diff --git a/docker/.env.sample b/docker/.env.sample
index 0b1471a0..5d720e28 100644
--- a/docker/.env.sample
+++ b/docker/.env.sample
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@ DATA_DIR=/data
 MEILI_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:7700
 MEILI_MASTER_KEY=[generate with <openssl rand -base64 36>]
 NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
-NEXTAUTH_SECRET=[generate with <openssl rand -base64 36>]
\ No newline at end of file
+NEXTAUTH_SECRET=[generate with <openssl rand -base64 36>]
+DOCKER_DATA_DIR=[replace with the directory for persistent data]
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml b/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
index 95883ce5..c94b4812 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ services:
     build:
       dockerfile: Dockerfile.dev
     volumes:
-      - data:/data
+      - ${DOCKER_DATA_DIR}/data:/data
       - ..:/app
     ports:
       - 3000:3000
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@ services:
   meilisearch:
     image: getmeili/meilisearch:v1.6
     volumes:
-      - meilisearch:/meili_data
+      - ${DOCKER_DATA_DIR}/meilisearch:/meili_data
   workers:
     build:
       dockerfile: Dockerfile.dev
     volumes:
-      - data:/data
+      - ${DOCKER_DATA_DIR}/data:/data
       - ..:/app
     working_dir: /app
     environment:
@@ -56,13 +56,10 @@ services:
     environment:
       DATA_DIR: /data
     volumes:
-      - data:/data
+      - ${DOCKER_DATA_DIR}/data:/data
       - ..:/app
     command:
      - /bin/sh
      - -c
      - "pnpm install --frozen-lockfile && pnpm run db:migrate"
 
-volumes:
-  meilisearch:
-  data:
diff --git a/docs/docs/07-Development/01-setup.md b/docs/docs/07-Development/01-setup.md
index 3bf9caf1..11b9d7e9 100644
--- a/docs/docs/07-Development/01-setup.md
+++ b/docs/docs/07-Development/01-setup.md
@@ -60,4 +60,13 @@ In dev mode, opening and closing the plugin menu should reload the code.
 
 ## Docker Dev Env
 
-If the manual setup is too much hassle for you. You can use a docker based dev environment by running `docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.dev.yml up` in the root of the repo. This setup wasn't super reliable for me though.
+If the manual setup is too much hassle for you, you can use a docker based dev environment instead by following the instructions:
+
+- Clone the repo and navigate to the root of the repo.
+- Run `cp /docker/.env.sample /docker/.env`
+- Make the necessary changes to the .env file (setting the DOCKER_DATA_DIR, NEXTAUTH_SECRET, and MEILI_MASTER_KEY)
+- Run `docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.dev.yml up --build` in the root of the repo.
+
+### Notes
+- The inital set up takes a while, do not be concerned for very long build times.
+- The application is ready to work when the web-1 container says "Ready" on the next.js block