diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 6483f88..a6c19f8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-FROM tiangolo/uwsgi-nginx-flask:python3.8-alpine 
+FROM python:3.9-slim
 
-COPY requirements.txt /app
-RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt 
+WORKDIR /app
 
+COPY requirements.txt /app
 COPY . /app
+
+RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+
+CMD ./run.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 02d0308..0c67acf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -27,5 +27,20 @@ for ```netbox inventory``` ensure ```config.json``` has the following lines
 ```
 configure ```"inventory_netbox.json"``` with your netbox params accordingly
 
+
+### docker
+to use ```docker``` you can either use the default ```config.json``` file or set some env vars:
+```
+     export NPA_NETPALM_API_KEY=API_KEY_HERE
+     export NPA_NETPALM_SERVER=SERVER_HERE"
+     export NPA_NETPALM_PORT=PORT_HERE
+     export NPA_INVENTORY_FILE=INVENTORY_FILE_DIR_HERE
+     export NPA_INVENTORY_TYPE=INVENTORY_TYPE_HERE
+```
+build/run:
+```
+sudo docker-compose up -d --build
+```
+
 ### notice
 - project currently just a poc in progress, use at your own leisure
diff --git a/backend/confload/confload.py b/backend/confload/confload.py
index 2093203..5097e78 100644
--- a/backend/confload/confload.py
+++ b/backend/confload/confload.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import json
-import requests
-import os 
+import os
 
+import requests
 
 DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILENAME = "config.json"
 DEFAULT_INVENTORY_FILENAME = "inventory_local.json"
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ def __init__(self, config_filename=None, inventory_filename=None):
     def get_inventory(self):
         """ load the inventory """
 
-        inv_type = self.config_data.get("inventory_type")
-        inv_file = self.config_data.get("inventory_file")
+        inv_type = self.load_value("inventory_type")
+        inv_file = self.load_value("inventory_file")
 
         if inv_type == "local":
             if self.inventory_filename is None:
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1755176
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+version: "3.7"
+services:
+  netpalm-admin:
+    build:
+      context: "."
+      dockerfile: "Dockerfile"
+    image: "netpalm-admin"
+    container_name: "netpalm-admin"
+    environment:
+      - "PUID=1000"
+      - "PGID=1000"
+      - "TZ=UTC"
+      - "UMASK_SET=022"
+      - "NPA_NETPALM_API_KEY"
+      - "NPA_NETPALM_SERVER"
+      - "NPA_NETPALM_PORT"
+      - "NPA_INVENTORY_FILE"
+      - "NPA_INVENTORY_TYPE"
+    ports:
+      - "10001:10001"
+    restart: "unless-stopped"
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 912bbf4..fac9f13 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ requests
 ttp
 textfsm
 jinja2
+gunicorn
diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c0a5b16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+gunicorn -w 4 `
+`--bind 0.0.0.0:10001 `
+`netpalm-admin:app --log-level debug