (it's just a `dnf install` away). Mac users should see `these
 docs <https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/>`_.
 
 After your docker engine is set up and running and docker-compose is installed,
@@ -29,9 +60,7 @@ you can start the entire development environment with a single command::
     $ sudo docker-compose up
 
 That will start a number of services in containers, including the `frontend`
-and the backend `scheduler`. You can submit a local test build with the
-`submit-build.py` script, which should submit an HTTP POST to the frontend,
-requesting a build.
+and the backend `scheduler`.
 
 You may want to wipe your local development database from time to time. Try the
 following commands, and you should have a fresh environment::
@@ -39,21 +68,24 @@ following commands, and you should have a fresh environment::
     $ rm module_build_service.db
     $ docker-compose down -v && docker-compose up
 
-If things get really screwy and your containers won't start properly, the best thing
-to do is to rebuild the environment from scratch::
+If things get really screwy and your containers won't start properly, the
+best thing to do is to rebuild the environment from scratch::
 
     $ docker-compose down -v
     $ docker-compose build --no-cache --pull
 
-The first command will stop and remove all your containers and volumes and the second
-command will pull the latest base image and perform a clean build without using the cache.
+The first command will stop and remove all your containers and volumes and
+the second command will pull the latest base image and perform a clean build
+without using the cache.
 
 Vagrant
 -------
 
-If you are using VirtualBox, you will need to install the Vagrant plugin `vagrant-vbguest`.
-This plugin automatically installs guest additions to Vagrant guests that do not have them installed.
-The official Fedora Vagrant box unfortunately does not contain the guest additions, and they are needed for folder syncing::
+If you are using VirtualBox, you will need to install the Vagrant plugin
+`vagrant-vbguest`. This plugin automatically installs guest additions to
+Vagrant guests that do not have them installed. The official Fedora Vagrant
+box unfortunately does not contain the guest additions, and they are needed
+for folder syncing::
 
     $ vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest
 
@@ -61,7 +93,8 @@ To launch Vagrant, run (depending on your OS, you may need to run it with sudo):
 
     $ vagrant up
 
-This will start module_build_service's frontend (API) and scheduler. To access the frontend, visit the following URL::
+This will start module_build_service's frontend (API) and scheduler. To
+access the frontend, visit the following URL::
 
     https://127.0.0.1:5000/module-build-service/1/module-builds/
 
@@ -69,39 +102,63 @@ At any point you may enter the guest VM with::
 
     $ vagrant ssh
 
+The outputs of running services can be tailed as follows::
+
+    $ tail -f /tmp/*.out &
+
 To start the frontend manually, run the following inside the guest::
 
     $ mbs-frontend
 
-To start the scheduler manually, run the following at `/tmp/module_build_service` inside the guest::
+To start the scheduler manually, run the following at
+`/tmp/module_build_service` inside the guest::
 
     $ fedmsg-hub
 
-Alternatively, you can restart the Vagrant guest, which inherently starts/restarts the frontend and the scheduler with::
+Alternatively, you can restart the Vagrant guest, which inherently
+starts/restarts the frontend and the scheduler with::
 
     $ vagrant reload
 
 Logging
 -------
 
-If you're running module_build_service from scm, then the DevConfiguration from
-`conf/config.py` which contains `LOG_LEVEL=debug` should get applied. See more about
-it in `module_build_service/config.py`, `app.config.from_object()`.
+If you're running module_build_service from scm, then the DevConfiguration
+from `conf/config.py` which contains `LOG_LEVEL=debug` should get applied. See
+more about it in `module_build_service/config.py`, `app.config.from_object()`.
 
 Environment
 -----------
 
-The environment variable `MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV`, which if set to "1", indicates to the Module Build Service that the development configuration should be used. Docker and Vagrant are being run with this environment variable set.
+The environment variable `MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV`, which if
+set to "1", indicates to the Module Build Service that the development
+configuration should be used. Docker and Vagrant are being run with this
+environment variable set.
 
 Anytime, you can do::
 
     $ export MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV=1
 
+Module Submission
+-----------------
+
+You can submit a local test build with the `contrib/submit_build.py` script,
+which should submit an HTTP POST to the frontend, requesting a build::
+
+    $ cd contrib/ && python submit_build.py
+
+This script uses `scmurl` from the input file `contrib/submit-build.json`. Note
+that authentication will be required for submitting a module build. Follow
+the on-screen instructions to authenticate.
+
+See also `SCMURLS` in `conf/config.py` for list of allowed SCM URLs.
+
 fedmsg Signing for Development
 ------------------------------
 
-In order to enable fedmsg signing in development, you will need to follow a series of steps.
-Note that this will conflict with signed messages from a different CA that are on the message bus, so this may cause unexpected results.
+In order to enable fedmsg signing in development, you will need to follow
+a series of steps. Note that this will conflict with signed messages from
+a different CA that are on the message bus, so this may cause unexpected results.
 
 Generate the CA, the certificate to be used by fedmsg, and the CRL with::
 
@@ -118,4 +175,5 @@ Create a directory to house the fedmsg cache::
 
     $ mkdir -p /etc/pki/fedmsg
 
-Then uncomment the fedmsg signing configuration in fedmsg.d/module_build_service.py.
+Then uncomment the fedmsg signing configuration in
+`fedmsg.d/module_build_service.py`.
diff --git a/fedmsg.d/module_build_service.py b/fedmsg.d/module_build_service.py
index 27d948d1..1e115543 100644
--- a/fedmsg.d/module_build_service.py
+++ b/fedmsg.d/module_build_service.py
@@ -36,9 +36,10 @@ config = {
     # End of code signing configuration
 }
 
-# Try to figure out if we're running inside a docker-compose container
-# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20010199
-if os.path.exists('/.dockerenv'):
+# developer's instance (docker/vagrant/...)
+if 'MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV' in os.environ and \
+   os.environ['MODULE_BUILD_SERVICE_DEVELOPER_ENV'].lower() in (
+       '1', 'on', 'true', 'y', 'yes'):
     config['endpoints']['relay_outbound'] = ["tcp://fedmsg-relay:2001"]
     config['relay_inbound'] = ["tcp://fedmsg-relay:2003"]
 else: