diff --git a/src/services/start/docker.services.ts b/src/services/start/docker.services.ts
index b913183a..3a88db03 100644
--- a/src/services/start/docker.services.ts
+++ b/src/services/start/docker.services.ts
@@ -101,11 +101,7 @@ const buildConfigType = async (context: ConfigContext): Promise<PartialConfigFil
 };
 
 const assertDockerCompose = async () => {
-  if (existsSync(DOCKER_COMPOSE_FILENAME)) {
-    return;
-  }
-
-  const {image}: {image: string} = await prompts({
+  const {image}: {image: 'skylab' | 'satellite' | undefined} = await prompts({
     type: 'select',
     name: 'image',
     message: 'What kind of emulator would you like to run locally?',
@@ -125,6 +121,9 @@ const assertDockerCompose = async () => {
     sourceFolder: TEMPLATE_PATH
   });
 
+  // We should assert the config before creating the docker file otherwise we cannot know if the docker file should reference a TS, JS or JSON config file.
+  await assertAndInitJunoConfig(image === 'skylab');
+
   const readConfig = image === 'satellite' ? junoDevConfigFile : junoConfigFile;
   const {configPath} = readConfig();
   const configFile = basename(configPath);
@@ -134,15 +133,24 @@ const assertDockerCompose = async () => {
     .replaceAll('<JUNO_CONFIG>', configFile);
 
   await writeFile(join(DESTINATION_PATH, DOCKER_COMPOSE_FILENAME), content, 'utf-8');
+
+  return {dockerImage: image};
 };
 
 const assertAndInitConfig = async () => {
-  await assertDockerCompose();
+  if (existsSync(DOCKER_COMPOSE_FILENAME)) {
+    const dockerCompose = await readFile(DOCKER_COMPOSE_FILENAME, 'utf-8');
+    const isSkylab = /image:\s*junobuild\/skylab(:[^\s]*)?/.test(dockerCompose);
+
+    await assertAndInitJunoConfig(isSkylab);
+    return;
+  }
 
-  const dockerCompose = await readFile(DOCKER_COMPOSE_FILENAME, 'utf-8');
-  const isSkylab = /image:\s*junobuild\/skylab(:[^\s]*)?/.test(dockerCompose);
+  await assertDockerCompose();
+};
 
-  if (isSkylab) {
+const assertAndInitJunoConfig = async (skylab: boolean) => {
+  if (skylab) {
     await assertJunoConfig();
     return;
   }