diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bb8189
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+target
+.git
+*.log
+*.tmp
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01ad0f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Use an official OpenJDK runtime as a parent image suitable for Java 17
+FROM openjdk:17-jdk
+
+# Set the working directory in the container
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy the Maven Wrapper and pom.xml to the container
+COPY mvnw .
+COPY pom.xml ./
+
+# Copy the project source to the container
+COPY src ./src
+
+# Make the mvnw file executable
+RUN chmod +x mvnw
+
+# Verify the installed Java version
+RUN java -version
+
+# Package the application code
+RUN ./mvnw package -DskipTests
+
+# Move the built application to the app directory (assuming a typical target directory structure)
+RUN mv target/*.jar app.jar
+
+# Make port 8080 available to the world outside this container
+EXPOSE 8080
+
+# Run the JAR file
+CMD ["java", "-jar", "app.jar"]
\ No newline at end of file