diff --git a/internal/boxcli/generate.go b/internal/boxcli/generate.go
index e637fe0dbf6..7ac7b83b225 100644
--- a/internal/boxcli/generate.go
+++ b/internal/boxcli/generate.go
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ type generateCmdFlags struct {
 	rootUser          bool
 }
 
+type generateDockerfileCmdFlags struct {
+	generateCmdFlags
+	forType string
+}
+
 type GenerateReadmeCmdFlags struct {
 	generateCmdFlags
 	saveTemplate bool
@@ -94,7 +99,7 @@ func devcontainerCmd() *cobra.Command {
 }
 
 func dockerfileCmd() *cobra.Command {
-	flags := &generateCmdFlags{}
+	flags := &generateDockerfileCmdFlags{}
 	command := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "dockerfile",
 		Short: "Generate a Dockerfile that replicates devbox shell",
@@ -102,9 +107,25 @@ func dockerfileCmd() *cobra.Command {
 			"Can be used to run devbox shell environment in an OCI container.",
 		Args: cobra.MaximumNArgs(0),
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-			return runGenerateCmd(cmd, flags)
+			box, err := devbox.Open(&devopt.Opts{
+				Dir:         flags.config.path,
+				Environment: flags.config.environment,
+				Stderr:      cmd.ErrOrStderr(),
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				return errors.WithStack(err)
+			}
+			return box.GenerateDockerfile(cmd.Context(), devopt.GenerateOpts{
+				ForType:  flags.forType,
+				Force:    flags.force,
+				RootUser: flags.rootUser,
+			})
 		},
 	}
+	command.Flags().StringVar(
+		&flags.forType, "for", "dev",
+		"Generate Dockerfile for a specific type of container (dev, prod)")
+	command.Flag("for").Hidden = true
 	command.Flags().BoolVarP(
 		&flags.force, "force", "f", false, "force overwrite existing files")
 	command.Flags().BoolVar(
@@ -264,8 +285,6 @@ func runGenerateCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, flags *generateCmdFlags) error {
 		return box.Generate(cmd.Context())
 	case "devcontainer":
 		return box.GenerateDevcontainer(cmd.Context(), generateOpts)
-	case "dockerfile":
-		return box.GenerateDockerfile(cmd.Context(), generateOpts)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/devbox/devbox.go b/internal/devbox/devbox.go
index a8039f25960..a87116de16b 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/devbox.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/devbox.go
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ func (d *Devbox) GenerateDevcontainer(ctx context.Context, generateOpts devopt.G
 	}
 
 	// generate dockerfile
-	err = gen.CreateDockerfile(ctx)
+	err = gen.CreateDockerfile(ctx, generate.CreateDockerfileOptions{})
 	if err != nil {
 		return redact.Errorf("error generating dev container Dockerfile in <project>/%s: %w",
 			redact.Safe(filepath.Base(devContainerPath)), err)
@@ -489,8 +489,15 @@ func (d *Devbox) GenerateDockerfile(ctx context.Context, generateOpts devopt.Gen
 		LocalFlakeDirs: d.getLocalFlakesDirs(),
 	}
 
+	scripts := d.cfg.Scripts()
+
 	// generate dockerfile
-	return errors.WithStack(gen.CreateDockerfile(ctx))
+	return errors.WithStack(gen.CreateDockerfile(ctx, generate.CreateDockerfileOptions{
+		ForType:    generateOpts.ForType,
+		HasBuild:   scripts["build"] != nil,
+		HasInstall: scripts["install"] != nil,
+		HasStart:   scripts["start"] != nil,
+	}))
 }
 
 func PrintEnvrcContent(w io.Writer, envFlags devopt.EnvFlags) error {
diff --git a/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go b/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go
index 38483bc41c7..249dccfe550 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/devopt/devboxopts.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ type Opts struct {
 }
 
 type GenerateOpts struct {
+	ForType  string
 	Force    bool
 	RootUser bool
 }
diff --git a/internal/devbox/generate/devcontainer_util.go b/internal/devbox/generate/devcontainer_util.go
index af7b6b9ef26..4d891824351 100644
--- a/internal/devbox/generate/devcontainer_util.go
+++ b/internal/devbox/generate/devcontainer_util.go
@@ -6,18 +6,21 @@ package generate
 // package generate has functionality to implement the `devbox generate` command
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"embed"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"html/template"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"runtime/trace"
 	"strings"
+	"text/template"
 
+	"github.com/samber/lo"
+	"go.jetpack.io/devbox/internal/boxcli/usererr"
 	"go.jetpack.io/devbox/internal/debug"
 	"go.jetpack.io/devbox/internal/devbox/devopt"
 )
@@ -54,30 +57,65 @@ type vscode struct {
 	Extensions []string `json:"extensions"`
 }
 
-type dockerfileData struct {
-	IsDevcontainer bool
-	RootUser       bool
-	LocalFlakeDirs []string
+type CreateDockerfileOptions struct {
+	ForType    string
+	HasInstall bool
+	HasBuild   bool
+	HasStart   bool
+	// Ideally we also support process-compose services as the dockerfile
+	// CMD, but I'm currently having trouble getting that to work. Will revisit.
+	// HasServices bool
+}
+
+func (opts CreateDockerfileOptions) Type() string {
+	return cmp.Or(opts.ForType, "dev")
+}
+
+func (opts CreateDockerfileOptions) validate() error {
+	if opts.Type() == "dev" {
+		return nil
+	} else if opts.Type() == "prod" {
+		if opts.HasStart {
+			return nil
+		}
+		return usererr.New(
+			"To generate a prod Dockerfile you must have either 'start' script in " +
+				"devbox.json",
+		)
+	}
+	return usererr.New(
+		"invalid Dockerfile type. Only 'dev' and 'prod' are supported")
 }
 
-// CreateDockerfile creates a Dockerfile in path and writes devcontainerDockerfile.tmpl's content into it
-func (g *Options) CreateDockerfile(ctx context.Context) error {
+// CreateDockerfile creates a Dockerfile in path.
+func (g *Options) CreateDockerfile(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	opts CreateDockerfileOptions,
+) error {
 	defer trace.StartRegion(ctx, "createDockerfile").End()
 
+	if err := opts.validate(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// create dockerfile
 	file, err := os.Create(filepath.Join(g.Path, "Dockerfile"))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	defer file.Close()
-	// get dockerfile content
-	tmplName := "devcontainerDockerfile.tmpl"
-	t := template.Must(template.ParseFS(tmplFS, "tmpl/"+tmplName))
+	path := fmt.Sprintf("tmpl/%s.Dockerfile.tmpl", opts.Type())
+	t := template.Must(template.ParseFS(tmplFS, path))
 	// write content into file
-	return t.Execute(file, &dockerfileData{
-		IsDevcontainer: g.IsDevcontainer,
-		RootUser:       g.RootUser,
-		LocalFlakeDirs: g.LocalFlakeDirs,
+	return t.Execute(file, map[string]any{
+		"IsDevcontainer": g.IsDevcontainer,
+		"RootUser":       g.RootUser,
+		"LocalFlakeDirs": g.LocalFlakeDirs,
+
+		// The following are only used for prod Dockerfile
+		"DevboxRunInstall": lo.Ternary(opts.HasInstall, "devbox run install", "echo 'No install script found, skipping'"),
+		"DevboxRunBuild":   lo.Ternary(opts.HasBuild, "devbox run build", "echo 'No build script found, skipping'"),
+		"Cmd":              fmt.Sprintf("%q, %q, %q", "devbox", "run", "start"),
 	})
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/devcontainerDockerfile.tmpl b/internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/dev.Dockerfile.tmpl
similarity index 100%
rename from internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/devcontainerDockerfile.tmpl
rename to internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/dev.Dockerfile.tmpl
diff --git a/internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/prod.Dockerfile.tmpl b/internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/prod.Dockerfile.tmpl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..00310ad41f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/devbox/generate/tmpl/prod.Dockerfile.tmpl
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+FROM jetpackio/devbox:latest
+
+WORKDIR /code
+USER root:root
+RUN mkdir -p /code && chown ${DEVBOX_USER}:${DEVBOX_USER} /code
+USER ${DEVBOX_USER}:${DEVBOX_USER}
+
+{{- /*
+Ideally, we first copy over devbox.json and devbox.lock and run `devbox install` 
+to create a cache layer for the dependencies. This is complicated because
+devbox.json may include local dependencies (flakes and plugins). We could try
+to copy those in (the way the dev Dockerfile does) but that's brittle because
+those dependencies may also pull in other local dependencies and so on. Another
+sulution would be to add a new flag `devbox install --skip-errors` that would 
+just try to install what it can, and ignore the rest.
+
+A hack to make this simpler is to install from the lockfile instead of the json.
+*/}}
+
+COPY --chown=${DEVBOX_USER}:${DEVBOX_USER} . .
+
+RUN devbox install
+
+RUN {{ .DevboxRunInstall }}
+
+RUN {{ .DevboxRunBuild }}
+
+CMD [{{ .Cmd }}]