diff --git a/pkg/pillar/Dockerfile b/pkg/pillar/Dockerfile
index 3fc2c53670..2a37de3d8a 100644
--- a/pkg/pillar/Dockerfile
+++ b/pkg/pillar/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2018 Zededa, Inc.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 FROM lfedge/eve-alpine:3a7658b4168bcf40dfbcb15fbae8979d81efb6f1 as build
+
+ARG DEV=n
+
 ENV BUILD_PKGS git gcc linux-headers libc-dev make linux-pam-dev m4 findutils go util-linux make patch wget zfs-dev
 ENV PKGS alpine-baselayout musl-utils libtasn1-progs pciutils yajl xz bash iptables ip6tables iproute2 dhcpcd coreutils dmidecode libbz2 libuuid ipset curl radvd ethtool util-linux e2fsprogs libcrypto1.1 xorriso qemu-img jq e2fsprogs-extra keyutils ca-certificates ip6tables-openrc iptables-openrc ipset-openrc hdparm zfs
 RUN eve-alpine-deploy.sh
@@ -45,9 +48,15 @@ RUN [ -z "$GOARCH" ] || export CC=$(echo /*-cross/bin/*-gcc) ;\
     echo "Running go vet" && go vet ./... && \
     echo "Running go fmt" && ERR=$(gofmt -e -l -s $(find . -name \*.go | grep -v /vendor/)) && \
        if [ -n "$ERR" ] ; then echo "go fmt Failed - ERR: "$ERR ; exit 1 ; fi && \
-    make DISTDIR=/out/opt/zededa/bin build
+    make DEV=$DEV DISTDIR=/out/opt/zededa/bin build
 
 WORKDIR /
+
+RUN if [ ${DEV} = "y" ]; then \
+    CGO_ENABLED=0 go get -ldflags "-s -w -extldflags '-static'" github.com/go-delve/delve/cmd/dlv@v1.8.3 && \
+    cp /root/go/bin/dlv /out/opt; \
+fi
+
 COPY patches/* /sys-patches/
 # hadolint ignore=SC1097
 RUN set -e && for patch in /sys-patches/*.patch; do \
diff --git a/pkg/pillar/Makefile b/pkg/pillar/Makefile
index 506bffbc9f..354b3cccd3 100644
--- a/pkg/pillar/Makefile
+++ b/pkg/pillar/Makefile
@@ -33,13 +33,21 @@ $(DISTDIR):
 build: $(APPS) $(APPS1)
 
 
-LDFLAGS=-s -w -X=main.Version=$(BUILD_VERSION)
+LDFLAGS=-X=main.Version=$(BUILD_VERSION)
+ifneq ($(DEV),y)
+	LDFLAGS+=-s -w
+endif
 LDFLAGS:=-ldflags "$(LDFLAGS)"
 
+GCFLAGS=
+ifeq ($(DEV),y)
+	GCFLAGS:=-gcflags=all="-N -l"
+endif
+
 $(APPS): $(DISTDIR)/$(APPS)
 $(DISTDIR)/$(APPS): $(DISTDIR)
 	@echo "Building $@"
-	GO111MODULE=on GOOS=linux go build -mod=vendor $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ ./$(@F)
+	GO111MODULE=on GOOS=linux go build -mod=vendor $(GCFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ ./$(@F)
 
 $(APPS1): $(DISTDIR)
 	@echo $@
diff --git a/pkg/pillar/build-dev.yml b/pkg/pillar/build-dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d55ff34bd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/pillar/build-dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# linuxkit build template
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2018-2022 Zededa, Inc.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+org: lfedge
+image: eve-pillar-dev
+network: yes
+config:
+  binds:
+    - /lib/modules:/lib/modules
+    - /dev:/dev
+    - /etc/resolv.conf:/etc/resolv.conf
+    - /run:/run
+    - /config:/config
+    - /:/hostfs
+    - /persist:/persist:rshared,rbind
+    - /usr/bin/containerd:/usr/bin/containerd
+    - /usr/bin/containerd-shim:/usr/bin/containerd-shim
+    - /usr/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2:/usr/bin/containerd-shim-runc-v2
+  net: host
+  capabilities:
+    - all
+  pid: host
+  rootfsPropagation: shared
+  security_opt:
+    - seccomp:unconfined
+  ports:
+    - 2345:2345
+buildArgs:
+  - DEV=y