diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9fe342c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+./target
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ef5f15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# no point in tagging the rust version, currently using nightly
+FROM rust:slim-buster
+
+RUN apt update && apt -y install libssl-dev libpq-dev pkg-config make
+RUN rustup default nightly
+
+WORKDIR /atuin
+COPY . /atuin
+
+RUN cargo build --release
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["/atuin/target/release/atuin"]
diff --git a/src/settings.rs b/src/settings.rs
index dcf69a7..5d19699 100644
--- a/src/settings.rs
+++ b/src/settings.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 
 use chrono::prelude::*;
 use chrono::Utc;
-use config::{Config, File as ConfigFile};
+use config::{Config, Environment, File as ConfigFile};
 use directories::ProjectDirs;
 use eyre::{eyre, Result};
 use parse_duration::parse;
@@ -94,10 +94,14 @@ impl Settings {
 
         create_dir_all(config_dir)?;
 
-        let mut config_file = PathBuf::new();
-        config_file.push(config_dir);
-        config_file.push("config.toml");
-        let config_file = config_file.as_path();
+        let config_file = if let Ok(p) = std::env::var("ATUIN_CONFIG") {
+            PathBuf::from(p)
+        } else {
+            let mut config_file = PathBuf::new();
+            config_file.push(config_dir);
+            config_file.push("config.toml");
+            config_file
+        };
 
         // create the config file if it does not exist
 
@@ -129,7 +133,7 @@ impl Settings {
         s.set_default("server.host", "127.0.0.1")?;
         s.set_default("server.port", 8888)?;
         s.set_default("server.open_registration", false)?;
-        s.set_default("server.db_uri", "please set a postgres url")?;
+        s.set_default("server.db_uri", "DEFAULT POSTGRES URI, PLEASE CHANGE")?;
 
         if config_file.exists() {
             s.merge(ConfigFile::with_name(config_file.to_str().unwrap()))?;
@@ -139,6 +143,8 @@ impl Settings {
             file.write_all(example_config)?;
         }
 
+        s.merge(Environment::with_prefix("atuin").separator("_"))?;
+
         // all paths should be expanded
         let db_path = s.get_str("local.db_path")?;
         let db_path = shellexpand::full(db_path.as_str())?;