diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3059dda7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Python bytecode
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*$py.class
+
+# Virtual environments
+.venv/
+venv/
+env/
+ENV/
+
+# Packaging / build artifacts
+build/
+dist/
+*.egg-info/
+.eggs/
+pip-wheel-metadata/
+
+# Test / coverage / type-check caches
+.pytest_cache/
+.coverage
+.coverage.*
+.mypy_cache/
+.pyre/
+.ruff_cache/
+
+# Git / editor / OS files
+.git/
+.gitignore
+.gitattributes
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+.DS_Store
+Thumbs.db
+
+docker-compose*.yml
+Dockerfile*
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..218be9b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# NOTE: This Docker image is for development purposes only.
+
+FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm
+
+# System dependencies from the developer installation guide
+RUN apt-get update && \
+  apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+  xmlsec1 \
+  gettext \
+  fping \
+  gdal-bin \
+  libproj-dev \
+  libgeos-dev \
+  libspatialite-dev \
+  spatialite-bin \
+  libsqlite3-mod-spatialite \
+  sqlite3 \
+  libsqlite3-dev \
+  zlib1g-dev \
+  libjpeg-dev \
+  openssl \
+  libssl-dev \
+  libglib2.0-0 \
+  libcairo2 \
+  libpango-1.0-0 \
+  libpangocairo-1.0-0 \
+  libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 \
+  shared-mime-info \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Install test requirements first so this layer is cached separately
+# from the source code copy below.
+COPY requirements-test.txt .
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements-test.txt
+
+# Copy source and install the package with all optional extras
+COPY . .
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -e ".[saml,openvpn_status]"
+
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+  REDIS_HOST=redis \
+  INFLUXDB_HOST=influxdb
+
+EXPOSE 8000
+CMD ["bash", "docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index a7592770..ee87f4f0 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-version: "3"
-
 services:
   influxdb:
     image: influxdb:1.8-alpine
@@ -11,12 +9,36 @@ services:
       INFLUXDB_DB: openwisp2
       INFLUXDB_USER: openwisp
       INFLUXDB_USER_PASSWORD: openwisp
+    networks:
+      - openwisp
 
   redis:
     image: redis:alpine
     ports:
       - "6379:6379"
-    entrypoint: redis-server --appendonly yes
+    command: redis-server --appendonly yes
+    networks:
+      - openwisp
+
+  radius:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    image: openwisp-radius-dev
+    working_dir: /opt/openwisp/tests
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    volumes:
+      - .:/opt/openwisp/
+    depends_on:
+      - redis
+      - influxdb
+    networks:
+      - openwisp
 
 volumes:
-  influxdb-data: {}
+  influxdb-data:
+
+networks:
+  openwisp:
+    driver: bridge
diff --git a/docs/developer/installation.rst b/docs/developer/installation.rst
index f93e9b8e..3ae09ac8 100644
--- a/docs/developer/installation.rst
+++ b/docs/developer/installation.rst
@@ -115,6 +115,55 @@ Run quality assurance tests with:
 
     ./run-qa-checks
 
+.. _radius_dev_docker:
+
+Install and Run on Docker
+-------------------------
+
+.. warning::
+
+    This Docker image is for development purposes only.
+
+    For the official OpenWISP Docker images, see: :doc:`docker-openwisp
+    </docker/index>`.
+
+Ensure `Docker <https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/>`_ and `Docker Compose
+<https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/>`_ are installed on your system.
+
+Fork and clone the forked repository:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    git clone git://github.com/<your_fork>/openwisp-radius
+
+Navigate into the cloned repository:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    cd openwisp-radius/
+
+Build the development image:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    docker compose build
+
+Start all services (Redis, InfluxDB, and the development server):
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    docker compose up
+
+The development server will be available at ``http://127.0.0.1:8000/``.
+The admin interface is at ``http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/`` with
+credentials ``admin`` / ``admin``.
+
+To run the test suite inside the container:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    docker compose run --rm radius bash -c "cd /opt/openwisp && ./runtests"
+
 Alternative Sources
 -------------------
 
diff --git a/tests/docker-entrypoint.sh b/tests/docker-entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b7adcede
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+create_superuser() {
+  local username="$1"
+  local email="$2"
+  local password="$3"
+  cat <<EOF | python manage.py shell
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+
+User = get_user_model()
+
+if not User.objects.filter(username="$username").exists():
+    User.objects.create_superuser("$username", "$email", "$password")
+else:
+    print('User "{}" exists already, not created'.format("$username"))
+EOF
+}
+
+python manage.py migrate --no-input
+create_superuser admin admin@example.com admin
+exec python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000