diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 15f7b4c..d7be2bd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -165,6 +165,12 @@ For information on spinning up your own dev Web API server locally, have a look
 
     DEVELOPMENT=1 uvicorn readalongs.web_api:web_api_app --reload
 
+or
+
+    ./run-web-api.sh
+
+Note that the production command line for the Web API is defined in [Procfile](Procfile) and documented in [web\_api.py](readalongs/web_api.py).
+
 #### /langs
 
 To query a list of available languages in the ReadAlong Studio API, send a GET request to https://readalongs-studio.herokuapp.com/api/v1/langs
diff --git a/run-web-api.sh b/run-web-api.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..54abc17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run-web-api.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Convenience script to launch the Web API in development mode.
+# Do not use in production!  (See ../Procfile for the prod launch command.)
+#
+# Usage:
+#    pip install uvicorn
+#    /path/to/run-web-api.sh
+#
+# Further documentation is in readalongs/web_api.py
+
+# Move to the code root directory, so that --reload works correctly.
+CODE_ROOT_PATH=$(dirname $(realpath $0))/readalongs
+cd $CODE_ROOT_PATH
+
+# Launch the Web API with the --reload option, which will automatically reload
+# the server whenver the code changes.
+DEVELOPMENT=1 uvicorn readalongs.web_api:web_api_app --reload