diff --git a/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml b/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml
index 19a48d19..dc0e3f9f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml
@@ -130,5 +130,16 @@ jobs:
           cacheFrom:  ${{ needs.build-devcontainer.outputs.imageName }}
           push: never
           runCmd: cd client; make build
-      #TODO: start the server 
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: snapshot
+          path: artifact
+      - name: start server 
+        uses: devcontainers/ci@v0.3
+        with:
+          imageName:  ${{ needs.build-devcontainer.outputs.imageName }}
+          cacheFrom:  ${{ needs.build-devcontainer.outputs.imageName }}
+          push: never
+          runCmd: cd artifact; java -cp r-compile-server-0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar org.prlprg.server.CompileServer
+        
       #TODO: run the client tests
\ No newline at end of file