diff --git a/.devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0e53de9a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu",
+  "features": {
+    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/nix:1": {}
+  }
+}
diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 86d855677..81eb512ad 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import NativePackagerHelper._
 import com.typesafe.sbt.packager.docker._
 import sys.process._
 import javax.print.attribute.standard.RequestingUserName
+import java.io.IOException
 
 //allow stopping sbt tasks using ctrl+c without killing sbt itself
 Global / cancelable := true
@@ -21,6 +22,17 @@ Global / PB.protocVersion := "3.24.3"
 
 // ThisBuild / libraryDependencies += compilerPlugin("io.tryp" % "splain" % "0.5.8" cross CrossVersion.patch)
 
+// Helper function to safely get git commit hash
+def getSafeGitCommit(): String = {
+  try {
+    val commit = "git rev-parse HEAD".!!.trim
+    if (commit.nonEmpty && commit.length == 40) commit else "unknown"
+  } catch {
+    case _: IOException => "unknown"
+    case _: Exception => "unknown"
+  }
+}
+
 inThisBuild(List(
   publish / skip := true,
   publishMavenStyle := true,
@@ -330,7 +342,7 @@ lazy val node = (project in file("node"))
       scalapb.gen(grpc = false)  -> (sourceManaged in Compile).value / "protobuf",
       grpcmonix.generators.gen() -> (sourceManaged in Compile).value / "protobuf"
     ),
-    buildInfoKeys := Seq[BuildInfoKey](name, version, scalaVersion, sbtVersion, git.gitHeadCommit),
+    buildInfoKeys := Seq[BuildInfoKey](name, version, scalaVersion, sbtVersion, "gitHeadCommit" -> getSafeGitCommit()),
     buildInfoPackage := "coop.rchain.node",
     mainClass in Compile := Some("coop.rchain.node.Main"),
     discoveredMainClasses in Compile := Seq(),
@@ -609,4 +621,3 @@ lazy val rchain = (project in file("."))
     rspaceBench,
     shared
   )
-
diff --git a/casper/src/test/resources/StringEscapeSpec.rho b/casper/src/test/resources/StringEscapeSpec.rho
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..591cbddb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/casper/src/test/resources/StringEscapeSpec.rho
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+new
+  rl(`rho:registry:lookup`), RhoSpecCh,
+  test_newline_escape, test_tab_escape, test_quote_escape,
+  test_backslash_escape, test_unicode_escape, test_combined_escapes,
+  test_no_escape_needed
+in {
+  rl!(`rho:id:zphjgsfy13h1k85isc8rtwtgt3t9zzt5pjd5ihykfmyapfc4wt3x5h`, *RhoSpecCh) |
+  for(@(_, RhoSpec) <- RhoSpecCh) {
+    @RhoSpec!("testSuite",
+      [
+        ("Newline escape sequences are unescaped correctly", *test_newline_escape),
+        ("Tab escape sequences are unescaped correctly", *test_tab_escape),
+        ("Quote escape sequences are unescaped correctly", *test_quote_escape),
+        ("Backslash escape sequences are unescaped correctly", *test_backslash_escape),
+        ("Combined escape sequences are unescaped correctly", *test_combined_escapes),
+        ("Strings without escapes remain unchanged", *test_no_escape_needed)
+      ])
+  } |
+
+  contract test_newline_escape(rhoSpec, _, ackCh) = {
+    new ch, privateAck in {
+      ch!("Hello\nWorld".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex()) |
+      for (@msg <- ch) {
+        rhoSpec!("assert", ("Hello\nWorld".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex(), "==", msg), "Newline escaped string unescaped correctly", *ackCh)
+      }
+    }
+  } |
+
+  contract test_tab_escape(rhoSpec, _, ackCh) = {
+    new ch, privateAck in {
+      ch!("Column1\tColumn2".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex()) |
+      for (@msg <- ch) {
+        rhoSpec!("assert", ("Column1\tColumn2".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex(), "==", msg), "Tab escaped string unescaped correctly", *ackCh)
+      }
+    }
+  } |
+
+  contract test_quote_escape(rhoSpec, _, ackCh) = {
+    new ch, privateAck in {
+      ch!("She said \"Hello\"".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex()) |
+      for (@msg <- ch) {
+        rhoSpec!("assert", ("She said \"Hello\"".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex(), "==", msg), "Quote escaped string unescaped correctly", *ackCh)
+      }
+    }
+  } |
+
+  contract test_backslash_escape(rhoSpec, _, ackCh) = {
+    new ch, privateAck in {
+      ch!("Path: C:\\Users\\Documents".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex()) |
+      for (@msg <- ch) {
+        rhoSpec!("assert", ("Path: C:\\Users\\Documents".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex(), "==", msg), "Backslash escaped string unescaped correctly", *ackCh)
+      }
+    }
+  } |
+
+  contract test_combined_escapes(rhoSpec, _, ackCh) = {
+    new ch, privateAck in {
+      ch!("Line1\nTab\tQuote\"Backslash\\End".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex()) |
+      for (@msg <- ch) {
+        rhoSpec!("assert", ("Line1\nTab\tQuote\"Backslash\\End".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex(), "==", msg), "Multiple escape sequences handled correctly", *ackCh)
+      }
+    }
+  } |
+
+  contract test_no_escape_needed(rhoSpec, _, ackCh) = {
+    new ch, privateAck in {
+      ch!("SimpleStringWithoutEscapes".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex()) |
+      for (@msg <- ch) {
+        rhoSpec!("assert", ("SimpleStringWithoutEscapes".toUtf8Bytes().bytesToHex(), "==", msg), "String without escapes passes through unchanged", *ackCh)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/casper/src/test/scala/coop/rchain/casper/genesis/contracts/StringEscapeTest.scala b/casper/src/test/scala/coop/rchain/casper/genesis/contracts/StringEscapeTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..86eddc6e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/casper/src/test/scala/coop/rchain/casper/genesis/contracts/StringEscapeTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package coop.rchain.casper.genesis.contracts
+
+import coop.rchain.casper.helper.RhoSpec
+import coop.rchain.models.NormalizerEnv
+import coop.rchain.rholang.build.CompiledRholangSource
+
+class StringEscapeSpec
+    extends RhoSpec(
+      CompiledRholangSource("StringEscapeSpec.rho", NormalizerEnv.Empty),
+      Seq.empty,
+      GENESIS_TEST_TIMEOUT
+    )
diff --git a/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/configuration/commandline/Options.scala b/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/configuration/commandline/Options.scala
index 679c84247..862105674 100644
--- a/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/configuration/commandline/Options.scala
+++ b/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/configuration/commandline/Options.scala
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ final case class Options(arguments: Seq[String]) extends ScallopConf(arguments)
   val width = 120
 
   version(
-    s"RChain node | gRPC client \nversion ${BuildInfo.version} (${BuildInfo.gitHeadCommit.getOrElse("commit # unknown")})"
+    s"RChain node | gRPC client \nversion ${BuildInfo.version} (${BuildInfo.gitHeadCommit})"
   )
   printedName = "rchain"
   helpWidth(width)
diff --git a/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/web/VersionInfo.scala b/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/web/VersionInfo.scala
index a31982ea9..f5a84ab5a 100644
--- a/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/web/VersionInfo.scala
+++ b/node/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/node/web/VersionInfo.scala
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import org.http4s.HttpRoutes
 
 object VersionInfo {
   val get: String =
-    s"RChain Node ${BuildInfo.version} (${BuildInfo.gitHeadCommit.getOrElse("commit # unknown")})"
+    s"RChain Node ${BuildInfo.version} (${BuildInfo.gitHeadCommit})"
 
   def service[F[_]: Sync]: HttpRoutes[F] = {
     val dsl = org.http4s.dsl.Http4sDsl[F]
diff --git a/project/plugins.sbt b/project/plugins.sbt
index 794f9be0a..d77ee85d4 100644
--- a/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -24,4 +24,3 @@ addSbtPlugin("com.github.sbt"         % "sbt-release"          % "1.1.0")
 addSbtPlugin("org.scalameta"          % "sbt-native-image"     % "0.3.2")
 
 addDependencyTreePlugin
-
diff --git a/rholang/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/rholang/interpreter/compiler/normalizer/GroundNormalizeMatcher.scala b/rholang/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/rholang/interpreter/compiler/normalizer/GroundNormalizeMatcher.scala
index d03b45881..390d5e362 100644
--- a/rholang/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/rholang/interpreter/compiler/normalizer/GroundNormalizeMatcher.scala
+++ b/rholang/src/main/scala/coop/rchain/rholang/interpreter/compiler/normalizer/GroundNormalizeMatcher.scala
@@ -41,6 +41,46 @@ object GroundNormalizeMatcher {
   // a custom string token
   def stripString(raw: String): String = {
     require(raw.length >= 2)
-    raw.substring(1, raw.length - 1)
+    val unquoted = raw.substring(1, raw.length - 1)
+    unescapeString(unquoted)
+  }
+
+  // Process escape sequences in strings
+  private def unescapeString(s: String): String = {
+    val sb = new StringBuilder()
+    var i  = 0
+    while (i < s.length) {
+      if (s(i) == '\\' && i + 1 < s.length) {
+        s(i + 1) match {
+          case '"'  => sb.append('"'); i += 2
+          case '\\' => sb.append('\\'); i += 2
+          case 'n'  => sb.append('\n'); i += 2
+          case 't'  => sb.append('\t'); i += 2
+          case 'r'  => sb.append('\r'); i += 2
+          case 'b'  => sb.append('\b'); i += 2
+          case 'f'  => sb.append('\f'); i += 2
+          case 'u' if i + 5 < s.length =>
+            try {
+              val hexCode   = s.substring(i + 2, i + 6)
+              val codePoint = Integer.parseInt(hexCode, 16)
+              sb.append(codePoint.toChar)
+              i += 6
+            } catch {
+              case _: NumberFormatException =>
+                // For robustness, treat invalid Unicode escapes as literal characters
+                sb.append('\\')
+                sb.append('u')
+                i += 2
+            }
+          case _ =>
+            sb.append(s(i))
+            i += 1
+        }
+      } else {
+        sb.append(s(i))
+        i += 1
+      }
+    }
+    sb.toString()
   }
 }