diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c5e8aa32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+_site/
+.sass-cache/
+.jekyll-metadata
+.git/
+.idea/
+*.iml
+.DS_Store
+vendor/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f0a3843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+FROM ruby:3.2-slim
+ 
+# Install build dependencies required by native gem extensions (e.g., nokogiri)
+# and libcurl for htmlproofer link checking
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+      build-essential \
+      git \
+      libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+ 
+WORKDIR /site
+ 
+# Install gems first (layer caching - only re-runs when Gemfile changes)
+COPY Gemfile Gemfile.lock ./
+RUN bundle install
+ 
+# Copy the rest of the site
+COPY . .
+ 
+EXPOSE 4000
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e26d2eca..fbd3704c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,6 +20,40 @@ For Bundler, depending on your system, you may need to also install the
 Ruby development headers (e.g. `ruby-dev`). On Ubuntu/Debian,
 for example, this would be accomplished by doing `sudo apt-get install ruby-dev`.
 
+
+### Docker Setup (Recommended)
+
+If you have [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) installed, you can skip
+the Ruby/Bundler prerequisites entirely:
+
+1. Clone the repository:
+   ```bash
+   git clone https://github.com/Submitty/submitty.github.io.git
+   cd submitty.github.io
+   ```
+2. Start the development server:
+   ```bash
+   docker compose up
+   ```
+   The first run takes a few minutes to install dependencies. Subsequent
+   runs start in seconds.
+
+3. Visit [http://localhost:4000](http://localhost:4000) to view the site.
+   Changes to files will automatically trigger a rebuild and refresh your
+   browser.
+
+4. To stop the server, press `Ctrl+C` or run:
+   ```bash
+   docker compose down
+   ```
+   To run the link checker with Docker:
+   ```bash
+   docker compose exec docs bundle exec jekyll build
+   docker compose exec docs bundle exec htmlproofer ./_site --assume-extension --empty-alt-ignore --disable_external
+   ```
+If you prefer to set up Ruby natively, see the manual instructions below.
+
+
 ### Setup
 
 1. Clone the respository on your local machine, e.g.,
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..02461c13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+services:
+  docs:
+    build: .
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:35729:35729"   # livereload port, bypasses nginx
+    expose:
+      - "4000"
+    volumes:
+      - .:/site
+      - bundle_cache:/usr/local/bundle
+    environment:
+      - JEKYLL_ENV=development
+    command: bundle exec jekyll serve --host 0.0.0.0 --livereload --force_polling
+  nginx:
+    image: nginx:alpine
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:4000:80"
+    volumes:
+      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
+    depends_on:
+      - docs
+volumes:
+  bundle_cache:
diff --git a/nginx.conf b/nginx.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2140a0be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nginx.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+events {}
+http {
+    server {
+        listen 80;
+        server_name localhost;
+
+        sub_filter '0.0.0.0:4000' 'localhost:4000';
+        sub_filter '0.0.0.0:35729' 'localhost:35729';
+        sub_filter_once off;
+        sub_filter_types text/html application/json;
+
+        location / {
+            proxy_pass http://docs:4000;
+            proxy_set_header Host $host;
+        }
+
+        location /livereload {
+            proxy_pass http://docs:35729;
+            proxy_http_version 1.1;
+            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
+            proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
+        }
+    }
+}