diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0aa29ce8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+*.env
+
+# Python
+__pycache__
+*.pyc
+coverage*
+.coverage
+htmlcov
+.pytest_cache
+*.egg-info/
+*.log
+
+# OS
+.DS_Store
+*.swp
+
+# editors / IDEs
+/.idea/
+.vscode
+
+# Node
+node_modules/
+
+# Mac
+.DS_Store
+._*
+
+# other
+public/
+data/
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cb7163d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+FROM python:3.11-slim-bullseye
+
+# Add user that will be used in the container
+RUN groupadd zednews && \
+    useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash -g zednews zednews
+
+RUN mkdir -p /home/zednews/app && chown zednews:zednews /home/zednews/app
+
+# set work directory
+WORKDIR /home/zednews/app
+
+# set environment variables
+# - Force Python stdout and stderr streams to be unbuffered.
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+    PYTHONHASHSEED=random \
+    PYTHONPATH=/home/zednews/app
+
+# Set timezone to Africa/Lusaka
+RUN ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/Africa/Lusaka /etc/localtime \
+    && dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive tzdata
+
+# Install system dependencies required by the project
+RUN apt-get update --yes --quiet && apt-get install --yes --quiet --no-install-recommends \
+    build-essential \
+    curl \
+    git \
+    ffmpeg \
+    libpq-dev \
+    postgresql-client \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Use user "zednews" to run the build commands below and the server itself.
+USER zednews
+
+# set up virtual environment & install python dependencies
+ARG DEVELOPMENT
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/home/zednews/venv \
+    DEVELOPMENT=${DEVELOPMENT}
+RUN python -m venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
+ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip
+RUN pip install pip-tools
+COPY --chown=zednews ./requirements.txt .
+COPY --chown=zednews ./requirements-dev.txt .
+RUN python -m pip install -r requirements.txt ${DEVELOPMENT:+-r requirements-dev.txt}
+
+# Copy the source code of the project into the container
+COPY --chown=zednews:zednews . .
+
+# Runtime command that executes when "docker run" is called
+# basically, do nothing ... we'll run commands ourselves
+CMD tail -f /dev/null
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7dc21138
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+version: "3.8"
+
+services:
+  app:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      args:
+        DEVELOPMENT: 1
+    command: tail -f /dev/null
+    volumes:
+      - ./:/home/zednews/app/
+    env_file:
+      - .env
+    depends_on:
+      - db
+
+  db:
+    image: postgres:15.3
+    expose:
+      - 5432
+    environment:
+      - POSTGRES_USER=zednews_dev_user
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=zednews_dev_password
+      - POSTGRES_DB=zednews_dev_db
+      - PGUSER=zednews_dev_user
+      - PGPASSWORD=zednews_dev_password
+      - PGDATABASE=zednews_dev_db
+      - POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD=trust
+    volumes:
+      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/
+
+volumes:
+  postgres_data: