diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
index 4a4726a..04c7969 100644
--- a/.envrc
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+type export_alias &>/dev/null && export_alias g "./gradlew" || true
 use_nix
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f7d385b..f8deaee 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ xtend-gen/
 init.gradle
 config.local.yml
 /org.testeditor.web.backend.xtext/repo/
+start.*local.sh
 
 ### test executions ###
-xvfb.error.log
\ No newline at end of file
+xvfb.error.log
+
+### direnv generated scripts
+.direnv/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b62f1c5..754e67d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -80,6 +80,18 @@ server:
 
 Having all these in place, executing `./gradlew -I init.gradle run --parallel` will automatically build the backend services with the dependency versions specified in `init.gradle` and use the `config.local.yml` when starting dropwizard.
 
+## Running backend via docker with full pull/push of a github repo
+
+Create a shell file 'start.test-repo-pull.local.sh' with the following content:
+(make sure to have the right id_github_rsa key and the right branch name in place)
+``` shell
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+echo "starting persistence backend locally"
+docker run -p 9080:8080 -e GIT_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_github_rsa)" -e KNOWN_HOSTS_CONTENT="$(cat ~/.ssh/known_hosts)" -e TARGET_REPO=git@github.com:test-editor/language-examples.git -e BRANCH_NAME=test/pull-action testeditor/persistence:snapshot &
+echo "starting xtext backend locally"
+docker run -p 8080:8080 -e GIT_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_github_rsa)" -e KNOWN_HOSTS_CONTENT="$(cat ~/.ssh/known_hosts)" -e TARGET_REPO=git@github.com:test-editor/language-examples.git -e BRANCH_NAME=test/pull-action testeditor/xtext:snapshot &
+```
+
 ## Debugging
 
 In order to debug the backend services you must start the backend services individually.
diff --git a/clear_repo_cache_used_by_backends.sh b/clear_repo_cache_used_by_backends.sh
index 3bac18d..6d925c1 100755
--- a/clear_repo_cache_used_by_backends.sh
+++ b/clear_repo_cache_used_by_backends.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
 [ -d "org.testeditor.web.backend.persistence/repo" ] && rm -Rf org.testeditor.web.backend.persistence/repo/
 [ -d "org.testeditor.web.backend.xtext/repo" ] && rm -Rf org.testeditor.web.backend.xtext/repo/
diff --git a/shell.nix b/shell.nix
index 5a4e283..cf7e656 100644
--- a/shell.nix
+++ b/shell.nix
@@ -20,10 +20,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     ];
     shellHook = ''
         # do some gradle "finetuning"
-        alias g="./gradlew"
-        alias g.="../gradlew"
         export GRADLE_OPTS="$GRADLE_OPTS -Dorg.gradle.daemon=false -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Dsun.jnu.encoding=UTF-8 "
         export JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS="$_JAVA_OPTIONS -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Dsun.jnu.encoding=UTF-8"
-        export LC_ALL=en_US.utf8
     '';
 }