diff --git a/docker-compose.debug.yaml b/docker-compose.debug.yaml
index a69fae0..99b86a9 100644
--- a/docker-compose.debug.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.debug.yaml
@@ -13,6 +13,14 @@ services:
       dockerfile: Dockerfile.debug
     environment:
       - DEV_MODE=true
+      - DCNTRLIZED_DEV=true
+      - GITEA_URL=${GITEA_URL:-http://192.168.122.184:3000}
+      - GITEA_REGISTRY_RO_TOKEN=${GITEA_REGISTRY_RO_TOKEN}
+      - GITEA_RW_PACKAGE_TOKEN=${GITEA_RW_PACKAGE_TOKEN}
+      - GITEA_ORG=${GITEA_ORG:-Dcntrlized}
+      - GITEA_USER=${GITEA_USER:-admin}
+      - GIT_TOKEN=${GIT_TOKEN}
+      - REGISTRY_USER=${REGISTRY_USER:-admin}
 
 networks:
   dcntrlized_net:
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index 06c52b9..5520d92 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -18,8 +18,11 @@ services:
       - GITEA_REGISTRY_RO_TOKEN=${GITEA_REGISTRY_RO_TOKEN}
       - GITEA_RW_PACKAGE_TOKEN=${GITEA_RW_PACKAGE_TOKEN}
       - GITEA_ORG=${GITEA_ORG:-Dcntrlized}
-      - GITEA_USER=${GITEA_USER:-Admin}
+      - GITEA_USER=${GITEA_USER:-admin}
+      - GITEA_URL=${GITEA_URL:-http://192.168.122.184:3000}
+      - DCNTRLIZED_DEV=${DCNTRLIZED_DEV:-true}
       - GIT_TOKEN=${GIT_TOKEN}
+      - REGISTRY_USER=${REGISTRY_USER:-admin}
 
 networks:
   dcntrlized_net:
diff --git a/spec.yaml b/spec.yaml
index d5634de..f27f211 100644
--- a/spec.yaml
+++ b/spec.yaml
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ components:
           example: "0.0.1"
         image:
           type: string
-          example: "git.dcntrlized.org/Dcntrlized/keepnote/keepnote:0.0.1"
+          example: "192.168.122.184:3000/dcntrlized/keepnote:dev"
         digest:
           type: string
         title:
diff --git a/src/frontend/PRODUCT.md b/src/frontend/PRODUCT.md
index f0f8705..32841b9 100644
--- a/src/frontend/PRODUCT.md
+++ b/src/frontend/PRODUCT.md
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ The mechanism is a Git-backed, decentralized service registry: services are publ
 - Live state flows over WebSocket (`ws://127.0.0.1:8080/api/ws`); the catalog is fetched once from `/api/registry`.
 - Real-time statuses come from Docker (running, exited, stopped, created, restarting) plus UI states (installed, uninstalled).
 - Service metadata (title, vendor, author, description, source, licenses, revision) comes from OCI annotations published with each image.
-- Upstream registry is git.dcntrlized.org (Gitea), org `Dcntrlized`.
+- Upstream registry defaults to git.dcntrlized.org (Gitea), org `Dcntrlized`;
+  in dev (`DCNTRLIZED_DEV=true`) it targets `GITEA_URL` (the dev VM
+  `192.168.122.184:3000`).
 - Maestro itself runs as a container (image `maestro`); its own container is hidden from the list.
 - Update detection compares the installed version against the registry latest via semver; versions are normalized to `X.Y.Z`.
 
diff --git a/src/frontend/vite.config.ts b/src/frontend/vite.config.ts
index 71b90e0..f5bf3c1 100644
--- a/src/frontend/vite.config.ts
+++ b/src/frontend/vite.config.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export default defineConfig(({ command }): UserConfig => {
         ? {
           '/api': 'http://127.0.0.1:8080',
           '/gitea-api': {
-            target: 'https://git.dcntrlized.org', // Your Gitea base URL
+            target: process.env.GITEA_URL || 'https://git.dcntrlized.org', // Gitea base URL (override with GITEA_URL in dev)
             changeOrigin: true,
             rewrite: (path) => path.replace(/^\/gitea-api/, ''),
           },
diff --git a/src/handlers/registry/registry.go b/src/handlers/registry/registry.go
index db75da3..f0ea56f 100644
--- a/src/handlers/registry/registry.go
+++ b/src/handlers/registry/registry.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ import (
 
 func GetRegistry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	// 1. Query Gitea REST API using the exact Org name
-	apiURL := fmt.Sprintf("https://git.dcntrlized.org/api/v1/packages/%s?type=container", os.Getenv("GITEA_ORG"))
+	apiURL := fmt.Sprintf("%s/api/v1/packages/%s?type=container", giteaBaseURL(), os.Getenv("GITEA_ORG"))
 
 	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(r.Context(), http.MethodGet, apiURL, nil)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ func GetRegistry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	// 4. Fetch OCI metadata only for the highest version of each package
 	for _, pkg := range latestPackages {
 		pkgNameLower := strings.ToLower(pkg.Name)
-		imageRef := fmt.Sprintf("git.dcntrlized.org/%s/%s:%s", ociOrg, pkgNameLower, pkg.Version)
+		imageRef := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s/%s:%s", registryHost(), ociOrg, pkgNameLower, pkg.Version)
 
 		// The Gitea package API does not link org-level container packages to a
 		// repository, so the repository URL is resolved from the image's OCI
@@ -162,7 +162,11 @@ func GetRegistry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 			CreatedAt: pkg.CreatedAt,
 		}
 
-		ref, err := name.ParseReference(imageRef)
+		var refOpts []name.Option
+		if isInsecureRegistry() {
+			refOpts = append(refOpts, name.Insecure)
+		}
+		ref, err := name.ParseReference(imageRef, refOpts...)
 		if err != nil {
 			logger.Error("Failed to parse image reference %s: %v", imageRef, err)
 			registryItems = append(registryItems, item)
@@ -284,11 +288,48 @@ func GetRegistry(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 }
 
 // repoURLFromImageRef derives the repository browse URL from a container image
-// reference of the form host/org/repo:tag (https://host/org/repo).
+// reference of the form host/org/repo:tag (scheme://host/org/repo), using the
+// scheme of the configured Gitea base URL.
 func repoURLFromImageRef(imageRef string) string {
 	ref, err := name.ParseReference(imageRef)
 	if err != nil {
 		return ""
 	}
-	return "https://" + ref.Context().RegistryStr() + "/" + ref.Context().RepositoryStr()
+	return giteaScheme() + "://" + ref.Context().RegistryStr() + "/" + ref.Context().RepositoryStr()
+}
+
+// giteaBaseURL returns the Gitea instance base URL (scheme://host[:port]).
+// Production defaults to git.dcntrlized.org; dev mode (DCNTRLIZED_DEV=true)
+// overrides it with GITEA_URL when set.
+func giteaBaseURL() string {
+	if os.Getenv("DCNTRLIZED_DEV") == "true" {
+		if u := strings.TrimRight(os.Getenv("GITEA_URL"), "/"); u != "" {
+			return u
+		}
+	}
+	return "https://git.dcntrlized.org"
+}
+
+// registryHost strips the scheme from the Gitea base URL, returning just the
+// host[:port] used in container image references.
+func registryHost() string {
+	base := giteaBaseURL()
+	if i := strings.Index(base, "://"); i >= 0 {
+		return base[i+3:]
+	}
+	return base
+}
+
+// isInsecureRegistry reports whether the Gitea registry is served over plain
+// HTTP, in which case image references must be parsed with name.Insecure.
+func isInsecureRegistry() bool {
+	return strings.HasPrefix(giteaBaseURL(), "http://")
+}
+
+// giteaScheme returns the scheme (http/https) of the configured Gitea base URL.
+func giteaScheme() string {
+	if i := strings.Index(giteaBaseURL(), "://"); i >= 0 {
+		return giteaBaseURL()[:i]
+	}
+	return "https"
 }