diff --git a/docker-compose-watchers.yml b/docker-compose-watchers.yml
index aedd8fd710..161bc42427 100644
--- a/docker-compose-watchers.yml
+++ b/docker-compose-watchers.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ services:
     environment:
       BOK_CHOY_HOSTNAME: edx.devstack.lms_watcher
       ASSET_WATCHER_TIMEOUT: 12
-    image: edxops/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
+    image: appsembler/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
     volumes:
       - ${DEVSTACK_WORKSPACE}/edx-platform:/edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform:cached
       - edxapp_lms_assets:/edx/var/edxapp/staticfiles/
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ services:
     environment:
       BOK_CHOY_HOSTNAME: edx.devstack.studio_watcher
       ASSET_WATCHER_TIMEOUT: 12
-    image: edxops/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
+    image: appsembler/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
     volumes:
       - edxapp_studio_assets:/edx/var/edxapp/staticfiles/
       - ${DEVSTACK_WORKSPACE}/edx-platform:/edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform:cached
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 8754c60436..70f748d4d9 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ services:
       BOK_CHOY_CMS_PORT: 18031
       EDXAPP_TEST_MONGO_HOST: edx.devstack.mongo
       NO_PYTHON_UNINSTALL: 1
-    image: edxops/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
+    image: appsembler/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
     ports:
       - "18000:18000"
       - "19876:19876" # JS test debugging
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ services:
       BOK_CHOY_CMS_PORT: 18131
       EDXAPP_TEST_MONGO_HOST: edx.devstack.mongo
       NO_PYTHON_UNINSTALL: 1
-    image: edxops/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
+    image: appsembler/edxapp:${OPENEDX_RELEASE:-latest}
     ports:
       - "18010:18010"
       - "19877:19877" # JS test debugging
diff --git a/provision-lms.sh b/provision-lms.sh
index 3b7439a06d..4b1737df57 100755
--- a/provision-lms.sh
+++ b/provision-lms.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ done
 
 docker-compose exec lms bash -c 'source /edx/app/edxapp/edxapp_env && cd /edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform && NO_PYTHON_UNINSTALL=1 paver install_prereqs'
 
+#Installing Appsembler specific requirements
+docker-compose exec lms bash -c 'source /edx/app/edxapp/edxapp_env && cd /edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform && NO_PYTHON_UNINSTALL=1 pip install --disable-pip-version-check --exists-action w -r requirements/edx/appsembler.txt'
+
 #Installing prereqs crashes the process
 docker-compose restart lms
 
@@ -32,7 +35,8 @@ docker-compose exec lms bash -c 'source /edx/app/edxapp/edxapp_env && python /ed
 docker-compose exec lms bash -c 'source /edx/app/edxapp/edxapp_env && python /edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform/manage.py lms --settings=devstack_docker configure_commerce'
 
 # Create demo course and users
-docker-compose exec lms bash -c '/edx/app/edx_ansible/venvs/edx_ansible/bin/ansible-playbook /edx/app/edx_ansible/edx_ansible/playbooks/demo.yml -v -c local -i "127.0.0.1," --extra-vars="COMMON_EDXAPP_SETTINGS=devstack_docker"'
+# ND: commenting this because we don't need demo course
+# docker-compose exec lms bash -c '/edx/app/edx_ansible/venvs/edx_ansible/bin/ansible-playbook /edx/app/edx_ansible/edx_ansible/playbooks/demo.yml -v -c local -i "127.0.0.1," --extra-vars="COMMON_EDXAPP_SETTINGS=devstack_docker"'
 
 # Fix missing vendor file by clearing the cache
 docker-compose exec lms bash -c 'rm /edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform/.prereqs_cache/Node_prereqs.sha1'
diff --git a/repo.sh b/repo.sh
index 65480eafe7..beb4ec5ad0 100755
--- a/repo.sh
+++ b/repo.sh
@@ -17,11 +17,9 @@ else
     exit 1
 fi
 
-if [ -n "${OPENEDX_RELEASE}" ]; then
-    OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH=open-release/${OPENEDX_RELEASE}
-else
-    OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH=master
-fi
+OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH=open-release/hawthorn.master
+
+APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH="appsembler/tahoe/master"
 
 repos=(
     "https://github.com/edx/course-discovery.git"
@@ -30,7 +28,7 @@ repos=(
     "https://github.com/edx/ecommerce.git"
     "https://github.com/edx/edx-e2e-tests.git"
     "https://github.com/edx/edx-notes-api.git"
-    "https://github.com/edx/edx-platform.git"
+    "https://github.com/appsembler/edx-platform.git"
     "https://github.com/edx/xqueue.git"
     "https://github.com/edx/edx-analytics-pipeline.git"
 )
@@ -40,7 +38,7 @@ private_repos=(
     "https://github.com/edx/edx-themes.git"
 )
 
-name_pattern=".*edx/(.*).git"
+name_pattern=".*(edx|appsembler)/(.*).git"
 
 _checkout ()
 {
@@ -51,13 +49,13 @@ _checkout ()
         # Use Bash's regex match operator to capture the name of the repo.
         # Results of the match are saved to an array called $BASH_REMATCH.
         [[ $repo =~ $name_pattern ]]
-        name="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+        name="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
 
         # If a directory exists and it is nonempty, assume the repo has been cloned.
         if [ -d "$name" -a -n "$(ls -A "$name" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
             echo "Checking out branch ${OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH} of $name"
             cd $name
-            _checkout_and_update_branch
+            _appsembler_checkout_and_update_branch $name
             cd ..
         fi
     done
@@ -77,20 +75,28 @@ _clone ()
         # Use Bash's regex match operator to capture the name of the repo.
         # Results of the match are saved to an array called $BASH_REMATCH.
         [[ $repo =~ $name_pattern ]]
-        name="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+        name="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
 
         # If a directory exists and it is nonempty, assume the repo has been checked out
         # and only make sure it's on the required branch
         if [ -d "$name" -a -n "$(ls -A "$name" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
             printf "The [%s] repo is already checked out. Checking for updates.\n" $name
             cd ${DEVSTACK_WORKSPACE}/${name}
-            _checkout_and_update_branch
+            _appsembler_checkout_and_update_branch $name
             cd ..
         else
-            if [ "${SHALLOW_CLONE}" == "1" ]; then
-                git clone --single-branch -b ${OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH} -c core.symlinks=true --depth=1 ${repo}
+            if [ "$name" == "edx-platform" ]; then
+                if [ "${SHALLOW_CLONE}" == "1" ]; then
+                    git clone --single-branch -b ${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH} -c core.symlinks=true --depth=1 ${repo}
+                else
+                    git clone --single-branch -b ${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH} -c core.symlinks=true ${repo}
+                fi
             else
-                git clone --single-branch -b ${OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH} -c core.symlinks=true ${repo}
+                if [ "${SHALLOW_CLONE}" == "1" ]; then
+                    git clone --single-branch -b ${OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH} -c core.symlinks=true --depth=1 ${repo}
+                else
+                    git clone --single-branch -b ${OPENEDX_GIT_BRANCH} -c core.symlinks=true ${repo}
+                fi
             fi
         fi
     done
@@ -109,6 +115,27 @@ _checkout_and_update_branch ()
     fi
 }
 
+# our version to handle the fact that edx-platform needs a
+# different branch, not `master`
+_appsembler_checkout_and_update_branch ()
+{
+    repo="$1"
+    if [ "${repo}" == "edx-platform" ]; then
+        
+        GIT_SYMBOLIC_REF="$(git symbolic-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)"
+        BRANCH_NAME=${GIT_SYMBOLIC_REF##refs/heads/}
+        if [ "${BRANCH_NAME}" == "${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH}" ]; then
+            git pull origin ${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH}
+        else
+            git fetch origin ${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH}
+            git checkout ${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH}
+        fi
+    else
+        # default to the old behavior
+        _checkout_and_update_branch
+    fi
+}
+
 clone ()
 {
     _clone "${repos[@]}"
@@ -125,10 +152,14 @@ reset ()
     for repo in ${repos[*]}
     do
         [[ $repo =~ $name_pattern ]]
-        name="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+        name="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
 
         if [ -d "$name" ]; then
-            cd $name;git reset --hard HEAD;git checkout master;git reset --hard origin/master;git pull;cd "$currDir"
+            if [ "$name" == "edx-platform" ]; then
+                cd $name;git reset --hard HEAD;git checkout ${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH};git reset --hard origin/${APPSEMBLER_EDX_PLATFORM_BRANCH};git pull;cd "$currDir"                
+            else
+                cd $name;git reset --hard HEAD;git checkout master;git reset --hard origin/master;git pull;cd "$currDir"
+            fi
         else
             printf "The [%s] repo is not cloned. Continuing.\n" $name
         fi
@@ -142,7 +173,7 @@ status ()
     for repo in ${repos[*]}
     do
         [[ $repo =~ $name_pattern ]]
-        name="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+        name="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
 
         if [ -d "$name" ]; then
             printf "\nGit status for [%s]:\n" $name