diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f209b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Ignore target directory
+target/
+
+# Ignore editor-specific files
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+
+# Ignore any generated files
+**/*.rs.bk
+
+# Ignore any temporary files
+*.swp
+*.swo
+*.bak
+*.tmp
+*.log
+# Ignore CI/CD files
+.github/
+# Ignore data_cleaning
+data_cleaning/
+# Ignore gitingore
+.gitignore
+# Ignore dockerignore
+.dockerignore
+# ignore dockerfile
+Dockerfile
+# Ignore readme
+README.md
+# Ignore data
+data/
+# except what's needed
+!data/new_large/
+!data/new_small/
diff --git a/.env b/.env
deleted file mode 100755
index 1fdf40f..0000000
--- a/.env
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-DATABASE_URL="sqlite:./actors.db"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f5a7c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Builder stage
+FROM lukemathwalker/cargo-chef:latest-rust-1 AS chef
+WORKDIR /app/
+
+RUN apt update && apt install lld clang -y
+
+FROM chef AS planner
+
+COPY . .
+
+RUN cargo chef prepare --recipe-path recipe.json
+
+FROM chef AS builder
+
+COPY --from=planner /app/recipe.json recipe.json
+
+RUN cargo chef cook --release --recipe-path recipe.json
+
+COPY . .
+
+ENV SQLX_OFFLINE=true
+
+RUN cargo build --release --bin celeb_app
+
+FROM debian:bookworm-slim AS runtime
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+RUN apt-get update -y \
+    && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends openssl ca-certificates \
+    # Clean up
+    && apt-get autoremove -y \
+    && apt-get clean -y \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* 
+
+COPY --from=builder /app/target/release/celeb_app celeb_app
+
+COPY configuration configuration
+
+# move static files to the runtime image
+COPY --from=builder /app/static static
+
+# move actor db
+COPY --from=builder /app/actors.db actors.db
+# move movie_db csvs
+COPY --from=builder /app/data/new_large data/new_large
+
+ENV APP_ENVIRONMENT=production
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["./celeb_app"]
\ No newline at end of file