diff --git a/internal/controller/devdb.go b/internal/controller/devdb.go
index fc474ba..106ae82 100644
--- a/internal/controller/devdb.go
+++ b/internal/controller/devdb.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"maps"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"slices"
@@ -42,9 +43,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	annoConnTmpl  = "atlasgo.io/conntmpl"
-	labelEngine   = "atlasgo.io/engine"
-	labelInstance = "app.kubernetes.io/instance"
+	annoConnTmpl   = "atlasgo.io/conntmpl"
+	annoConnTmplGo = "atlasgo.io/conntmpl-go"
+	labelEngine    = "atlasgo.io/engine"
+	labelInstance  = "app.kubernetes.io/instance"
 )
 
 type (
@@ -197,8 +199,7 @@ type devDB struct {
 	SchemaBound bool
 }
 
-// ConnTmpl returns a connection template for the devDB.
-func (d *devDB) ConnTmpl() string {
+func (d *devDB) connAnnotations() map[string]string {
 	u := url.URL{
 		Scheme: d.Driver,
 		User:   url.UserPassword(d.User, d.Pass),
@@ -216,11 +217,14 @@ func (d *devDB) ConnTmpl() string {
 		}
 	}
 	u.RawQuery = q.Encode()
-
-	return u.String()
+	s := u.String()
+	return map[string]string{
+		annoConnTmpl:   s,
+		annoConnTmplGo: strings.Replace(s, "localhost", "%s", 1),
+	}
 }
 
-func (d *devDB) Render(w io.Writer) error {
+func (d *devDB) render(w io.Writer) error {
 	return tmpl.ExecuteTemplate(w, "devdb.tmpl", d)
 }
 
@@ -253,15 +257,16 @@ func deploymentDevDB(name types.NamespacedName, drv string, schemaBound bool) (*
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported driver %q", v.Driver)
 	}
 	b := &bytes.Buffer{}
-	if err := v.Render(b); err != nil {
+	if err := v.render(b); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	d := &appsv1.Deployment{}
 	if err := yaml.NewYAMLToJSONDecoder(b).Decode(d); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	s := &d.Spec
 	if drv == "sqlserver" {
-		c := &d.Spec.Template.Spec.Containers[0]
+		c := &s.Template.Spec.Containers[0]
 		if v := os.Getenv("MSSQL_ACCEPT_EULA"); v != "" {
 			c.Env = append(c.Env, corev1.EnvVar{
 				Name:  "ACCEPT_EULA",
@@ -275,6 +280,14 @@ func deploymentDevDB(name types.NamespacedName, drv string, schemaBound bool) (*
 			})
 		}
 	}
+	maps.Copy(s.Template.Labels, map[string]string{
+		labelEngine:   drv,
+		labelInstance: name.Name,
+	})
+	s.Selector = &metav1.LabelSelector{
+		MatchLabels: s.Template.Labels,
+	}
+	s.Template.Annotations = v.connAnnotations()
 	return d, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/controller/templates/devdb.tmpl b/internal/controller/templates/devdb.tmpl
index 8a99c78..b549cfa 100644
--- a/internal/controller/templates/devdb.tmpl
+++ b/internal/controller/templates/devdb.tmpl
@@ -4,13 +4,6 @@ metadata:
   name: {{ .Name }}
   namespace: {{ .Namespace }}
 spec:
-  selector:
-    matchLabels:
-      "app.kubernetes.io/name": "atlas-dev-db"
-      "app.kubernetes.io/instance": "{{ .Name }}"
-      "app.kubernetes.io/part-of": "atlas-operator"
-      "app.kubernetes.io/created-by": "controller-manager"
-      "atlasgo.io/engine": "{{ .Driver }}"
   replicas: 1
   template:
     metadata:
@@ -19,9 +12,6 @@ spec:
         "app.kubernetes.io/instance": "{{ .Name }}"
         "app.kubernetes.io/part-of": "atlas-operator"
         "app.kubernetes.io/created-by": "controller-manager"
-        "atlasgo.io/engine": "{{ .Driver }}"
-      annotations:
-        "atlasgo.io/conntmpl": "{{ .ConnTmpl }}"
     spec:
       {{- if ne .Driver "sqlserver" }}
       securityContext:
@@ -64,4 +54,3 @@ spec:
           ports:
           - containerPort: {{ .Port }}
             name: {{ .Driver }}
-
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
index 5c34f2a..cf59d5e 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
@@ -76,12 +76,27 @@ func TestOperator(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err = kind("kubectl", "rollout", "status",
 		"-n", nsController, controller, "--timeout", "2m")
 	require.NoError(t, err)
+	// Wait for the old pods to be deleted
+	_, err = kind("sleep", "5s")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	// Getting the controller-manager pod name
+	output, err := kind("kubectl", "wait", "pod",
+		"-n", nsController,
+		"-l", "control-plane=controller-manager",
+		"--for", "condition=Ready",
+		"-o", "go-template",
+		"--template", "{{.metadata.name}}",
+	)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	pods := strings.Split(output, "\n")
+	require.Len(t, pods, 1, "expected one controller pod")
 	// Running the test script
 	testscript.Run(t, testscript.Params{
 		Dir: filepath.Join("testdata", "atlas-schema"),
 		Setup: func(e *testscript.Env) (err error) {
 			e.Setenv("CONTROLLER_NS", nsController)
 			e.Setenv("CONTROLLER", controller)
+			e.Setenv("CONTROLLER_POD", pods[0])
 			// Sharing the atlas token with the test
 			e.Setenv("ATLAS_TOKEN", os.Getenv("ATLAS_TOKEN"))
 			// Ensure the test in running in the right kube context
@@ -123,9 +138,7 @@ func TestOperator(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			// kubectl runs kubectl with the namespace set to the test namespace
 			"kubectl": func(ts *testscript.TestScript, neg bool, args []string) {
-				err := ts.Exec("kubectl", append([]string{
-					"--namespace", ts.Getenv("NAMESPACE"),
-				}, args...)...)
+				err := ts.Exec("kubectl", append([]string{"-n", ts.Getenv("NAMESPACE")}, args...)...)
 				if !neg {
 					ts.Check(err)
 				} else if err == nil {
@@ -157,6 +170,23 @@ func TestOperator(t *testing.T) {
 					ts.Setenv(vals[0], ts.ReadFile(vals[1]))
 				}
 			},
+			// devdb finds the devdb pod and prints the connection string
+			"devdb": func(ts *testscript.TestScript, neg bool, args []string) {
+				if neg {
+					ts.Fatalf("unsupported: ! devdb")
+				}
+				if len(args) != 1 {
+					ts.Fatalf("usage: devdb resource")
+				}
+				err := ts.Exec("kubectl", "get", "pods",
+					"-n", ts.Getenv("NAMESPACE"),
+					"-l", fmt.Sprintf("app.kubernetes.io/instance=%s-atlas-dev-db", args[0]),
+					"--field-selector", "status.phase=Running",
+					"-o", "go-template",
+					"--template", `{{with (index .items 0)}}{{printf (index .metadata.annotations "atlasgo.io/conntmpl-go") .status.podIP}}{{end}}`,
+				)
+				ts.Check(err)
+			},
 		},
 	})
 }