diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5910ce6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.12.2
+FROM python:${PYTHON_VERSION}-slim as base
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+COPY . .
+
+RUN python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+EXPOSE 8080
+
+
+CMD gunicorn 'counter-service:app' --bind=0.0.0.0:8080
diff --git a/counter-service.py b/counter-service.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e46e741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/counter-service.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
+import os
+
+app = Flask(__name__)
+
+# define path to file to store the counter 
+COUNTER_FILE = "./data/counter.txt"
+
+def read_counter():
+    """
+    reads the counter file for the counter value. If the file doesnot
+    exist it returns 0.
+    
+    Returns:
+        int: The current value of the counter
+    """
+
+    if os.path.exists(COUNTER_FILE):
+        with open(COUNTER_FILE, "r") as f:
+            return int(f.read().strip())
+    else:
+        return 0
+    
+def update_counter(counter):
+    """
+    updates the counter file with the passed counter argument
+    
+    Args: 
+        counter (int): The new counter value to be stored in the file
+    
+    """
+    with open(COUNTER_FILE,"w") as f:
+        f.write(str(counter))
+
+@app.route('/', methods=['GET','POST'])
+def handle_request():
+
+    counter = read_counter()
+
+    if request.method == 'POST':
+        counter+=1
+        update_counter(counter)
+        return f"updated the counter value. new value is ${counter}"
+    else:
+        return f"current posts request count is ${counter}"
+    
+@app.route('/health', methods=['GET'])
+def health_check():
+
+    try:
+        read_counter()
+        return jsonify({"status": "healthy"}), 200
+    except Exception as e:
+        return jsonify({"status": "unhealthy", "reson": str(e)}), 500
+    
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=8080, debug=False)
+    
+    
+
+    
diff --git a/data/counter.txt b/data/counter.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56a6051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/counter.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2802ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+blinker==1.8.1
+click==8.1.7
+Flask==3.0.3
+gunicorn==22.0.0
+itsdangerous==2.2.0
+Jinja2==3.1.4
+MarkupSafe==2.1.5
+packaging==24.0
+Werkzeug==3.0.3