diff --git a/awx/ui_next/Makefile b/awx/ui_next/Makefile
index bcbaf0f623..8506a12204 100644
--- a/awx/ui_next/Makefile
+++ b/awx/ui_next/Makefile
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ $(UI_NEXT_DIR)/src/build: ui-next/src ui-next/src/webpack
 .PHONY: ui-next/src
 ui-next/src: $(UI_NEXT_DIR)/src
 
+# TODO: Rewrite this big bash script in a more readable way.
 .PHONY: $(UI_NEXT_DIR)/src
 ## Real target for ui-next/src.
 $(UI_NEXT_DIR)/src:
diff --git a/awx/ui_next/build/awx/index_awx.html b/awx/ui_next/placeholder_index_awx.html
similarity index 100%
rename from awx/ui_next/build/awx/index_awx.html
rename to awx/ui_next/placeholder_index_awx.html
diff --git a/tools/docker-compose/bootstrap_development.sh b/tools/docker-compose/bootstrap_development.sh
index c049beeb23..87c3f81ee7 100755
--- a/tools/docker-compose/bootstrap_development.sh
+++ b/tools/docker-compose/bootstrap_development.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,12 @@ fi
 
 # Make sure that the UI static file directory exists, Django complains otherwise.
 mkdir -p /awx_devel/awx/ui/build/static
-mkdir -p /awx_devel/awx/ui_next/build/awx
+
+# Make sure that the UI_NEXT statifc file directory exists, if UI_NEXT is not built yet put a placeholder file in it.
+if [ ! -d "/awx_devel/awx/ui_next/build/awx" ]; then
+    mkdir -p /awx_devel/awx/ui_next/build/awx
+    cp /awx_devel/awx/ui_next/placeholder_index_awx.html /awx_devel/awx/ui_next/build/awx/index_awx.html
+fi
 
 if output=$(awx-manage createsuperuser --noinput --username=admin --email=admin@localhost 2> /dev/null); then
     echo $output