diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08fb879
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+FROM ubuntu:16.04
+
+MAINTAINER Florian Schüller <florian.schueller@gmail.com>
+
+# This is where your data is
+ENV GENEWEBDB     /genewebData
+
+# Location specific to ubuntu installation
+ENV GENEWEBSHARE  /usr/share/geneweb
+# Location specific to ubuntu installation
+ENV GENEWEBDOC    /usr/share/doc/geneweb
+
+# Temporary logfile used for setup
+ENV SETUP_LOGFILE /tmp/setup_log.txt
+
+# HTTP Port where geneweb is running
+ENV PORT         2317
+
+# HTTP Port only used for setup purposes (when you don't have a database yet)
+ENV SETUP_PORT   2316
+
+# Language of interface and setup
+ENV LANGUAGE     ${LANGUAGE}
+
+EXPOSE ${PORT}
+EXPOSE ${SETUP_PORT}
+
+RUN \
+  apt-get update && \
+  apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends gwsetup geneweb && \
+  rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# seems to be some bug of "gwsetup"
+RUN ln -s /usr/bin/gwc2 /usr/share/geneweb/gwc2
+RUN ln -s /usr/bin/gwb2ged /usr/share/geneweb/gwb2ged
+RUN ln -s /usr/bin/gwu /usr/share/geneweb/gwu
+
+COPY scripts/bootstrap.sh /
+RUN chmod a+x /bootstrap.sh
+
+COPY scripts/start_setup.sh /
+RUN chmod a+x /start_setup.sh
+
+VOLUME ${GENEWEBDB}
+
+# The IP of the Docker host - setup needs this to enable access
+ENV HOST_IP      172.17.0.1
+
+RUN echo ${HOST_IP} > /setup_ips.txt
+
+CMD ["/bootstrap.sh"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8e9396f..f732c53 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,49 @@
 # docker-geneweb
 Dockerized installation of Geneweb
+
+The container does not include `gwsetup` by default but this is only installed once to create a database
+
+*hint:* `gwsetup` is the program to create a genealogy database initially
+
+## Usage
+
+Usually you want to keep your database so to keep your data in an *existing* directory e.g. `${HOME}/GenealogyData`
+
+Just run the container:
+```
+docker run --env LANGUAGE=de -d --name docker-geneweb -p2316:2316 -p2317:2317 -v ${HOME}/GenealogyData:/genewebData docker-geneweb:latest
+```
+
+and go to [http://localhost:2317]
+
+if you happen to have the git repository you can also execute:
+```
+./start.sh
+```
+
+**note:** the directory `${HOME}/GenealogyData` has to be a *full path*
+
+## Setup
+The setup will be started automatically [http://localhost:2316] if no database can be found
+
+**Please be patient** the setup tool will be installed "on the fly" only upon the *first start* if you don't have any genealogy database.
+
+If you start the container and you already have a database but you want more databases or do some backup you need to start the setup manually like so:
+
+```
+docker exec docker-geneweb /start_setup.sh
+```
+and then navigate to [http://localhost:2316]
+## Shutdown
+
+To shutdown the container just run
+```
+docker stop docker-geneweb
+docker rm docker-geneweb
+```
+
+## Backup
+If you need to do a backup just either backup your data folder (e.g. `${HOME}/GenealogyData`)
+
+To export the data as "*.ged" file or similar you need to start the "setup" tool (see above)
+
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2b06a68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+docker build --tag docker-geneweb:latest --tag docker-geneweb:1.0 .
+
+
diff --git a/scripts/bootstrap.sh b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f7f8789
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+
+# no database found - we need the setup
+if [ $(ls ${GENEWEBDB}/*.gwb 2>/dev/null|wc -l) -eq 0 ]; then
+    /start_setup.sh
+fi
+
+/usr/bin/gwd -lang ${LANGUAGE} -hd ${GENEWEBSHARE} -dd ${GENEWEBDOC} -bd ${GENEWEBDB} -p ${PORT}
diff --git a/scripts/start_setup.sh b/scripts/start_setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b3a3487
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/start_setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+pushd ${GENEWEBDB}
+    gwsetup -p ${SETUP_PORT} -gd ${GENEWEBSHARE} -lang ${LANGUAGE} -only /setup_ips.txt -log ${SETUP_LOGFILE} &
+popd
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8c8c7d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+
+mkdir -p ${HOME}/GenealogyData
+docker rm docker-geneweb 2>/dev/null
+docker run -d --name docker-geneweb -p2316:2316 -p2317:2317 -v ${HOME}/GenealogyData:/genewebData docker-geneweb:latest
diff --git a/stop.sh b/stop.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..df78d60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stop.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+docker stop docker-geneweb
+docker rm docker-geneweb