diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1fb6b34..d587634 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,5 +5,6 @@ venv/
 __azurite*
 ./digger
 cloud
-.env
-.docker-compose-env
+*.env
+*.env.*
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index df25fbc..aeca8a8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,10 +2,8 @@ The repository for digger official API.
 
 # How to run for development
 
-```
-# run the database
-docker-compse up
-# create .env file with creds
-echo "DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:23q4RSDFSDFS@127.0.0.1:5432/postgres" >> .env
-make start
-```
+1. Create the environment files for local development:
+   2. `echo "DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:23q4RSDFSDFS@127.0.0.1:5432/postgres" > .env`
+   3. `echo "DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:23q4RSDFSDFS@postgres:5432/postgres" > .env.docker-compose`
+2. Start the Docker containers for the database and the API via `docker-compose up` or `docker-compose up -d` which should make it available from http://localhost:3100   
+3. You can also run the API by typing `make start` which should make it available from http://localhost:3000
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 905da19..8328d9d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 version: '3.7'
 
-
 services:
   postgres:
     image: postgres:alpine
@@ -8,15 +7,20 @@ services:
       - "5432:5432"
     environment:
       - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=23q4RSDFSDFS
+    healthcheck:
+      test: [ "CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres" ]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
 
   web:
-    depends_on:
+    links:
       - postgres
-    build:
-      context: .
-      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    depends_on:
+      postgres:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    build: ./
     env_file:
-      - .docker-compose-env
-    restart: always
+      - .env.docker-compose
     ports:
-      - "3000:3000"
\ No newline at end of file
+      - "3100:3000"