diff --git a/docker-compose-deps.yml b/docker-compose-deps.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aaa1ec59b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose-deps.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+version: "3"
+services:
+
+  # Actual Speckle Server dependencies
+
+  postgres:
+    image: "postgres:13.1-alpine"
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_DB: speckle
+      POSTGRES_USER: speckle
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: speckle
+    volumes:
+      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:5432:5432"
+
+  redis:
+    image: "redis:6.0-alpine"
+    restart: always
+    volumes:
+      - redis-data:/data
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:6379:6379"
+
+
+  # Useful for debugging / exploring local databases
+
+  pgadmin:
+    image: dpage/pgadmin4
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: admin@localhost
+      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: admin
+    volumes:
+      - pgadmin-data:/var/lib/pgadmin
+    ports:
+        - "127.0.0.1:16543:80"
+    depends_on:
+        - postgres
+
+  redis_insight:
+    image: redislabs/redisinsight:latest
+    restart: always
+    volumes:
+      - redis_insight-data:/db
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:8001:8001"
+    depends_on:
+      - redis
+
+
+# Storage persistency
+
+volumes:
+  postgres-data:
+  redis-data:
+  pgadmin-data:
+  redis_insight-data:
diff --git a/docker-compose-speckle.yml b/docker-compose-speckle.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6162fb0d6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose-speckle.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+version: "3"
+services:
+
+  speckle-frontend:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: packages/frontend/Dockerfile
+    restart: always
+
+  speckle-server:
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: packages/server/Dockerfile
+      args:
+        NODE_ENV: development
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      CANONICAL_URL: "http://localhost:3000"
+      SESSION_SECRET: "-local-"
+      STRATEGY_LOCAL: "true"
+      DEBUG: "speckle:*"
+      FRONTEND_HOST: "speckle-frontend"
+      FRONTEND_PORT: 80
+
+      POSTGRES_URL: "postgres"
+      POSTGRES_USER: "speckle"
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "speckle"
+      POSTGRES_DB: "speckle"
+
+      REDIS_URL: "redis://redis"
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index cf7183ee44..0000000000
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-version: "3"
-services:
-  server:
-    build:
-      .
-    depends_on:
-      - database
-      - redis
-    ports:
-      - "3000:3000"
-    environment:
-      DEBUG: "speckle:*"
-      WAIT_HOSTS: database:5432, redis:6379
-    env_file:
-      - .env
-    
-  database:
-    image: "postgres:13.1-alpine" # use the current alpine version for smaller image
-    environment:
-      POSTGRES_DB:
-      POSTGRES_USER:
-      POSTGRES_PASSWORD:
-    volumes:
-      # persist data even if container shuts down
-      - speckle-postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/
-    ports:
-      - "5432:5432"
-
-  pgadmin:
-    image: dpage/pgadmin4
-    environment: 
-      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: ${PGADMIN_EMAIL}
-      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: ${PGADMIN_PASSWORD}
-    ports: 
-        - "16543:80"
-    depends_on: 
-        - database
-
-  redis:
-    image: "redis:6.0-alpine"
-    ports:
-      - "6379:6379" # It is not neccesary to expose the reddis port if running the app with compose 
-    volumes:
-      - redis_volume_data:/data
-
-  redis_insight:
-    image: redislabs/redisinsight:latest
-    container_name: redis_insight
-    restart: always
-    depends_on:
-      - redis
-    ports:
-      - 8001:8001
-    volumes:
-      - redis_insight_volume_data:/db
-  
-volumes:
-  speckle-postgres-data: # named volumes can be managed easier using docker-compose
-  redis_volume_data:
-  redis_insight_volume_data:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/frontend/README.md b/packages/frontend/README.md
index 805ae40c99..3dd92dc596 100644
--- a/packages/frontend/README.md
+++ b/packages/frontend/README.md
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ We're working to stabilize the 2.0 API, and until then there will be breaking ch
 
 Notes:
 
-- In **development** mode, the Speckle Server will proxy the frontend from `localhost:8080` to `localhost:3000`. If you don't see anything, ensure you've run `npm run dev` in the frontend package.
+- In **development** mode, the Speckle Server will proxy the frontend from `localhost:3000` to `localhost:8080`. If you don't see anything, ensure you've run `npm run dev` in the frontend package.
 
-- In **production** mode, the Speckle Server will statically serve the frontend app from `/dist`. You will need to run `npm run build` to populate this folder.
+- In **production** mode, the Speckle Frontend will be statically served by nginx (see the Dockerfile in the current directory).
 
 ## Documentation
 
diff --git a/packages/server/.env-example b/packages/server/.env-example
index b65d4fd031..679796308a 100644
--- a/packages/server/.env-example
+++ b/packages/server/.env-example
@@ -5,27 +5,27 @@
 # your deployment environment.
 ############################################################
 PORT=3000
-# for `docker-compose up` use "redis://redis"
-REDIS_URL="redis://localhost:6379"
 
 CANONICAL_URL="http://localhost:3000"
 SESSION_SECRET="-> FILL IN <-"
 
+# Redis connection: default for local development environment
+REDIS_URL="redis://localhost:6379"
+
 ############################################################
 # Postgres Database
 # the connection uri is built up from these variables
 ############################################################
 # If you specify a user and password, do not specify the protocol in the
 # POSTGRES_URL variable.
-# If the app is ran via `docker-compose up`, it has to be the name of the
-# service (defaults to "database").
-POSTGRES_URL="-> FILL IN <-"
+# These defaults are set for the local development environment
+POSTGRES_URL="localhost"
 # this overrides the default root user in the postgres instance
-POSTGRES_USER="-> FILL IN <-"
+POSTGRES_USER="speckle"
 # this sets the root user password in the postgres instance
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD="-> FILL IN <-"
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD="speckle"
 # this overrides the default database name in postgres
-POSTGRES_DB="-> FILL IN <-"
+POSTGRES_DB="speckle"
 
 ############################################################
 # Emails
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ EMAIL=false
 ############################################################
 STRATEGY_LOCAL=true
 
-# STRATEGY_GITHUB=true
+# STRATEGY_GITHUB=false
 # GITHUB_CLIENT_ID="-> FILL IN <-"
 # GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET="-> FILL IN <-"
 
@@ -65,4 +65,5 @@ STRATEGY_LOCAL=true
 # If your frontend is served in dev from somewhere else,
 # this is going to help out :)
 ############################################################
+# FRONTEND_HOST=localhost
 # FRONTEND_PORT=8081
diff --git a/packages/server/Dockerfile b/packages/server/Dockerfile
index 46a55145eb..c3f1d30319 100644
--- a/packages/server/Dockerfile
+++ b/packages/server/Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
   tini \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-ENV NODE_ENV=production
+ARG NODE_ENV=production
+ENV NODE_ENV=${NODE_ENV}
 WORKDIR /app
 
 COPY packages/server/package*.json ./
diff --git a/packages/server/app.js b/packages/server/app.js
index c8a21f4a19..2b16eeb8bd 100644
--- a/packages/server/app.js
+++ b/packages/server/app.js
@@ -114,13 +114,14 @@ exports.startHttp = async ( app ) => {
   let port = process.env.PORT || 3000
   app.set( 'port', port )
 
+  let frontendHost = process.env.FRONTEND_HOST || 'localhost'
   let frontendPort = process.env.FRONTEND_PORT || 8080
 
   // Handles frontend proxying:
   // Dev mode -> proxy form the local webpack server
   if ( process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' ) {
     const { createProxyMiddleware } = require( 'http-proxy-middleware' )
-    const frontendProxy = createProxyMiddleware( { target: `http://localhost:${frontendPort}`, changeOrigin: true, ws: false, logLevel: 'silent' } )
+    const frontendProxy = createProxyMiddleware( { target: `http://${frontendHost}:${frontendPort}`, changeOrigin: true, ws: false, logLevel: 'silent' } )
     app.use( '/', frontendProxy )
 
     debug( 'speckle:startup' )( '✨ Proxying frontend (dev mode):' )
diff --git a/packages/server/readme.md b/packages/server/readme.md
index 8ea63f2f16..76215dcd98 100644
--- a/packages/server/readme.md
+++ b/packages/server/readme.md
@@ -20,20 +20,19 @@ Comprehensive developer and user documentation can be found in our:
 
 The Speckle Server is a node application tested against v12. To start it locally:
 
-First, ensure you have postgres and redis ready and running:
-
-- ensure you have a local instance of postgres running
-- create a postgres db called `speckle2_dev`
-- ensure you have an instance of redis running
+First, ensure you have postgres and redis ready and running (check the [readme.md](../../readme.md) from the root of the git repo)
 
 Finally, in the `packages/server` folder:
 
 - copy the `.env-example` file to `.env`,
-- open and edit the `.env` file, filling in the required variables,
+- If you have a custom setup, open and edit the `.env` file, filling in the required variables,
 - run `npm install`,
 - finally `npm run dev`,
 - check `localhost:3000/graphql` out!
 
+For more setup details and options, check out our [Server Setup Docs](https://speckle.guide/dev/server-setup.html)
+
+
 ## Developing
 
 The server consists of several semi-related components, or modules. These can be found in `/modules`. Module composition:
@@ -45,9 +44,9 @@ The server consists of several semi-related components, or modules. These can be
 
 ### Frontend
 
-- In **development** mode, the Speckle Server will proxy the frontend from `localhost:8080` to `localhost:3000`. If you don't see anything, ensure you've run `npm run dev` in the frontend package.
+- In **development** mode, the Speckle Server will proxy the frontend from `localhost:3000` to `localhost:8080`. If you don't see anything, ensure you've run `npm run dev` in the frontend package.
 
-- In **production** mode, the Speckle Server will statically serve the frontend app from `../packages/frontend/dist`.
+- In **production** mode, a load balancer should send requests either to the frontend nginx container or the server container, depending on the requested path
 
 ### GraphIQL
 
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 0734aeb7bc..2493093088 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -44,13 +44,28 @@ To get started, first clone this repo. Check out the detailed instructions for e
 
 To get a local Server stack up and running quickly:
 
-- clone this repository
-- copy `.env-example` file from the server module to the project root and rename to `.env`
-- fill out the environment variables in the `.env` file, follow the comment instructions
-- run `$ docker-compose up`
+- Clone this repository and cd into the repository root:
+  ```console
+  git clone https://github.com/specklesystems/speckle-server.git
+  cd speckle-server
+  ```
+- Start dependencies (postgres and redis)  by running:
+  ```console
+  docker-compose -f docker-compose-deps.yml up -d
+  ```
+- You have 2 options for running the speckle server (frontend + backend):
+  - (useful for development) With local development tools (check the Readme.md file in the `frontend` and `server` packages)
+  - (useful for getting the server running without having local development tools) by starting them inside docker containers:
+    ```console
+    docker-compose -f docker-compose-speckle.yml up -d
+    ```
 
 This gets you an empty server running on [localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000)
 
+Note: the docker containers will automatically restart at startup. To shut them down, you can use `docker-compose -f [yml_file_name] down` command
+
+For more details and options, check out our [Server Setup Docs](https://speckle.guide/dev/server-setup.html)
+
 ## Contributing
 
 Please make sure you read the [contribution guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md) for an overview of the best practices we try to follow.