diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e1f6fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+OV_DB_ENGINE=django.db.backends.postgresql
+OV_DB_HOST=0.0.0.0
+OV_DB_PORT=5432
+OV_DB_NAME=postgres
+OV_DB_USER=postgres
+OV_DB_PASSWORD=""
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c83a018..c0b3cc6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,11 +15,15 @@
 __pycache__
 *.pyc
 .DS_Store
-/venv/
 
-# Database
-db/
+# Virtual environment
+.venv
 
-# Environment files
+# Environment variable files
 .env
-.db
+!.env.example
+
+# VS Code
+.vscode/
+!.vscode/settings.json
+!.vscode/launch.json
diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..503471f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+{
+    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
+    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
+    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
+    "version": "0.2.0",
+    "inputs": [
+        {
+            "id": "numWorkers",
+            "type": "promptString",
+            "default": "4",
+            "description": "Number of Gunicorn workers to run"
+        }
+    ],
+    "configurations": [
+        {
+            "name": "OV Wagtail - Django dev server",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/manage.py",
+            "args": [
+                "runserver",
+                "0.0.0.0:8000"
+            ],
+            "django": true,
+            "justMyCode": false
+        },
+        {
+            "name": "OV Wagtail - Gunicorn",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "gunicorn",
+            "args": [
+                "-w ${input:numWorkers}",
+                "-b 0.0.0.0:4000",
+                "ov-wag.wsgi:applications",
+            ],
+            "django": true,
+            "justMyCode": false
+        },
+        {
+            "name": "Run Migrations",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/manage.py",
+            "args": [
+                "migrate",
+                "--noinput"
+            ],
+            "django": true,
+            "justMyCode": false
+        },
+        {
+            "name": "Run Tests",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/manage.py",
+            "args": [
+                "test",
+            ],
+            "django": true,
+            "justMyCode": false
+        },
+    ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ded7d63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+    "python.testing.pytestArgs": [
+        "-v",
+    ],
+    "python.testing.pytestEnabled": true,
+    "python.testing.unittestEnabled": false
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dev.yml b/dev.yml
index 0adc672..c43eb32 100644
--- a/dev.yml
+++ b/dev.yml
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ services:
       - .env
   db:
     env_file:
-      - .db
+      - .env
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index b58fcdc..82caf00 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ services:
   db:
     image: postgres:16-alpine
     restart: always
+    ports:
+      - 5432:5432
+    environment:
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${OV_DB_NAME}
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${OV_DB_USER}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${OV_DB_PASSWORD}
     volumes:
       - db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
 
diff --git a/manage.py b/manage.py
index f68b0bf..d3f5ab3 100755
--- a/manage.py
+++ b/manage.py
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+
+# take environment variables from .env.
+load_dotenv()
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "ov_wag.settings.dev")
 
diff --git a/ov_wag/settings/base.py b/ov_wag/settings/base.py
index 9df4b2f..091f86e 100644
--- a/ov_wag/settings/base.py
+++ b/ov_wag/settings/base.py
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@
 # Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
 import os
 
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+
+# take environment variables from .env.
+load_dotenv()
+
 PROJECT_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(PROJECT_DIR)
 
diff --git a/ov_wag/settings/dev.py b/ov_wag/settings/dev.py
index adfe816..50e839f 100644
--- a/ov_wag/settings/dev.py
+++ b/ov_wag/settings/dev.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from .base import *
+from ov_wag.settings.base import *
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
 DEBUG = True
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
 
 
-
-
 try:
     from .local import *
 except ImportError:
diff --git a/ov_wag/settings/production.py b/ov_wag/settings/production.py
index 37f527b..2f430a8 100644
--- a/ov_wag/settings/production.py
+++ b/ov_wag/settings/production.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-from .base import *
-from os import environ
+from ov_wag.settings.base import *
 
 DEBUG = False
 
diff --git a/ov_wag/tests/test_api.py b/ov_wag/tests/test_api.py
index db9cad7..b43d321 100644
--- a/ov_wag/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/ov_wag/tests/test_api.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+import wagtail_factories
 from rest_framework import status
 from rest_framework.test import APITestCase
 from wagtail.core.models import Site
-import wagtail_factories
+
 from exhibits.models import ExhibitPageApiSchema
 from exhibits.tests.factories import ExhibitPageFactory
 
@@ -41,7 +42,9 @@ def test_exhibit_api_schema_single(self):
         Compare response against ExhibitSchema
         """
         exhibit_page = ExhibitPageFactory.create(parent=self.__home_page())
-        response = self.client.get(f'/api/v2/exhibits/{exhibit_page.id}/', format='json')
+        response = self.client.get(
+            f'/api/v2/exhibits/{exhibit_page.id}/', format='json'
+        )
         json = response.json()
         self.assertValidSchema(json)
 
@@ -51,8 +54,8 @@ def test_exhibit_api_schema_multiple(self):
 
         Compare response against ExhibitSchema
         """
-        exhibit_page = ExhibitPageFactory.create(parent=self.__home_page())
-        response = self.client.get(f'/api/v2/exhibits/', format='json')
+        ExhibitPageFactory.create(parent=self.__home_page())
+        response = self.client.get('/api/v2/exhibits/', format='json')
         json = response.json()
         for item in json['items']:
             self.assertValidSchema(item)
diff --git a/ov_wag/tests/test_env.py b/ov_wag/tests/test_env.py
index 35fc512..70606ac 100644
--- a/ov_wag/tests/test_env.py
+++ b/ov_wag/tests/test_env.py
@@ -1,27 +1,15 @@
+from os import path
 from unittest import TestCase
-from os import environ, system, path
-from pprint import pp
 
 
 class EnvTests(TestCase):
-    def test_env(self):
-        """
-        Show the current environment
-
-        debug: print environ
-        """
-        self.assertIn('PYTHON_VERSION', dict(environ))
-
-        # Uncomment to show full environ in logs
-        # pp(dict(environ))
-
     def test_media_dir(self):
         """
         Test if MEDIA_ROOT directory exists
 
         debug: ls -la MEDIA_ROOT
         """
-        from ..settings.base import MEDIA_ROOT
+        from ov_wag.settings.base import MEDIA_ROOT
 
         self.assertTrue(path.isdir(MEDIA_ROOT))
 
diff --git a/pdm.lock b/pdm.lock
index 1effd9b..1a6c509 100644
--- a/pdm.lock
+++ b/pdm.lock
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 groups = ["default"]
 strategy = ["cross_platform"]
 lock_version = "4.4"
-content_hash = "sha256:ef9f7b76ccd3aa29e374113c094524d6e203f8c9fef0d8bdd434f17a82edc1fa"
+content_hash = "sha256:a41c32388d7cca1bfe41e180054f2bad9ee24b500ba22ab75c21b7d38f66a7ff"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "anyascii"
@@ -230,6 +230,19 @@ files = [
     {file = "Faker-19.12.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:91438f6b1713274ec3f24970ba303617be86ce5caf6f6a0776f1d04777b6ff5f"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "gunicorn"
+version = "21.2.0"
+requires_python = ">=3.5"
+summary = "WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX"
+dependencies = [
+    "packaging",
+]
+files = [
+    {file = "gunicorn-21.2.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:3213aa5e8c24949e792bcacfc176fef362e7aac80b76c56f6b5122bf350722f0"},
+    {file = "gunicorn-21.2.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:88ec8bff1d634f98e61b9f65bc4bf3cd918a90806c6f5c48bc5603849ec81033"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "html5lib"
 version = "1.1"
@@ -280,6 +293,16 @@ files = [
     {file = "openpyxl-3.1.2.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:a6f5977418eff3b2d5500d54d9db50c8277a368436f4e4f8ddb1be3422870184"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "packaging"
+version = "23.2"
+requires_python = ">=3.7"
+summary = "Core utilities for Python packages"
+files = [
+    {file = "packaging-23.2-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:8c491190033a9af7e1d931d0b5dacc2ef47509b34dd0de67ed209b5203fc88c7"},
+    {file = "packaging-23.2.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:048fb0e9405036518eaaf48a55953c750c11e1a1b68e0dd1a9d62ed0c092cfc5"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pillow"
 version = "9.5.0"
@@ -359,6 +382,16 @@ files = [
     {file = "python_dateutil-2.8.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:961d03dc3453ebbc59dbdea9e4e11c5651520a876d0f4db161e8674aae935da9"},
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "python-dotenv"
+version = "1.0.0"
+requires_python = ">=3.8"
+summary = "Read key-value pairs from a .env file and set them as environment variables"
+files = [
+    {file = "python-dotenv-1.0.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:a8df96034aae6d2d50a4ebe8216326c61c3eb64836776504fcca410e5937a3ba"},
+    {file = "python_dotenv-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:f5971a9226b701070a4bf2c38c89e5a3f0d64de8debda981d1db98583009122a"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pytz"
 version = "2023.3.post1"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cf9a154..4d4fdbd 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,9 +2,23 @@
 [project]
 # PEP 621 project metadata
 # See https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0621/
-dependencies = ["Django<4.2,>=4.1.1", "wagtail<4.1,>=4.0.4", "wagtail-factories<3.2,>=3.1.0", "pydantic<2.0,>=1.10.2", "psycopg2<2.10,>=2.9.3"]
+dependencies = [
+    "Django<4.2,>=4.1.1",
+    "wagtail<4.1,>=4.0.4",
+    "wagtail-factories<3.2,>=3.1.0",
+    "pydantic<2.0,>=1.10.2",
+    "psycopg2<2.10,>=2.9.3",
+    "python-dotenv>=1.0.0,< 2.0",
+    "gunicorn>=21.2.0",
+]
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 
 [build-system]
 requires = ["pdm-backend"]
 build-backend = "pdm.backend"
+
+
+[tool.pdm.dev-dependencies]
+dev = [
+    "pre-commit~=3.5",
+]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index a430b9c..70fcf10 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ wagtail >= 4.0.4, < 4.1
 wagtail_factories >= 3.1.0, < 3.2
 pydantic >= 1.10.2, < 2.0
 psycopg2 >= 2.9.3, < 2.10
+python-dotenv >= 1.0.0, < 2.0