diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ab20258c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*$py.class
+
+# C extensions
+*.so
+
+# Distribution / packaging
+.Python
+build/
+develop-eggs/
+dist/
+downloads/
+eggs/
+.eggs/
+lib/
+lib64/
+parts/
+sdist/
+var/
+wheels/
+pip-wheel-metadata/
+share/python-wheels/
+*.egg-info/
+.installed.cfg
+*.egg
+MANIFEST
+
+# PyInstaller
+#  Usually these files are written by a python script from a template
+#  before PyInstaller builds the exe, so as to inject date/other infos into it.
+*.manifest
+*.spec
+
+# Installer logs
+pip-log.txt
+pip-delete-this-directory.txt
+
+# Unit test / coverage reports
+htmlcov/
+.tox/
+.nox/
+.coverage
+.coverage.*
+.cache
+nosetests.xml
+coverage.xml
+*.cover
+*.py,cover
+.hypothesis/
+.pytest_cache/
+
+# Translations
+*.mo
+*.pot
+
+# Django stuff:
+*.log
+local_settings.py
+db.sqlite3
+db.sqlite3-journal
+
+# Flask stuff:
+instance/
+.webassets-cache
+
+# Scrapy stuff:
+.scrapy
+
+# Sphinx documentation
+docs/_build/
+
+# PyBuilder
+target/
+
+# Jupyter Notebook
+.ipynb_checkpoints
+notebooks/
+
+# IPython
+profile_default/
+ipython_config.py
+
+# pyenv
+.python-version
+
+# pipenv
+#   According to pypa/pipenv#598, it is recommended to include Pipfile.lock in version control.
+#   However, in case of collaboration, if having platform-specific dependencies or dependencies
+#   having no cross-platform support, pipenv may install dependencies that don't work, or not
+#   install all needed dependencies.
+#Pipfile.lock
+
+# PEP 582; used by e.g. github.com/David-OConnor/pyflow
+__pypackages__/
+
+# Celery stuff
+celerybeat-schedule
+celerybeat.pid
+
+# SageMath parsed files
+*.sage.py
+
+# Environments
+.env
+.venv
+.venvs
+env/
+venv/
+ENV/
+env.bak/
+venv.bak/
+
+# Spyder project settings
+.spyderproject
+.spyproject
+
+# Rope project settings
+.ropeproject
+
+# mkdocs documentation
+/site
+
+# mypy
+.mypy_cache/
+.dmypy.json
+dmypy.json
+
+# Pyre type checker
+.pyre/
+
+# macOS display setting files
+.DS_Store
+
+
+
+# docker
+docker/
+!docker/assets/
+.dockerignore
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2a7a13ed..23dcaf1d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ celerybeat.pid
 
 # Environments
 .env
+!docker/.env
 .venv
 .venvs
 env/
@@ -134,3 +135,4 @@ dmypy.json
 
 # macOS display setting files
 .DS_Store
+docker.build
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index ab47c01b..8d8def95 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -151,6 +151,37 @@ poetry run jupyter notebook
 
 When you run `poetry install`, the `langchain` package is installed as editable in the virtualenv, so your new logic can be imported into the notebook.
 
+## Using Docker
+
+To quickly get started, run the command `make docker`.
+
+If docker is installed the Makefile will export extra targets in the fomrat `docker.*` to build and run the docker image. Type `make` for a list of common tasks.
+
+### Building the development image
+
+- use `make docker.run` will build the dev image if it does not exist.
+- `make docker.build` 
+
+#### Image caching
+
+The Dockerfile is optimized to cache the poetry install step. A rebuild is triggered when there a change to the source code.
+
+### Examples
+
+All commands that in the python env are available by default in the container.
+
+A few examples:
+```bash
+# run jupyter notebook
+docker run --rm -it IMG jupyter notebook
+
+# run ipython
+docker run --rm -it IMG ipython
+
+# start web server
+docker run --rm -p 8888:8888 IMG python -m http.server 8888
+```
+
 ## Documentation
 
 ### Contribute Documentation
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3cc2b846..0be5c081 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 .PHONY: all clean format lint test tests test_watch integration_tests help
 
+GIT_HASH ?= $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+LANGCHAIN_VERSION := $(shell grep '^version' pyproject.toml | cut -d '=' -f2 | tr -d '"')
+
 all: help
 	
 coverage:
@@ -32,8 +35,7 @@ lint:
 test:
 	poetry run pytest tests/unit_tests
 
-tests:
-	poetry run pytest tests/unit_tests
+tests: test
 
 test_watch:
 	poetry run ptw --now . -- tests/unit_tests
@@ -47,8 +49,22 @@ help:
 	@echo 'docs_build          - build the documentation'
 	@echo 'docs_clean          - clean the documentation build artifacts'
 	@echo 'docs_linkcheck      - run linkchecker on the documentation'
+ifneq ($(shell command -v docker 2> /dev/null),)
+	@echo 'docker              - build and run the docker dev image'
+	@echo 'docker.run          - run the docker dev image'
+	@echo 'docker.build        - build the docker dev image'
+	@echo 'docker.force_build  - force a rebuild of the docker development image'
+endif
 	@echo 'format              - run code formatters'
 	@echo 'lint                - run linters'
 	@echo 'test                - run unit tests'
 	@echo 'test_watch          - run unit tests in watch mode'
 	@echo 'integration_tests   - run integration tests'
+
+# include the following makefile if the docker executable is available
+ifeq ($(shell command -v docker 2> /dev/null),)
+	$(info Docker not found, skipping docker-related targets)
+else
+include docker/Makefile
+endif
+	
diff --git a/docker/.env b/docker/.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..10d0792b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# python env
+PYTHON_VERSION=3.11.2
+
+# langchain env
+OPENAI_API_KEY=${OPENAI_API_KEY:-}
+SERPAPI_API_KEY=${SERPAPI_API_KEY:-}
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..35c83c4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+# vim: ft=dockerfile
+#
+# see also: https://github.com/python-poetry/poetry/discussions/1879
+#   - with https://github.com/bneijt/poetry-lock-docker
+# see https://github.com/thehale/docker-python-poetry
+# see https://github.com/max-pfeiffer/uvicorn-poetry
+
+# use by default the slim version of python
+ARG PYTHON_IMAGE_TAG=slim 
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=${PYTHON_VERSION:-3.11.2}
+
+####################
+# Base Environment
+####################
+FROM python:$PYTHON_VERSION-$PYTHON_IMAGE_TAG AS lchain-base
+
+ARG UID=1000
+ARG USERNAME=lchain
+
+ENV USERNAME=$USERNAME
+
+RUN groupadd -g ${UID} $USERNAME
+RUN useradd -l -m -u ${UID} -g ${UID} $USERNAME
+
+# used for mounting source code
+RUN mkdir /src
+VOLUME /src
+
+
+#######################
+## Poetry Builder Image
+#######################
+FROM lchain-base AS lchain-base-builder
+
+ENV HOME=/root
+ENV POETRY_HOME=/root/.poetry
+ENV POETRY_VIRTUALENVS_IN_PROJECT=false
+ENV POETRY_NO_INTERACTION=1
+ENV CACHE_DIR=$HOME/.cache
+ENV POETRY_CACHE_DIR=$CACHE_DIR/pypoetry
+ENV PATH="$POETRY_HOME/bin:$PATH"
+
+WORKDIR /root
+
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y \
+    git \
+    curl
+
+SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
+
+RUN mkdir -p $CACHE_DIR
+
+## setup poetry
+RUN curl -sSL -o $CACHE_DIR/pypoetry-installer.py https://install.python-poetry.org/
+RUN python3 $CACHE_DIR/pypoetry-installer.py
+
+
+# # Copy poetry files
+COPY poetry.* pyproject.toml ./
+
+RUN mkdir /pip-prefix
+
+RUN poetry export --with dev -f requirements.txt --output requirements.txt --without-hashes && \
+    pip install --no-cache-dir --disable-pip-version-check --prefix /pip-prefix -r requirements.txt
+
+
+# add custom motd message
+COPY docker/assets/etc/motd /tmp/motd
+RUN cat /tmp/motd > /etc/motd
+
+RUN printf "\n%s\n%s\n" "$(poetry version)" "$(python --version)" >> /etc/motd
+
+
+
+###################
+## Runtime Image
+###################
+FROM lchain-base AS lchain
+
+#jupyter port
+EXPOSE 8888
+
+COPY docker/assets/entry.sh /entry
+RUN chmod +x /entry
+
+COPY --from=lchain-base-builder /etc/motd /etc/motd
+COPY --from=lchain-base-builder /usr/bin/git /usr/bin/git
+
+USER ${USERNAME:-lchain}
+ENV HOME /home/$USERNAME
+WORKDIR /home/$USERNAME
+
+COPY --chown=lchain:lchain --from=lchain-base-builder /pip-prefix $HOME/.local/
+
+COPY . .
+
+SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
+RUN pip install --no-deps --disable-pip-version-check --no-cache-dir -e .
+
+
+entrypoint ["/entry"]
diff --git a/docker/Makefile b/docker/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..16b855b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#do not call this makefile it is included in the main Makefile
+.PHONY: docker docker.jupyter docker.run docker.force_build
+
+# read python version from .env file
+PYTHON_VERSION := $(shell grep PYTHON_VERSION docker/.env | cut -d '=' -f2)
+
+
+DOCKER_SRC := $(shell find docker -type f -not -name .env)
+DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME = langchain/dev
+
+# SRC is all files matched by the git ls-files command
+SRC := $(shell git ls-files -- '*' ':!:docker/*')
+
+# set DOCKER_BUILD_PROGRESS=plain to see detailed build progress
+DOCKER_BUILD_PROGRESS ?= auto
+
+# extra message to show when entering the docker container
+DOCKER_MOTD := docker/assets/etc/motd
+
+ROOTDIR := $(shell git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
+
+docker: docker.run
+
+docker.run: docker.build
+	@echo "Docker image: $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH)"
+	@docker run --rm -it -u lchain -v $(ROOTDIR):/src  $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH)
+	@# $(local source mounted at $(ROOTDIR) at /src)
+
+docker.jupyter: docker.build
+	@docker run --rm -it -v $(ROOTDIR):/src  $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH) jupyter notebook
+
+docker.build: $(SRC) $(DOCKER_SRC) $(DOCKER_MOTD)
+ifdef $(DOCKER_BUILDKIT)
+	@docker buildx build --build-arg PYTHON_VERSION=$(PYTHON_VERSION) \
+			--progress=$(DOCKER_BUILD_PROGRESS) \
+			-f docker/Dockerfile -t $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH) .
+else
+	@docker build --build-arg PYTHON_VERSION=$(PYTHON_VERSION) \
+			-f docker/Dockerfile -t $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH) .
+endif
+	@docker tag $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH) $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):latest
+	@touch $@ # this avoids docker rebuilds the build dependencies have not changed
+	@		  # you can remove the file docker_build to force a rebuild
+
+docker.force_build: $(DOCKER_SRC)
+	@docker build --no-cache -f docker/Dockerfile -t $(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(GIT_HASH) .
+
diff --git a/docker/assets/entry.sh b/docker/assets/entry.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..46b81af1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/assets/entry.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    cat /etc/motd
+    exec /bin/bash
+fi
+
+exec "$@"
diff --git a/docker/assets/etc/motd b/docker/assets/etc/motd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..35207410
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/assets/etc/motd
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+The dependencies have been installed in the current shell.
+There is no virtualenv or a need for `poetry` inside the
+container.
+
+Running the command `make docker.run` at the root directory
+of the project will build the container the first time. On
+the next runs, it will use the cached image or rebuild it if
+a change is made on the source code.
+
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.yml b/docker/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..09a4e9ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+version: "3.7"
+
+services:
+  langchain:
+    hostname: langchain
+    image: langchain/dev:latest
+    build:
+      context: ../
+      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile
+      args:
+        PYTHON_VERSION: ${PYTHON_VERSION}
+
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    ports:
+      - 127.0.0.1:8888:8888