diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index cdcccae..7a1c5b0 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -41,10 +41,7 @@ RUN echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR/tools"' >> /etc/zsh/zshrc
 
 USER vscode
 
-# patching kpt version to beta59 to see if it is better in handling sporadic k8s
-# issues in GH codespaces where beta57 is stuck in reading the reconciled resources.
-RUN git clone --depth 1 "https://github.com/$EDA_PLAYGROUND_REPO" $EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR && cd $EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR && \
-    sed -i 's/KPT_VERSION ?= v1.0.0-beta.57/KPT_VERSION ?= v1.0.0-beta.59/' Makefile && \
+RUN git clone --depth 1 --branch v0.0.1 "https://github.com/$EDA_PLAYGROUND_REPO" $EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR && cd $EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR && \
     make download-tools
 
 RUN curl -o $HOME/.bundle.yaml "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nokia-eda/edaadm/refs/heads/main/bundles/eda-bundle-core-$EDA_VERSION.yaml" && \
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index 9a4c4a2..27ce73a 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "Nokia EDA in GitHub Codespaces",
-    "image": "ghcr.io/eda-labs/codespaces/base:main",
+    "image": "ghcr.io/eda-labs/codespaces/base:kaelem-test",
     "features": {
         "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/docker-in-docker:2": {
             "version": "latest",
@@ -10,17 +10,19 @@
     "customizations": {
         "vscode": {
             "extensions": [
-                // "ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools",
+                "entuent.fira-code-nerd-font",
+                "ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools",
                 "eda-labs.vscode-eda"
             ],
             "settings": {
+                "chat.disableAIFeatures": true,
                 "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "zsh",
                 "terminal.integrated.profiles.linux": {
                     "zsh": {
                         "path": "/bin/zsh"
                     }
                 },
-                "terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "'JetBrainsMono Nerd Font', 'JetBrainsMono NF', monospace",
+                "terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font, JetBrainsMono, JetBrains Mono, fira-code-nerd, Fira Code Nerd Font, FiraCode Nerd Font, Fira Code, Consolas, Hasklig, Menlo, Monaco, 'Courier New', monospace",
                 "vscode-eda.edaTargets": {
                     "https://127.0.0.1:9443": {
                         "edaUsername": "admin",
@@ -39,7 +41,10 @@
     "postCreateCommand": ".devcontainer/postCreate.sh",
     "postAttachCommand": ".devcontainer/postAttach.sh",
     "containerEnv": {
-        "EDA_PORT": "9443"
+        "EDA_PORT": "9443",
+        "TRY_EDA_OVERRIDES_FILE": "/workspaces/codespaces/.devcontainer/overrides.mk",
+        "TRY_EDA_KPT_SETTERS_FILE": "/eda-codespaces/codespaces-4vcpu-kpt-setters.yaml",
+        "NUM_CONCURRENT_IMG_PREPULLS": "8"
     },
     "forwardPorts": [
         9443
diff --git a/.devcontainer/onCreate.sh b/.devcontainer/onCreate.sh
index 1b83790..de91b6d 100755
--- a/.devcontainer/onCreate.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/onCreate.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ free -m
 sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_watches=1048576
 sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_instances=512
 
-TOKEN=$($EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR/tools/yq -o=json '.assets.registries[].auth' $HOME/.bundle.yaml | jq -r '(reduce range(.extraEncodeCount + 1) as $_ (.username; @base64d)) + ":" + (reduce range(.extraEncodeCount + 1) as $_ (.password; @base64d))')
-
 ensure-docker-is-ready
 
 k3d cluster create eda-demo \
@@ -17,5 +15,3 @@ k3d cluster create eda-demo \
     --k3s-arg "--disable=servicelb@server:*" \
     --volume "$HOME/.images.txt:/opt/images.txt@server:*" \
     --no-lb
-
-docker exec -d k3d-eda-demo-server-0 sh -c "cat /opt/images.txt | xargs -P 4 -I {} crictl pull --creds $TOKEN {}"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/overrides.mk b/.devcontainer/overrides.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3d01cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/overrides.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+KPT_RETRY ?= 5
+KPT_LIVE_APPLY_ARGS += --reconcile-timeout=3m
+
+# Override the INSTALL_KPT_PACKAGE macro
+# 
+# Set the --reconcile-timeout flag so that KPT doesn't just hang for a while
+# then the updated macro below, will handle the exit by retrying the kpt live apply
+# until we hit the retry limit.
+define INSTALL_KPT_PACKAGE
+	{	\
+		echo -e "--> INSTALL: [\033[1;34m$2\033[0m] - Applying kpt package"									;\
+		pushd $1 &>/dev/null || (echo "[ERROR]: Failed to switch cwd to $2" && exit 1)						;\
+		if [[ ! -f resourcegroup.yaml ]] || [[ $(KPT_LIVE_INIT_FORCE) -eq 1 ]]; then						 \
+			$(KPT) live init --force 2>&1 | $(INDENT_OUT)													;\
+		else																								 \
+			echo -e "--> INSTALL: [\033[1;34m$2\033[0m] - Resource group found, don't re-init this package"	;\
+		fi																									;\
+		for attempt in $$(seq 1 $(KPT_RETRY)); do \
+			echo -e "--> INSTALL: [\033[1;34m$2\033[0m] - Attempt $$attempt/$(KPT_RETRY)"					;\
+			if $(KPT) live apply $(KPT_LIVE_APPLY_ARGS) 2>&1 | $(INDENT_OUT); then \
+				break																						;\
+			fi																								;\
+			if [[ $$attempt -eq $(KPT_RETRY) ]]; then \
+				echo -e "--> INSTALL: [\033[1;31m$2\033[0m] - Failed after $(KPT_RETRY) attempts"			;\
+				exit 1																						;\
+			fi																								;\
+			echo -e "--> INSTALL: [\033[1;33m$2\033[0m] - Attempt $$attempt failed, retrying..."			;\
+			sleep 2																							;\
+		done																								;\
+		popd &>/dev/null || (echo "[ERROR]: Failed to switch back from $2" && exit 1)						;\
+		echo -e "--> INSTALL: [\033[0;32m$2\033[0m] - Applied and reconciled package"						;\
+	}
+endef
diff --git a/.devcontainer/postCreate.sh b/.devcontainer/postCreate.sh
index 0f2a018..b32d69e 100755
--- a/.devcontainer/postCreate.sh
+++ b/.devcontainer/postCreate.sh
@@ -5,4 +5,8 @@ cd $EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR
 
 ensure-docker-is-ready
 
-make try-eda NO_KIND=yes NO_LB=yes KPT_SETTERS_FILE=/eda-codespaces/codespaces-4vcpu-kpt-setters.yaml
\ No newline at end of file
+
+TOKEN=$($EDA_PLAYGROUND_DIR/tools/yq -o=json '.assets.registries[].auth' $HOME/.bundle.yaml | jq -r '(reduce range(.extraEncodeCount + 1) as $_ (.username; @base64d)) + ":" + (reduce range(.extraEncodeCount + 1) as $_ (.password; @base64d))')
+docker exec k3d-eda-demo-server-0 sh -c "cat /opt/images.txt | xargs -P $NUM_CONCURRENT_IMG_PREPULLS -I {} crictl pull --creds $TOKEN {}"
+
+make -f Makefile -f $TRY_EDA_OVERRIDES_FILE try-eda NO_KIND=yes NO_LB=yes KPT_SETTERS_FILE=$TRY_EDA_KPT_SETTERS_FILE
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/shell/starship.toml b/.devcontainer/shell/starship.toml
index af918b0..9bfd270 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/shell/starship.toml
+++ b/.devcontainer/shell/starship.toml
@@ -1,39 +1,29 @@
 # Get editor completions based on the config schema
 "$schema" = 'https://starship.rs/config-schema.json'
 
-
 # Inserts a blank line between shell prompts
 add_newline = true
 
 [git_branch]
-symbol = " "
 format = '· [$symbol$branch(:$remote_branch)]($style) '
 
 [git_commit]
 tag_disabled = false
-tag_symbol = "  "
 
 [golang]
-symbol = ' '
 format = '· [$symbol($version )]($style)'
 
 [package]
 format = '· [$symbol$version]($style) '
-symbol = "󰏗 "
 
 [python]
 format = '· [${symbol}${pyenv_prefix}(${version} )(\($virtualenv\) )]($style)'
-symbol = " "
 
 [kubernetes]
-disabled = false
-symbol = "󱃾 "
+disabled = true
 
 [container]
 disabled = true
 
 [direnv]
 disabled = true
-
-[hostname]
-ssh_symbol = " "
\ No newline at end of file