diff --git a/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile b/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile
index 49ead48582900233880af15081a96059f07b389a..57b6cbd10c3d1f7ba1a63fc12803ab849b51b31a 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile
+++ b/tutor/templates/build/openedx-dev/Dockerfile
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@ RUN apt update && \
 RUN pip install -r requirements/edx/development.txt
 RUN pip install ipdb==0.12.2 ipython==5.8.0
 
+# Recompile static assets: in development mode all static assets are stored in edx-platform,
+# and the location of these files is stored in webpack-stats.json. If we don't recompile
+# static assets, then production assets will be served instead.
+RUN rm -r /openedx/staticfiles && \
+    mkdir /openedx/staticfiles && \
+    openedx-assets webpack --env=dev
+
 # Copy new entrypoint (to take care of permission issues at runtime)
 COPY ./bin /openedx/bin
 RUN chmod a+x /openedx/bin/*
@@ -20,5 +27,3 @@ RUN create-user.sh $USERID
 
 # Default django settings
 ENV SETTINGS tutor.development
-
-# TODO recompile static assets and point to edx-platform
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tutor/templates/dev/docker-compose.yml b/tutor/templates/dev/docker-compose.yml
index f277b4f0ad23332382de47ad83e24fc414b16575..1b3f92e341b11917c50860dc6095799aea768521 100644
--- a/tutor/templates/dev/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/tutor/templates/dev/docker-compose.yml
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ services:
     &openedx-service
     image: {{ DOCKER_REGISTRY }}{{ DOCKER_IMAGE_OPENEDX_DEV }}
     volumes:
-      # static assets
-      - ../../data/openedx/staticfiles:/openedx/staticfiles
       # theme files
       - ../build/openedx/themes:/openedx/themes
       # editable requirements
@@ -25,5 +23,6 @@ services:
   watchthemes:
     <<: *openedx-service
     command: openedx-assets watch-themes --env dev
+    restart: unless-stopped
   
   {{ patch("local-docker-compose-dev-services")|indent(2) }}
\ No newline at end of file