diff --git a/.github/workflows/stepup-behat.yml b/.github/workflows/stepup-behat.yml
index f27818e..cd06b90 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/stepup-behat.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/stepup-behat.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ on:
 jobs:
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 5
+    timeout-minutes: 10
     env:
       DOCKER_COMPOSE: docker compose --profile smoketest -f docker-compose.yml
     steps:
diff --git a/core/README.md b/core/README.md
index b97095f..807b0a9 100644
--- a/core/README.md
+++ b/core/README.md
@@ -8,30 +8,36 @@ This repo contains a docker compose and some configuration to get you started wi
 ## Getting started
 
 ### The first time
-If you are doing this for the first time, you need to run a script to seed the environment:
+If you are doing this for the first time, first start the environment and then seed it:
 
+1. Start the environment:
+```
+./start-dev-env.sh
+```
+
+2. Once all containers are up, seed the environment:
 ```
 ./scripts/init.sh
 ```
 
 ### After initialisation
-To get all services up and running you must have docker compose installed. Enter this command to get things up and running:
+To start the environment again after the initial setup:
 
 ```
-docker compose up -d
+./start-dev-env.sh
 ```
 
 You will also need to tell your local machine where to find the hosts.
-Add the following line in your hosts file (/etc/hosts )
+Add the following line in your hosts file (/etc/hosts):
 ```
 127.0.0.1 engine.dev.openconext.local manage.dev.openconext.local profile.dev.openconext.local engine-api.dev.openconext.local mujina-idp.dev.openconext.local profile.dev.openconext.local connect.dev.openconext.local teams.dev.openconext.local voot.dev.openconext.local pdp.dev.openconext.local invite.dev.openconext.local welcome.dev.openconext.local
 ```
 
-If all goes wel, you can now login. Please see the section below to find out where you can login.
+If all goes well, you can now login. Please see the section below to find out where you can login.
 
-*Please note that this starts the environment with the profile oidc. Bringing it down requires this command:*
+To bring the environment down:
 ```
-docker compose --profile oidc down
+./stop-dev-env.sh
 ```
 
 ## Services
@@ -68,10 +74,7 @@ Since the OpenConext suite is composed of multiple docker containers, you can us
 - invite: Starts services needed for Openconext-Invite (oidcng, voot and teams)
 - extras: Starts extras (currently pdp)
 
-If you want to start all services, you can use extras. A profile can be started by using the --profile argument to the `docker compose up` command. For example:
-```
-docker compose up -d --profile extras
-```
+Profiles are handled automatically by `./start-dev-env.sh`. The `oidc` and `test` profiles are enabled by default. To enable additional profiles, edit the script directly.
 
 # Starting a PHP project in development mode (only lifecycle, profile and engineblock)
 
diff --git a/core/scripts/init.sh b/core/scripts/init.sh
index 52dd61e..8bba6c5 100755
--- a/core/scripts/init.sh
+++ b/core/scripts/init.sh
@@ -12,24 +12,26 @@ set -e
 
 # Bootstrapping engineblock means initialising the database
 printf "\n"
-echo -e "${ORANGE}Bring up the engineblock container to bootstrap the database${NOCOLOR}"
-echo
 
-# Wait for engine to come up; not health yet because we might nee to initialialize db
-docker compose up -d engine mariadb
+# Check that engine and mariadb are already running; containers must be started via ./start-dev-env.sh first
+engine_running=$(docker compose ps -q --status running engine mariadb | wc -l)
+if [[ "$engine_running" -lt 2 ]]; then
+    echo -e "${RED}ERROR: engine and/or mariadb are not running.${NOCOLOR}"
+    echo -e "${ORANGE}Please start the environment first by running:${NOCOLOR}"
+    echo -e "  ${GREEN}./start-dev-env.sh${NOCOLOR}"
+    echo -e "Then re-run this script once the containers are up."
+    exit 1
+fi
+echo -e "${ORANGE}Using the currently running engine container for migrations${NOCOLOR}"
 docker compose exec engine timeout 300 bash -c 'while [[ "$(curl -k -s -o /dev/null -w ''%{http_code}'' localhost/internal/info)" != "200" ]]; do sleep 5; done' || false
 
 echo
 echo -e "${ORANGE}Initializing EB database$NOCOLOR ${VINKJE}"
 echo
-echo "Checking if the database is already present"
-if ! docker compose exec engine /var/www/html/bin/console doctrine:schema:validate -q --skip-mapping --env=prod > /dev/null
-then
-	echo creating the database schema
-	cmd='docker compose exec engine /var/www/html/bin/console doctrine:schema:update --force -q'
-	#echo "Executing: ${cmd}"
-	${cmd}
-fi
+echo "Running database migrations"
+cmd='docker compose exec engine /var/www/html/bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate --no-interaction'
+${cmd}
+
 echo "Clearing the cache"
 docker compose exec engine /var/www/html/bin/console cache:clear -n --env=prod
 docker compose exec engine chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/var/cache/
@@ -42,14 +44,6 @@ do
 done
 echo -e " ${VINKJE}"
 
-# Now it's time to bootstrap manage
-# Bring up containers needed for bootstrapping manage
-echo
-echo -e "${ORANGE}Bring up the core containers${NOCOLOR} ${VINKJE}"
-echo
-docker compose --profile oidc up -d --wait
-echo
-
 echo -e "${ORANGE}Adding the manage entities${NOCOLOR} ${VINKJE}"
 printf "\n"
 for i in "$CWD"/*.json; do
@@ -87,5 +81,5 @@ echo "127.0.0.1 engine.dev.openconext.local manage.dev.openconext.local profile.
 
 printf "\n"
 echo "You can now login. If you want to bring the environment down, use the command below"
-echo "docker compose --profile oidc down"
+echo "./stop-dev-env.sh"
 printf "\n"