diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index abd66e4..700883d 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ var emailProviders = []string{
 
 var cfg *Config
 var cFlag = flag.String("config", defaultConfigPath, "config file location")
+var env string
 
 type appConfig struct {
 	AggregationTime  string                       `yaml:"aggregation_time" default:"02:15" env:"WAKAPI_AGGREGATION_TIME"`
@@ -287,8 +289,14 @@ func readColors() map[string]map[string]string {
 	// Extracted from Wakatime website with XPath (see below) and did a bit of regex magic after.
 	// – $x('//span[@class="editor-icon tip"]/@data-original-title').map(e => e.nodeValue)
 	// – $x('//span[@class="editor-icon tip"]/div[1]/text()').map(e => e.nodeValue)
+
+	raw := data.ColorsFile
+	if IsDev(env) {
+		raw, _ = ioutil.ReadFile("data/colors.json")
+	}
+
 	var colors = make(map[string]map[string]string)
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(data.ColorsFile, &colors); err != nil {
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &colors); err != nil {
 		logbuch.Fatal(err.Error())
 	}
 
@@ -335,6 +343,7 @@ func Load(version string) *Config {
 		logbuch.Fatal("failed to read config: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	env = config.Env
 	config.Version = strings.TrimSpace(version)
 	config.App.Colors = readColors()
 	config.Db.Dialect = resolveDbDialect(config.Db.Type)
diff --git a/config/fs.go b/config/fs.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aea1c92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/fs.go
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"io/fs"
+	"os"
+)
+
+// ChooseFS returns a local (DirFS) file system when on 'dev' environment and the given go-embed file system otherwise
+func ChooseFS(localDir string, embeddedFS fs.FS) fs.FS {
+	if Get().IsDev() {
+		return os.DirFS(localDir)
+	}
+	return embeddedFS
+}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 2bf3124..095bcc0 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -205,7 +205,8 @@ func main() {
 
 	// Static Routes
 	// https://github.com/golang/go/issues/43431
-	static, _ := fs.Sub(staticFiles, "static")
+	embeddedStatic, _ := fs.Sub(staticFiles, "static")
+	static := conf.ChooseFS("static", embeddedStatic)
 	fileServer := http.FileServer(utils.NeuteredFileSystem{Fs: http.FS(static)})
 	router.PathPrefix("/contribute.json").Handler(fileServer)
 	router.PathPrefix("/assets").Handler(fileServer)
diff --git a/routes/routes.go b/routes/routes.go
index 5c10b3d..12d2f71 100644
--- a/routes/routes.go
+++ b/routes/routes.go
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ type action func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) (int, string, string)
 var templates map[string]*template.Template
 
 func loadTemplates() {
-	const tplPath = "/views"
 	tpls := template.New("").Funcs(template.FuncMap{
 		"json":           utils.Json,
 		"date":           utils.FormatDateHuman,
@@ -57,7 +56,10 @@ func loadTemplates() {
 	})
 	templates = make(map[string]*template.Template)
 
-	files, err := fs.ReadDir(views.TemplateFiles, ".")
+	// Use local file system when in 'dev' environment, go embed file system otherwise
+	templateFs := config.ChooseFS("views", views.TemplateFiles)
+
+	files, err := fs.ReadDir(templateFs, ".")
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ func loadTemplates() {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		templateFile, err := views.TemplateFiles.Open(tplName)
+		templateFile, err := templateFs.Open(tplName)
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}