diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bdfe2e8..3731d27 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 web/landing/www/binaries/hishtory-linux
 hishtory
-server
+backend/server/server
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f26972a..b2c1bdf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ Download the latest binary from [Github Releases](https://github.com/ddworken/hi
 <summary>Self-Hosting</summary>
 By default, hiSHtory relies on a backend for syncing. All data is end-to-end encrypted, so the backend can't view your history. 
 
-But if you'd like to self-host the hishtory backend, you can! The backend is a simple go binary in `backend/server/server.go` that uses postgres to store data. It reads the connection string for the postgres database from the environment variable `HISHTORY_POSTGRES_DB`. 
+But if you'd like to self-host the hishtory backend, you can! The backend is a simple go binary in `backend/server/server.go` that uses postgres to store data. It reads the connection string for the postgres database from the environment variable `HISHTORY_POSTGRES_DB`. If you don't yet have a postgres DB to use, you can use [`docker-compose.yml`](https://github.com/ddworken/hishtory/blob/master/backend/server/docker-compose.yml).
 
 You can then point your local hishtory CLI to use this backend via the `HISHTORY_SERVER` environment variable (e.g. by doing `export HISHTORY_SERVER='https://hishtory.yourwebsite.example'` in your shellrc).
 </details>
diff --git a/backend/server/docker-compose.yml b/backend/server/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1b0f20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/server/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# A docker-compose file to host a hiSHtory backend. To use:
+#   1. Update TODO_YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE
+#   2. `docker compose up`
+#   3. Point your hiSHtory client at the server by putting `export HISHTORY_SERVER=http://1.2.3.4` in your shellrc
+#   4. [Optional, but recommended] Add a TLS proxy to enable https
+networks:
+  hishtory:
+    driver: bridge
+services:
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    networks:
+      - hishtory
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: TODO_YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE
+      POSTGRES_DB: hishtory
+      PGDATA: /var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata
+    volumes:
+      - ./postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+  hishtory:
+    image: hishtory
+    depends_on:
+      - postgres
+    networks:
+      - hishtory
+    build:
+      context: ./
+      dockerfile: ./backend/server/Dockerfile
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    environment:
+      POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD: TODO_YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE
+    ports:
+      - 80:8080