diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b981332
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+.git/
+.github/
+.idea/
+
+.gitignore
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5b1510
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+name: Docker Image CI
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout repository
+      uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+    - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+      uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v2
+
+    - name: Log in to Docker Hub
+      uses: docker/login-action@v2
+      with:
+        username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME }}
+        password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
+
+    - name: Build and push Docker image
+      uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
+      with:
+        context: .
+        file: deployment/Dockerfile
+        push: true
+        tags: pearsproject/pears-federated:latest
+
+    - name: Image digest
+      run: echo ${{ steps.build.outputs.digest }}
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5867f29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+.DEFAULT_GOAL: help
+SHELL := /bin/bash
+
+PROJECTNAME := "pears-federated"
+
+.PHONY: help
+all: help
+help: Makefile
+	@echo
+	@echo " Choose a command to run in "$(PROJECTNAME)":"
+	@echo
+	@sed -n 's/^##//p' $< | column -t -s ':' |  sed -e 's/^/ /'
+	@echo note: call scripts from /scripts
+
+check-%: # detection of required software.
+	@which ${*} > /dev/null || (echo '*** Please install `${*}` ***' && exit 1)
+
+## build: Build the container image
+build: check-docker
+	@docker buildx build --no-cache --pull -f deployment/Dockerfile -t ${PROJECTNAME}:local-build .
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/indexer/posix.py b/app/indexer/posix.py
index 1f9cee6..4ebc146 100644
--- a/app/indexer/posix.py
+++ b/app/indexer/posix.py
@@ -8,13 +8,13 @@
 pod_dir = getenv("PODS_DIR", join(dir_path, 'pods'))
 
 def load_posix(contributor, lang, theme):
-    posix_path = join(dir_path, 'pods', contributor, lang)
+    posix_path = join(pod_dir, contributor, lang)
     pod_name = theme+'.u.'+contributor
     posix = joblib.load(join(posix_path,pod_name+'.pos'))
     return posix
 
 def dump_posix(posindex, contributor, lang, theme):
-    posix_path = join(dir_path, 'pods', contributor, lang)
+    posix_path = join(pod_dir, contributor, lang)
     pod_name = theme+'.u.'+contributor
     joblib.dump(posindex, join(posix_path,pod_name+'.pos'))
 
diff --git a/app/orchard/mk_urls_file.py b/app/orchard/mk_urls_file.py
index 1564859..dab8b83 100644
--- a/app/orchard/mk_urls_file.py
+++ b/app/orchard/mk_urls_file.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 def get_url_list_for_users(theme):
     urls = []
     url_theme = theme.replace(' ', '_')
-    hfile = join(pods_dir, url_theme + ".pears.txt")
+    hfile = join(pod_dir, url_theme + ".pears.txt")
     f_out = open(hfile,'w', encoding='utf-8')
     for url in Urls.query.filter(Urls.pod.contains(theme+'.u.')).all():
         if not url.pod.startswith(theme+'.u.'):
diff --git a/deployment/Dockerfile b/deployment/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f32311
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+FROM python:3.9-slim
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+COPY requirements.txt /tmp/
+RUN pip install --requirement /tmp/requirements.txt
+
+# Additionally, install Gunicorn
+RUN pip install gunicorn
+
+# Make port 8000 available to the world outside this container
+EXPOSE 8000
+
+ENV SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI="sqlite:////var/lib/pears/data/app.db"
+ENV LOGO_PATH="/var/lib/pears/data"
+ENV PODS_DIR="/var/lib/pears/data/pods"
+ENV SUGGESTIONS_DIR="/var/lib/pears/data/userdata"
+
+RUN mkdir -p /var/lib/pears/data/pod /var/lib/pears/data/userdata
+
+COPY . /app
+
+RUN chmod +x /app/deployment/entrypoint.sh
+
+# Set the entrypoint script to be executed
+ENTRYPOINT ["/app/deployment/entrypoint.sh"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/deployment/entrypoint.sh b/deployment/entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c36018d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# entrypoint.sh
+
+flask db migrate
+
+gunicorn -b 0.0.0.0:8000 -w 3 -t 120 app:app
\ No newline at end of file