diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e169ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Git and VCS
+.git
+.gitmodules
+
+# Python caches
+__pycache__/
+*.pyc
+*.pyo
+*.pyd
+*.pytest_cache/
+.pytest_cache/
+
+# Virtual environments
+.venv/
+.env
+.env.*
+
+# Build artifacts
+build/
+dist/
+*.egg-info/
+.coverage
+htmlcov/
+
+# OS files
+.DS_Store
+
+# Tool caches
+.ruff_cache/
+.uv/
+
+# Local DBs
+*.sqlite3
+
+# Docker
+Dockerfile*
+compose.override.yml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index c6ea985..7f6deef 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
+      # NOTE: we manage uv and python directly right now, but we can DRY this up by using docker within the
+      # GH actions workflow in the future. The direct method is supposed to be faster so we'll leave it for
+      # now. When we start to have more complex dependencies within the dockerfile we can swap over.
+      # Sample run commands:
+      # docker build -t form-submission-mvp:ci .
+      # docker run --rm form-submission-mvp:ci uv run pytest -q
       - name: Install uv
         run: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86eab2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.7
+FROM python:3.12-slim AS base
+
+ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 \
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+
+# Install system deps (curl for uv installer, build tools only if needed)
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    curl ca-certificates \
+ && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Install uv
+RUN curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
+ENV PATH="/root/.local/bin:${PATH}"
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy project metadata first for better layer caching
+COPY pyproject.toml uv.lock* ./
+
+# Install dependencies without installing the project code yet (faster rebuilds)
+RUN uv sync --frozen --no-install-project
+
+# Copy the rest of the source code
+COPY . .
+
+# Install the project itself (editable-like install)
+RUN uv sync --frozen
+
+EXPOSE 8000
+
+# For Django dev server; override in compose for different commands
+CMD ["uv", "run", "python", "efile_app/manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
diff --git a/compose.yml b/compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86c159a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+services:
+  web:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    image: form-submission-mvp:web
+    command: >-
+      sh -c "uv run python efile_app/manage.py migrate &&
+             uv run python efile_app/manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    environment:
+      PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE: "1"
+      PYTHONUNBUFFERED: "1"
+      # DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE: efile.settings  # manage.py sets this; uncomment to override
+    volumes:
+      - .:/app:delegated
+      - venv:/app/.venv
+    # healthcheck:
+    #   test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- http://localhost:8000/ || exit 1"]
+    #   interval: 10s
+    #   timeout: 5s
+    #   retries: 5
+
+volumes:
+  venv:
+    driver: local