diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aad30826
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Ignore common Python files and directories
+*.pyc
+__pycache__/
+*.pyo
+*.pyd
+
+# Ignore development and testing files
+*.env
+*.log
+*.sqlite3
+
+# Ignore virtual environment files
+venv/
+.env
+
+# vscode & codespaces
+.vscode/*
+!.vscode/settings.json
+!.vscode/tasks.json
+!.vscode/launch.json
+!.vscode/extensions.json
+*.code-workspace
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3c351003
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Use the official Python image as the base image
+FROM python:3.12-alpine
+
+# Install MySQL and PostgreSQL client libraries
+RUN apk update && apk add --no-cache \
+    mariadb-connector-c-dev \
+    postgresql-dev python3-dev musl-dev
+
+# Install Tox
+RUN pip install tox
+RUN tox -e dev
+
+# Set the working directory
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy the project files to the working directory
+COPY . /app
+
+# Set the entrypoint command
+CMD ["tox"]
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index ae480ce3..bddbb441 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -122,6 +122,12 @@ Create development virtualenv (you need to have tox installed in your base syste
     tox -e dev
     source .tox/dev/bin/activate
 
+To run the test project, with the folder of the project as the current directory, run::
+    
+    export PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/app/src"
+    docker run  -d postgres -p 5432:5432
+
+
 Then run the full import::
 
     test_project/manage.py migrate
@@ -129,6 +135,14 @@ Then run the full import::
 
 There are several environment variables which affect project settings (like DB_ENGINE and CI), you can find them all in test_project/settings.py.
 
+For example to change the database engine, you can run::
+
+    export DB_ENGINE=postgresql
+    export DB_HOST=192.168.0.118
+    export DB_NAME=app
+    export DB_USER=postgres
+    export DB_PORT=5432
+
 To run the test suite you need to have postgresql or mysql installed with passwordless login, or just use sqlite. Otherwise the tests which try to create/drop database will fail.
 
 Running the full test suite::
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9bec07aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+version: '3.9'
+services:
+  db:
+    image: postgres
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: example
+  app:
+    build: .
+    volumes:
+      - .:/app
+    working_dir: /app
+    links:
+      - db