diff --git a/aiida/.gitignore b/aiida/.gitignore
index 203659a..41af29c 100644
--- a/aiida/.gitignore
+++ b/aiida/.gitignore
@@ -336,5 +336,3 @@ tags
 .renku.lock
 .renku/tmp
 .renku/cache
-
-aiida_config.yaml
diff --git a/aiida/Dockerfile b/aiida/Dockerfile
index 5019fce..380bad1 100644
--- a/aiida/Dockerfile
+++ b/aiida/Dockerfile
@@ -16,21 +16,24 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
 USER ${NB_USER}
 
 # install the python dependencies
-COPY requirements.txt environment.yml /tmp/
+COPY environment.yml /tmp/
 RUN mamba env update -q -f /tmp/environment.yml
 
 RUN /opt/conda/bin/pip install --upgrade pip && \
-    /opt/conda/bin/pip install -r /tmp/requirements.txt && \
     conda clean -y --all && \
     conda env export -n "root"
 
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip
+
+RUN pip install aiida-core~=2.5
+
 # RENKU_VERSION determines the version of the renku CLI
 # that will be used in this image. To find the latest version,
 # visit https://pypi.org/project/renku/#history.
-ARG RENKU_VERSION={{ __renku_version__ | default("2.9.1") }}
+# ARG RENKU_VERSION={{ __renku_version__ | default("2.9.1") }}
 
 # For local build
-# ARG RENKU_VERSION="2.9.1"
+ARG RENKU_VERSION="2.9.1"
 
 ########################################################
 # Do not edit this section and do not add anything below
diff --git a/aiida/environment.yml b/aiida/environment.yml
index 588995f..9c61d4d 100644
--- a/aiida/environment.yml
+++ b/aiida/environment.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 name: "base"
 channels:
   - conda-forge
-  - cjs14
 dependencies:
-# - aiida-core
-- aiida-core.services
-# while aiida-core.services requires rabbitmq-server>=3.7, for some reason version 3.6.15 is installed without the line below
-# - rabbitmq-server>=3.8
+- aiida-core.services=2.2.2
 prefix: "/opt/conda"
diff --git a/aiida/post-init.sh b/aiida/post-init.sh
index 37c07af..7ea4938 100755
--- a/aiida/post-init.sh
+++ b/aiida/post-init.sh
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ aiida_profile="aiida_renku"
 institution="RenkuLab"
 
 project_dir="$(pwd)"
-repo_dir="${project_dir}/repo"
+repo_dir="${project_dir}/aiida_data"
 mkdir "$repo_dir"
+echo "$repo_dir" >> .gitignore
 
 # Export AIIDA_PATH environment variable
 export AIIDA_PATH=$repo_dir
@@ -60,5 +61,5 @@ verdi profile setup core.sqlite_dos \
 {% endif %}
 
 verdi config set warnings.rabbitmq_version False
-echo "consumer_timeout = 36000000000" > /opt/conda/pkgs/rabbitmq-server-3.12.12-ha770c72_0/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.conf
+echo "consumer_timeout = 36000000000" > /opt/conda/pkgs/rabbitmq-server-3.13.1-ha770c72_0/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.conf
 rabbitmq-server -detached
diff --git a/aiida/requirements.txt b/aiida/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e4ab9f0..0000000
--- a/aiida/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-aiida-core~=2.5
\ No newline at end of file