diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1115d69..329f765 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ __pycache__
 # LocalStack
 
 volume/
-.idea
+.idea/
+.vscode/
 
 cdk.context.json
+app-state.zip*
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 91981d0..a8ecd5a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -22,7 +22,12 @@ load-state:     ## Load the application state from a local file
 clean:          ## Clean up any temporary files
 	rm *.zip
 
-hot-reload:
+hot-reload:     ## Reconfigure the Lambda function to enable hot reloading
 	awslocal lambda update-function-code --function-name ScoringFunction --s3-bucket hot-reload --s3-key "$$(pwd)/lambdas/scoring"
 
+start-debug:    ## Start LocalStack with Lambda debug mode enabled
+	DEBUG=1 LOCALSTACK_LAMBDA_DEBUG_MODE=1 \
+		LOCALSTACK_LAMBDA_DEBUG_MODE_CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/debug_config.yml \
+        localstack start --volume $$(pwd)/etc/debug-config.yml:/tmp/debug_config.yml
+
 .PHONY: usage deploy web save-state load-state clean
diff --git a/etc/debug-config.yml b/etc/debug-config.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..570f78f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/debug-config.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+functions:
+  arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:000000000000:function:ListPublicQuizzesFunction:
+    debug-port: 19891