diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbce115
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+*
+!src/*
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 485dee6..3bf780b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 .idea
+.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1bd0125..fc5d142 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -49,9 +49,14 @@ docker exec <container name> sh restore.sh <timestamp>
 ## Build the image locally
 `ALPINE_VERSION` determines Postgres version compatibility. See [`build-and-push-images.yml`](.github/workflows/build-and-push-images.yml) for the latest mapping.
 ```sh
-cd postgres-backup-s3
 docker build --build-arg ALPINE_VERSION=3.14
 ```
+## Run a simple test environment with Docker Compose
+```sh
+cp template.env .env
+# fill out your secrets/params in .env
+docker compose up -d
+```
 
 # Acknowledgements
 This project is a fork and re-structuring of @schickling's [postgres-backup-s3](https://github.com/schickling/dockerfiles/tree/master/postgres-backup-s3) and [postgres-restore-s3](https://github.com/schickling/dockerfiles/tree/master/postgres-restore-s3).
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16ac481
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# this file is here to facilitate development/testing
+# $ docker compose up -d --build --force-recreate
+
+services:
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:14
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: user
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
+
+  backup:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      args:
+        ALPINE_VERSION: '3.16'
+    environment:
+      SCHEDULE: '@weekly'     # optional
+      BACKUP_KEEP_DAYS: 7     # optional
+      PASSPHRASE: passphrase  # optional
+      S3_REGION:
+      S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID:
+      S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY:
+      S3_BUCKET:
+      S3_PREFIX: backup
+      POSTGRES_HOST: postgres
+      POSTGRES_DATABASE: postgres
+      POSTGRES_USER: user
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
diff --git a/template.env b/template.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0b5c24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/template.env
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+S3_REGION=""
+S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=""
+S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=""
+S3_BUCKET=""