diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e78bb618
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Local runs for storedog
+local-start:
+	if [[ "$(PROFILE)" ]]; then \
+		rm -rf ./services/backend/tmp ./services/backend/log; \
+		docker-compose --profile "$(PROFILE)" up --force-recreate -d; \
+	else \
+		rm -rf ./services/backend/tmp ./services/backend/log; \
+		docker-compose up --force-recreate -d; \
+	fi
+
+local-stop:
+	if [[ "$(PROFILE)" ]]; then \
+		docker-compose --profile "$(PROFILE)" down; \
+	else \
+		docker-compose down; \
+	fi
+	
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4cc321f4..9b859d12 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ Open the `.env` file under the project root and enter the values for the variabl
 **3.**
 Open the `./services/frontend/site/.env.local` file and enter the values for the variables. The default values should all work except for the empty `NEXT_PUBLIC_DD_APPLICATION_KEY` and `NEXT_PUBLIC_CLIENT_TOKEN`, which are required to enable RUM.
 
-**4.** Start the app: `docker-compose up`
+**4.** Start the app: `make local-start`
+    **4a.** If you want to work with a profile for a specific lab, you can pass that in as an argument `make local-start PROFILE=<profile-name>`
+**5.** When you're finished you can run `make local-stop` or `make local-stop PROFILE=<profile-name>` if working with a profile
 
 ## Image publication
 Images are stored in our public ECR repo `public.ecr.aws/x2b9z2t7`. On PR merges, only the affected services will be pushed to the ECR repo, using the `latest` tag. For example, if you only made changes to the `backend` service, then only the `backend` Github workflow will trigger and publish `public.ecr.aws/x2b9z2t7/storedog/backend:latest`.