diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0d5db5f..b310ab8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,3 +9,6 @@
 
 
 .DS_Store
+
+# docker volumes
+/dockervolume
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 062b57f..b8daf92 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ To run this server, you have to connect to a MongoDB database. Your server will
 Two options for getting a MONGO_URI for development:
 
 1. (most recommended) Sign up for Mongo Atlas yourself and create a databse for yourself, find the URI by going through the 'connect' flow.
-2. Run a local MongoDB instance and connect.
+2. Run a local MongoDB instance using Docker Compose with the command `docker compose up`.
+3. Run a local MongoDB instance and connect.
 
 ### Set up .env
 
@@ -45,6 +46,12 @@ Set your `MONGO_URI` evironment variable in a `.env` file inside `server/`. If y
 MONGO_URI="mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster0-cusns.mongodb.net/<database>?retryWrites=true&w=majority"
 ```
 
+If you're using Docker Compose, set you `MONGO_URI` to:
+
+```
+MONGO_URI="mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017?retryWrites=true&w=majority"
+```
+
 I put an example `.env` file in `.env.sample` feel free to `mv .env.sample .env` to get started.
 
 ### To Test
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7bb1bed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+version: '3'
+services:
+  mongo:
+    image: mongo:5.0
+    restart: always
+    ports:
+      - 27017:27017
+    environment:
+      - MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=admin
+      - MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=password
+    container_name: mongo
+    volumes:
+      - './dockervolume/mongodb:/data/db'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/.env.sample b/server/.env.sample
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d40926f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/.env.sample
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+MONGO_URI="mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017?retryWrites=true&w=majority"
\ No newline at end of file