diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
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+FROM ubuntu:18.04
+
+RUN  apt-get update \
+  && apt-get install -y wget gnupg
+  
+#install python 3.7 through Miniconda
+WORKDIR /opt
+RUN wget --quiet https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-py37_4.8.3-Linux-x86_64.sh -O ~/miniconda.sh && \
+    /bin/bash ~/miniconda.sh -b -p /opt/conda && \
+    rm ~/miniconda.sh && \
+    /opt/conda/bin/conda clean -tipsy && \
+    ln -s /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh /etc/profile.d/conda.sh && \
+    echo ". /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" >> /etc/bash.bashrc && \
+    echo "conda activate base" >> /etc/bash.bashrc
+
+ENV PATH /opt/conda/bin:$PATH
+
+#install postgres11 (the specific version 11 is needed)
+# add the repository to get version 11, # get the signing key and import it
+RUN echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ bionic-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list 
+RUN wget https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc
+RUN apt-key add ACCC4CF8.asc
+
+RUN DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive" apt-get -y install tzdata
+
+# fetch the metadata from the new repo
+RUN apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install -y postgresql-11 libpq-dev
+
+ENV PATH /usr/lib/postgresql/11/bin:$PATH
+
+#install node10
+RUN apt -y install curl dirmngr apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates \
+    && curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | bash \
+    && apt update \
+    && apt -y install gcc g++ make nodejs
+
+#update npm
+RUN npm cache clean --force
+RUN npm update
+RUN npm install -g npm@latest
+
+#install ruby
+RUN apt install -y ruby-full
+RUN gem install compass
+
+#install remaining dependencies
+RUN apt-get install -y openjdk-11-jre-headless nginx graphviz redis git bsdtar 
+
+#get elasticsearch 5.6 binary 
+RUN wget https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-5.6.0.tar.gz \
+    && tar -xzvf elasticsearch-5.6.0.tar.gz
+ENV PATH /opt/elasticsearch-5.6.0/bin:$PATH
+
+#install snovault from git repo
+WORKDIR /opt
+RUN git clone https://github.com/ENCODE-DCC/snovault.git
+WORKDIR /opt/snovault
+RUN conda install pip
+RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
+RUN make clean && buildout bootstrap && bin/buildout
+
+#NOTE:SNOVAULT CAN'T BE RUN AS ROOT, BUT FIRST WE CHMOD /tmp and /var/log to be writable by our snovault-user for logging purposes
+RUN useradd snovault-user
+RUN chmod -R 777 /opt
+RUN chmod -R 777 /tmp
+RUN chmod -R 777 /var
+RUN chmod -R 777 /run
+WORKDIR /opt/snovault
+
+#copy snovault start script 
+COPY start_snovault.sh .
+RUN chmod +x start_snovault.sh
+
+#snovault runs on port 6543 by default 
+EXPOSE 6543
+
+USER snovault-user
+CMD ./start_snovault.sh
+
+
diff --git a/docker/README.md b/docker/README.md
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/README.md
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+To run snovault in a docker container:
+
+```
+docker build -t snovault:latest .
+docker run -p 6543:6543 -dit snovault:latest
+```
+(wait ~20 seconds for the snovault server to start up before viewing the snovault portal on localhost:6543 in your browser)
diff --git a/docker/start_snovault.sh b/docker/start_snovault.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec8c6d4407
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/start_snovault.sh
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+#!/bin/bash
+bin/dev-servers development.ini --app-name app --clear --init --load &
+sleep 10
+bin/pserve development.ini