YugabyteDB is a cloud-native, distributed SQL database that provides consistency across development, staging, and production environments. It can be run locally with a Docker container, making it easy to achieve dev/prod parity and experiment with new versions and features. To get started, download the YugabyteDB OCI Docker image and use podman to run the container. The container exposes internal ports that can be interacted with from outside the container, allowing for testing and development of the database. Once running, users can test the container's processes, review the administrative UIs, and enable YSQL logging to view Postgres query logs. Additionally, users can connect to the database using tools like DBeaver or IntelliJ to experiment with SQL commands and ensure dev/prod parity.