diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 02f32301335a..ec87f83efcad 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -66,3 +66,6 @@ docker-cache-new/
 
 # Ignore the version.json as this should be created during the build
 version.json
+
+# Ignore db backup files
+backup-olympia.*.sql
diff --git a/Makefile-docker b/Makefile-docker
index 3bb64f42f5ec..60b986667131 100644
--- a/Makefile-docker
+++ b/Makefile-docker
@@ -96,7 +96,10 @@ initialize_db: ## create a new database
 	$(PYTHON_COMMAND) manage.py migrate --noinput
 	$(PYTHON_COMMAND) manage.py loaddata initial.json
 	$(PYTHON_COMMAND) manage.py import_prod_versions
-	$(PYTHON_COMMAND) manage.py createsuperuser
+	$(PYTHON_COMMAND) manage.py createsuperuser \
+		--no-input \
+		--username "$(SUPERUSER_USERNAME)" \
+		--email $(SUPERUSER_EMAIL)
 	$(PYTHON_COMMAND) manage.py loaddata zadmin/users
 
 .PHONY: populate_data
diff --git a/Makefile-os b/Makefile-os
index c06f3bcd27a5..1405ac08085c 100644
--- a/Makefile-os
+++ b/Makefile-os
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ VERSION_BUILD_URL ?= build
 # Exporting these variables make them default values for docker-compose*.yml files
 export DOCKER_VERSION ?= local
 
+EXPORT_FILE ?= backup-olympia.$(shell date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S).sql
+# define the username and email for the superuser in the container
+SUPERUSER_EMAIL=$(shell git config user.email)
+SUPERUSER_USERNAME=$(shell git config user.name)
+
 .PHONY: help_redirect
 help_redirect:
 	@$(MAKE) help --no-print-directory
@@ -41,7 +46,22 @@ rootshell: ## connect to a running addons-server docker shell with root user
 
 .PHONY: create_env_file
 create_env_file:
-	echo "HOST_UID=${HOST_UID}" > .env
+	@ rm -f .env
+	echo "HOST_UID=${HOST_UID}" >> .env
+	echo "SUPERUSER_EMAIL=${SUPERUSER_EMAIL}" >> .env
+	echo "SUPERUSER_USERNAME=${SUPERUSER_USERNAME}" >> .env
+
+.PHONY: db_export
+db_export:
+	@echo "Exporting database to $(EXPORT_FILE)"
+	docker compose exec mysqld /usr/bin/mysqldump olympia > $(EXPORT_FILE)
+
+.PHONY: db_restore
+db_restore:
+	@if [ ! -f "$(RESTORE_FILE)" ]; then echo "File $(RESTORE_FILE) does not exist"; exit 1; fi
+	@echo "Restoring database from $(RESTORE_FILE)"
+	cat $(RESTORE_FILE) | docker compose exec -T mysqld /usr/bin/mysql olympia
+	rm $(RESTORE_FILE)
 
 .PHONY: create_docker_builder
 create_docker_builder: ## Create a custom builder for buildkit to efficiently build local images
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index ae38d7c2e41c..69c7c24c1762 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ x-env-mapping: &env
     # it exists. ./docker/entrypoint.sh uses this variable to fix
     # the uid of the olympia user to match the host user id if necessary.
     - HOST_UID=${HOST_UID:-}
+    # This is the email address of the superuser created when initializing the db
+    - SUPERUSER_EMAIL=${SUPERUSER_EMAIL:-admin@mozilla.com}
+    - SUPERUSER_USERNAME=${SUPERUSER_USERNAME:-admin}
 
 services:
   worker: &worker
@@ -89,6 +92,8 @@ services:
       - MYSQL_DATABASE=olympia
     ports:
     - "3306:3306"
+    volumes:
+      - data:/var/lib/mysql
 
   elasticsearch:
     image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.17.3
@@ -144,3 +149,6 @@ services:
 
 networks:
   default:
+
+volumes:
+  data: