diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6457f76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+.git
+.gitignore
+.venv39
+venv
+__pycache__
+*.pyc
+*.pyo
+*.pyd
+db.sqlite3
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f05eba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Use official lightweight Python 3.11 image
+FROM python:3.11-slim
+
+# Prevent Python from writing .pyc files and enable unbuffered logging
+ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Install system dependencies required for building wheels (mysqlclient, Pillow)
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    build-essential \
+    default-libmysqlclient-dev \
+    pkg-config \
+    libjpeg-dev \
+    zlib1g-dev \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Copy requirements and install
+COPY requirements.txt /app/
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+
+# Copy the rest of the backend code
+COPY . /app/
+
+EXPOSE 8000
+
+# Run the development server
+CMD ["python", "website/manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93f6a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+version: '3.8'
+
+services:
+  backend:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    container_name: recursion-backend
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    volumes:
+      # Mount the website folder to preserve the db.sqlite3 and allow hot-reloading
+      - ./website:/app/website
+    env_file:
+      - ./website/.env
+    environment:
+      # Override the host-specific database path to the container path
+      - DATABASE_URL=sqlite:////app/website/db.sqlite3
+      - FRONTEND_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
+    restart: always
+
+  frontend:
+    build:
+      context: ../RECursionNITD-Frontend
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+    container_name: recursion-frontend
+    ports:
+      - "3000:3000"
+    volumes:
+      - ../RECursionNITD-Frontend/src:/app/src
+      - ../RECursionNITD-Frontend/public:/app/public
+    env_file:
+      - ../RECursionNITD-Frontend/.env
+    environment:
+      - REACT_APP_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:8000
+    # Required for Create React App to stay alive in Docker
+    stdin_open: true
+    tty: true
+    restart: always
+    depends_on:
+      - backend