diff --git a/devbox/devbox.local/cli/devbox b/devbox/devbox.local/cli/devbox
index 594a9cb..d13f5b1 100644
--- a/devbox/devbox.local/cli/devbox
+++ b/devbox/devbox.local/cli/devbox
@@ -456,6 +456,12 @@ declare -g local_components_ports_keys=("devsvc" "notification" "content" "centr
 
 local_components_ports_values=("8007" "8003" "8013" "8005" "8012" "8004")
 
+
+# used for repository username and password encoding
+url_encode() {
+    echo "$1" | sed 's/@/%40/g'
+}
+
 # Get the port number for a local component
 get_port() {
   local comp="$1"
@@ -713,6 +719,11 @@ devbox_init_command() {
           exit 1
         fi
 
+        sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
+
+        sudo apt-get update -y
+        sudo apt-get install docker-compose -y
+
     fi
 
     # 3.2 Check  disk space
@@ -827,9 +838,11 @@ devbox_init_command() {
         exit 1
     fi
 
+    ENCODEING_FREELEAPS_USERNAME=$(url_encode "$FREELEAPS_USERNAME")
+    ENCODEING_FREELEAPS_PASSWORD=$(url_encode "$FREELEAPS_PASSWORD")
     # Test if the user can access the freeleaps.com repository
     echo "==> Testing access to freeleaps.com repository..."
-    if ! git ls-remote "https://$FREELEAPS_USERNAME:$FREELEAPS_PASSWORD@freeleaps.com:3443/products/freeleaps.git" &>/dev/null; then
+    if ! git ls-remote "https://$ENCODEING_FREELEAPS_USERNAME:$ENCODEING_FREELEAPS_PASSWORD@freeleaps.com:3443/products/freeleaps.git" &>/dev/null; then
         echo "ERROR: Failed to access freeleaps.com repository. Please check your username and password."
         echo "==> [INIT] DevBox environment initialization completed successfully, but access to the freeleaps.com repository failed."
         exit 1
@@ -838,7 +851,7 @@ devbox_init_command() {
     DOVBOX_CLI_DIR=$(pwd)
 
     FREELEAPS_DIR="$WORKING_HOME/freeleaps"
-    FRONTEND_GIT_URL="https://$FREELEAPS_USERNAME:$FREELEAPS_PASSWORD@freeleaps.com:3443/products/freeleaps.git"
+    FRONTEND_GIT_URL="https://$ENCODEING_FREELEAPS_USERNAME:$ENCODEING_FREELEAPS_PASSWORD@freeleaps.com:3443/products/freeleaps.git"
     # Check if freeleaps2-frontend exists, if not git clone it
     if [ ! -d "$FREELEAPS_DIR" ]; then
         pushd "$WORKING_HOME" > /dev/null