diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9c091a6..3358e10 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -115,4 +115,8 @@ venv.bak/
 # vagrant
 .vagrant/
 
-.DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
+.DS_Store
+
+.env.dev
+
+db_dump.sql
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8387b13..51c17e4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,6 +8,20 @@ Oregon Harvest For Schools Portal
 git clone https://github.com/Ecotrust/OH4S_Proteins.git
 cd OH4S_Proteins
 ```
+## Choose your development environment: Vagrant or Docker 
+
+## Docker
+
+- In order to run the application with production data, locate a database dump of a production install. Add the dump to the `docker` directory and name it `db_dump.sql`. This is necessary for the `init-db.sh` script to run correctly.
+
+- Create a copy of the `.env.template` file as `.env` in the `docker` directory. Add your environment variables to that file.
+
+- Move to the docker directory: `cd docker`
+
+- Start the docker containers: `docker compose up`
+
+- View the app at `http://localhost:8000`
+
 
 ## Vagrant
 ```
diff --git a/app/portal/Dockerfile b/app/portal/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..816c40e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/portal/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+FROM python:3.12-slim
+
+# Prevent Python from writing .pyc files and enable unbuffered stdout/stderr
+ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+ENV PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=1
+
+# Set working directory
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Install system dependencies
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    postgresql-client \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Copy system requirements
+COPY requirements.txt /app/
+
+# Upgrade pip and install dependencies
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
+
+# Install dependencies
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip && \
+    pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+# Copy application code
+COPY . /app/
+
+COPY portal/entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
+RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
+
+EXPOSE 8000
+
+ENV DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=portal.settings
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/app/portal/portal/entrypoint.sh b/app/portal/portal/entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46ee211
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/portal/portal/entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Exit on errors
+set -e
+
+# If a SQL_HOST is provided, wait for Postgres to become available before running
+# migrations. This prevents race conditions when using docker-compose where the
+# web container starts before the DB is ready.
+if [ -n "$SQL_HOST" ]; then
+	echo "Waiting for database at ${SQL_HOST}:${SQL_PORT:-5432}..."
+	# pg_isready is available after installing postgresql-client in the image
+	until pg_isready -h "$SQL_HOST" -p "${SQL_PORT:-5432}" >/dev/null 2>&1; do
+		echo "Postgres is unavailable - sleeping"
+		sleep 1
+	done
+	echo "Postgres is up"
+fi
+
+echo "Applying database migrations..."
+python manage.py migrate --noinput
+echo "Collecting static files..."
+python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
+
+echo "Checking for existing providers..."
+if [ "$(python manage.py shell -c 'from providers.models import PoliticalRegion; print(PoliticalRegion.objects.count())' 2>/dev/null | tail -1)" = "0" ]; then
+    echo "No providers found, loading default providers fixture..."
+	python manage.py loaddata fixtures/providers_20210524.json
+else
+	echo "number of political regions: $(python manage.py shell -c 'from providers.models import PoliticalRegion; print(PoliticalRegion.objects.count())' 2>/dev/null | tail -1)"
+	echo "Providers content already exist, skipping fixture load."
+fi
+
+echo "Starting python development server on :8000"
+python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
diff --git a/app/portal/portal/settings.py b/app/portal/portal/settings.py
index ea67ea0..5b21844 100644
--- a/app/portal/portal/settings.py
+++ b/app/portal/portal/settings.py
@@ -32,12 +32,15 @@
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.1/howto/deployment/checklist/
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
-SECRET_KEY = 't8(b^k=eh4pu6o6to8px!7pmcf)@x#p$&nyp&ksm!oc00s2s-('
+SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('SECRET_KEY', default='set in .env file')
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = True
+DEBUG = os.environ.get('DEBUG', 'True') == 'True'
 
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
+ALLOWED_HOSTS_ENV = os.environ.get("ALLOWED_HOSTS")
+if ALLOWED_HOSTS_ENV:
+    ALLOWED_HOSTS.extend(ALLOWED_HOSTS_ENV.split(","))
 
 
 # Application definition
@@ -112,9 +115,12 @@
 
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
-        'NAME': 'set_in_local_settings.py',
-        'USER': 'set_in_local_settings.py'
+        'ENGINE': os.environ.get('SQL_ENGINE', default='django.db.backends.postgresql'),
+        'NAME': os.environ.get('SQL_DATABASE', default='postgres'),
+        'USER': os.environ.get('SQL_USER', default='postgres'),
+        'PASSWORD': os.environ.get('SQL_PASSWORD', default=None),
+        'HOST': os.environ.get('SQL_HOST', default='db'),
+        'PORT': os.environ.get('SQL_PORT', default='5432'),
     }
 }
 
@@ -175,5 +181,9 @@
 
 MIN_SEARCH_RANK=0.1
 MIN_SEARCH_SIMILARITY=0.25
+MAPBOX_TOKEN = os.environ.get('MAPBOX_TOKEN', default='')
 
-from .local_settings import *
+try:
+    from .local_settings import *
+except ImportError:
+    pass
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/portal/providers/forms.py b/app/portal/providers/forms.py
index e9e72fb..058c99e 100644
--- a/app/portal/providers/forms.py
+++ b/app/portal/providers/forms.py
@@ -1,25 +1,8 @@
 from django import forms
+from providers.models import DeliveryMethod, PoliticalSubregion
 
 class FilterForm(forms.Form):
 
-    def __init__(self,*args,**kwargs):
-        try:
-            product_details_choices = kwargs.pop('product_details')
-            self.base_fields['product_category'].choices = product_details_choices
-            self.base_fields['product_category'].initial = [ x[0] for x in product_details_choices ]
-        except Exception as e:
-            pass
-        try:
-            self.base_fields['capacity'].label = "%s per year" % kwargs.pop('production_capacity_unit')
-        except Exception as e:
-            pass
-
-        super(FilterForm,self).__init__(*args,**kwargs)
-
-    from providers.models import DeliveryMethod, PoliticalSubregion
-    deliveryMethodChoices = [(-1, 'Any')] + [(x.pk, str(x)) for x in DeliveryMethod.objects.all().order_by('name')]
-    availabilityChoices = [(-1, 'Anywhere')] + [(x.pk, str(x)) for x in PoliticalSubregion.objects.all().order_by('name')]
-
     product_category = forms.MultipleChoiceField(
                 widget=forms.CheckboxSelectMultiple,
                 label='...by Product Details',
@@ -35,13 +18,38 @@ def __init__(self,*args,**kwargs):
     distribution = forms.ChoiceField(
                 initial="Any",
                 label="Method of distribution",
-                choices=deliveryMethodChoices,
+                choices=[],
                 required=False,
     )
 
     availability = forms.ChoiceField(
                 initial="Anywhere",
                 label="Confirmed available in",
-                choices=availabilityChoices,
+                choices=[],
                 required=False,
     )
+
+    def __init__(self,*args,**kwargs):
+        try:
+            product_details_choices = kwargs.pop('product_details')
+        except KeyError:
+            product_details_choices = None
+        try:
+            production_capacity_unit = kwargs.pop('production_capacity_unit')
+        except KeyError:
+            production_capacity_unit = None
+
+        super(FilterForm,self).__init__(*args,**kwargs)
+
+        if product_details_choices is not None:
+            self.fields['product_category'].choices = product_details_choices
+            self.fields['product_category'].initial = [x[0] for x in product_details_choices]
+        if production_capacity_unit is not None:
+            self.fields['capacity'].label = "%s per year" % production_capacity_unit
+
+        self.fields['distribution'].choices = [(-1, 'Any')] + [
+            (x.pk, str(x)) for x in DeliveryMethod.objects.all().order_by('name')
+        ]
+        self.fields['availability'].choices = [(-1, 'Anywhere')] + [
+            (x.pk, str(x)) for x in PoliticalSubregion.objects.all().order_by('name')
+        ]
diff --git a/app/portal/requirements.txt b/app/portal/requirements.txt
index 16cd3e1..4e6f256 100644
--- a/app/portal/requirements.txt
+++ b/app/portal/requirements.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ pexpect==4.6.0
 phonenumbers==8.10.4
 pickleshare==0.7.5
 prompt-toolkit>=3.0.30
-psycopg2==2.9.10
 psycopg2-binary==2.9.10
 ptyprocess==0.6.0
 py-moneyed==0.8.0
diff --git a/docker/.env.template b/docker/.env.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b4f7fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/.env.template
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+DEBUG=
+SECRET_KEY=
+ALLOWED_HOSTS=
+SQL_ENGINE=django.db.backends.postgresql
+SQL_DATABASE=
+SQL_USER=
+SQL_PASSWORD=
+SQL_HOST=db
+SQL_PORT=5432
+MAPBOX_TOKEN=
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.yaml b/docker/docker-compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c69adb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+services:
+  db:
+    image: postgis/postgis:16-3.5-alpine
+    restart: always
+    platform: linux/amd64
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${SQL_DATABASE}
+      POSTGRES_USER: ${SQL_USER}
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${SQL_PASSWORD}
+    volumes:
+      - oh4s:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+      - ./db_dump.sql:/tmp/db_dump.sql:ro
+      - ./init-db.sh:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init-db.sh
+    ports:
+      - "5432:5432"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${SQL_USER} -d ${SQL_DATABASE} -h localhost -p ${SQL_PORT:-5432}"]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+  
+  web:
+    build:
+      context: ../app/portal
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    env_file:
+      - path: .env
+        required: true
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "python manage.py check --deploy 2>/dev/null || python -c 'import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen(\"http://localhost:8000/\")' 2>/dev/null"]
+      interval: 15s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 30s
+    environment:
+      ALLOWED_HOSTS: ${ALLOWED_HOSTS}
+      DEBUG: ${DEBUG}
+      SQL_ENGINE: ${SQL_ENGINE}
+      SQL_HOST: ${SQL_HOST}
+      SQL_PORT: ${SQL_PORT}
+      SQL_DATABASE: ${SQL_DATABASE}
+      SQL_USER: ${SQL_USER}
+      SQL_PASSWORD: ${SQL_PASSWORD}
+      SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
+    depends_on:
+      db:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    volumes:
+      - ../app/portal:/app
+
+volumes:
+  oh4s:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker/init-db.sh b/docker/init-db.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..fd204c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/init-db.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+# This script runs automatically when the PostgreSQL container is first initialized
+# It will only run if the database is empty (first time setup)
+
+ DB_DUMP_FILE="/tmp/db_dump.sql"
+ if [ ! -f "$DB_DUMP_FILE" ]; then
+   echo "Error: database dump file not found at $DB_DUMP_FILE. Mount or copy the SQL dump before initializing the database." >&2
+   exit 1
+ fi
+ if [ ! -r "$DB_DUMP_FILE" ]; then
+   echo "Error: database dump file is not readable at $DB_DUMP_FILE. Check file permissions before initializing the database." >&2
+   exit 1
+ fi
+
+echo "Importing database dump..."
+
+# Import the SQL dump, ignoring meta-command errors
+PGPASSWORD="$POSTGRES_PASSWORD" psql -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -d "$POSTGRES_DB" -v ON_ERROR_STOP=0 < "$DB_DUMP_FILE"
+
+echo "Database import completed!"
\ No newline at end of file