diff --git a/Dockerfile-dev b/Dockerfile-dev
index e8c00d0..f2533f2 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-dev
+++ b/Dockerfile-dev
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ FROM ruby:3.4
 
 WORKDIR /usr/src/app
 
+RUN apt-get update -qq && \
+    apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y build-essential git pkg-config libpq-dev && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 COPY Gemfile* .
 RUN bundle install
 
@@ -9,8 +13,7 @@ COPY . .
 
 # Expose the port the app runs on
 EXPOSE 3000
-# Set the environment variable for Rails
 ENV RAILS_ENV=development
 
-# To start the app with just this file, uncomment the next line
-# CMD ["bin/rails", "server", "-b", "0.0.0.0", "-p", "3000"]
+ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/src/app/bin/docker-entrypoint"]
+CMD ["./bin/rails", "server", "--binding=0.0.0.0", "--port=3000"]
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ba37f6b..850beeb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,16 +1,12 @@
-# On linux
-# - ensure valkey is running before starting the app
-# - maybe shut it down when stopping
+ifeq ($(CONTAINERIZED),1)
+up: up-container
 
+down: down-container
+
+tail: tail-container
+else
 up:
-	@if [ "$(shell systemctl is-active valkey)" != "active" ]; then \
-		echo "valkey is not running. Starting valkey..."; \
-		systemctl start valkey; \
-	else \
-		echo "valkey is already running."; \
-	fi
-	@echo "Starting the application..."
-	bundle exec rails server --binding=0.0.0.0
+	@bin/dev
 
 down:
 	@echo "Stopping the application..."
@@ -19,4 +15,16 @@ down:
 tail:
 	@echo "Tailing the application logs..."
 	tail -f log/*.log
+endif
+
+up-container:
+	@docker compose up --build
+
+down-container:
+	@echo "Stopping the application..."
+	@docker compose down
+
+tail-container:
+	@echo "Tailing the application logs..."
+	@docker compose logs -f web
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0a7b27c..e95b7bf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Developer Notes
 
-- until containerized, ensure Valkey or Redis server is running
+- run the whole stack with `make up CONTAINERIZED=1` (or `make up-container` / `docker compose up --build`)
+- local `make up` / `bin/dev` requires Valkey to already be listening on the configured Redis port
 
 # README
 
diff --git a/bin/dev b/bin/dev
index 5f91c20..7e817f6 100755
--- a/bin/dev
+++ b/bin/dev
@@ -1,2 +1,27 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env ruby
+require "socket"
+require "uri"
+
+def redis_endpoint
+  uri = URI.parse(ENV.fetch("REDIS_URL", "redis://127.0.0.1:6379/1"))
+  [uri.host, uri.port]
+rescue URI::InvalidURIError
+  ["127.0.0.1", 6379]
+end
+
+def port_open?(host, port, timeout: 1)
+  Socket.tcp(host, port, connect_timeout: timeout) { true }
+rescue StandardError
+  false
+end
+
+if ENV["CONTAINERIZED"] != "1"
+  host, port = redis_endpoint
+
+  unless port_open?(host, port)
+    warn "Valkey is not listening on #{host}:#{port}. Start it first, or run make up CONTAINERIZED=1."
+    exit 1
+  end
+end
+
 exec "./bin/rails", "server", *ARGV
diff --git a/bin/docker-entrypoint b/bin/docker-entrypoint
index 57567d6..e62a954 100755
--- a/bin/docker-entrypoint
+++ b/bin/docker-entrypoint
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ if [ -z "${LD_PRELOAD+x}" ]; then
     export LD_PRELOAD
 fi
 
-# If running the rails server then create or migrate existing database
-if [ "${@: -2:1}" == "./bin/rails" ] && [ "${@: -1:1}" == "server" ]; then
+# If running the rails server then create or migrate existing database.
+# Allow extra server flags after the command.
+if [ "${1:-}" = "./bin/rails" ] && [ "${2:-}" = "server" ]; then
   ./bin/rails db:prepare
 fi
 
diff --git a/config/cable.yml b/config/cable.yml
index 3897fb2..0a3061a 100644
--- a/config/cable.yml
+++ b/config/cable.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # to make the web console appear.
 development:
   adapter: redis
-  url: redis://localhost:6379/1
+  url: <%= ENV.fetch("REDIS_URL", "redis://localhost:6379/1") %>
 
 test:
   adapter: test
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index fb076fd..3f0b2ab 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -3,28 +3,45 @@ services:
     build:
       context: ./
       dockerfile: Dockerfile-dev
-    # depends_on:
-    #   - db
+    command: ["./bin/rails", "server", "--binding=0.0.0.0", "--port=3000"]
+    depends_on:
+      db:
+        condition: service_healthy
+      redis:
+        condition: service_healthy
     ports:
       - 3000:3000
     volumes:
       - .:/usr/src/app
     environment:
-      - RAILS_ENV=production
-    command: rails server --binding=0.0.0.0
+      RAILS_ENV: development
+      DB_HOST: db
+      REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379/1
 
-# Database for developer setup is sqlite3
-  # This is a try at configuring for postgresql
-  # db:
-  #   container_name: kbc-db
-  #   environment:
-  #     - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=rootpass
-  #   image: postgres:14.17
-  #   networks:
-  #     - kbc-net
-  #   ports:
-  #     -
-  #   volumes:
-  #     - ${PWD}/storage/postgresql.conf:/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf
-  #     - ./storage/db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
-  #   command: postgres -c 'config_file=/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf'
+  db:
+    image: postgres:16-alpine
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
+      POSTGRES_DB: kbc_development
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres -d kbc_development"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 10
+    volumes:
+      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+  redis:
+    image: redis:7-alpine
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "redis-cli ping | grep PONG"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 10
+    volumes:
+      - redis-data:/data
+
+volumes:
+  postgres-data:
+  redis-data: