diff --git a/nym-data-observatory/Cargo.toml b/nym-data-observatory/Cargo.toml
index b4a1ea8619..0ef35d100f 100644
--- a/nym-data-observatory/Cargo.toml
+++ b/nym-data-observatory/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ readme.workspace = true
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 axum = { workspace = true, features = ["tokio"] }
 chrono = { workspace = true }
+clap = { workspace = true, features = ["derive", "env"] }
 nym-bin-common = { path = "../common/bin-common" }
 nym-network-defaults = { path = "../common/network-defaults" }
 nym-task = { path = "../common/task" }
diff --git a/nym-data-observatory/Dockerfile b/nym-data-observatory/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2fb545f4d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nym-data-observatory/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+FROM rust:latest AS builder
+
+COPY ./ /usr/src/nym
+WORKDIR /usr/src/nym/nym-data-observatory
+
+RUN cargo build --release
+
+FROM debian:12-slim
+
+RUN echo "Acquire::http::Pipeline-Depth 0;" > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99custom && \
+  echo "Acquire::http::No-Cache true;" >> /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99custom && \
+  echo "Acquire::BrokenProxy    true;" >> /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99custom
+
+RUN apt update
+
+RUN apt install -yy curl
+
+WORKDIR /nym
+
+COPY --from=builder /usr/src/nym/target/release/nym-data-observatory ./
+CMD [ "/nym/nym-data-observatory" ]
diff --git a/nym-data-observatory/docker-compose.yml b/nym-data-observatory/docker-compose.yml
index 3d93d058f3..1877e1979e 100644
--- a/nym-data-observatory/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/nym-data-observatory/docker-compose.yml
@@ -2,12 +2,22 @@ services:
   postgres:
     image: postgres:13
     container_name: nym-data-observatory-pg
-    env_file:
-      - .env
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
     ports:
       - "5432:5432"
     volumes:
       - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
 
+  data-observatory:
+    image: nym-data-observatory:latest
+    build:
+      context: ../
+      dockerfile: nym-data-observatory/Dockerfile
+    container_name: nym-data-observatory
+    environment:
+      NYM_DATA_OBSERVATORY_CONNECTION_URL: "postgres://postgres:password@postgres:5432"
+      NYM_DATA_OBSERVATORY_HTTP_PORT: 8000
+
 volumes:
   pgdata:
diff --git a/nym-data-observatory/src/db/mod.rs b/nym-data-observatory/src/db/mod.rs
index 307d2a97b3..ef90996da8 100644
--- a/nym-data-observatory/src/db/mod.rs
+++ b/nym-data-observatory/src/db/mod.rs
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ pub(crate) struct Storage {
 }
 
 impl Storage {
-    pub async fn init() -> Result<Self> {
-        let connection_url = std::env::var(DATABASE_URL_ENV_VAR).map_err(anyhow::Error::from)?;
+    pub async fn init(connection_url: Option<String>) -> Result<Self> {
+        let connection_url = connection_url.unwrap();
         let connect_options = {
             let mut connect_options = PgConnectOptions::from_str(&connection_url)?;
             let connect_options = connect_options.disable_statement_logging();
diff --git a/nym-data-observatory/src/main.rs b/nym-data-observatory/src/main.rs
index 074279d2ed..8fed033503 100644
--- a/nym-data-observatory/src/main.rs
+++ b/nym-data-observatory/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use clap::Parser;
 use nym_network_defaults::setup_env;
 use nym_task::signal::wait_for_signal;
 
@@ -8,29 +9,44 @@ mod db;
 mod http;
 mod logging;
 
+#[derive(Parser, Debug)]
+#[command(version, about, long_about = None)]
+struct Args {
+    /// Port to listen on
+    #[arg(long, default_value_t = 8000, env = "NYM_DATA_OBSERVATORY_HTTP_PORT")]
+    http_port: u16,
+
+    /// Path to the environment file
+    #[arg(short, long, default_value = None, env = "NYM_DATA_OBSERVATORY_ENV_FILE")]
+    env_file: Option<String>,
+
+    /// DB connection url
+    #[arg(short, long, default_value = None, env = "NYM_DATA_OBSERVATORY_CONNECTION_URL")]
+    connection_url: Option<String>,
+}
+
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     logging::setup_tracing_logger();
 
-    // if dotenv file is present, load its values
-    // otherwise, default to mainnet
-    setup_env(Some(".env"));
+    let args = Args::parse();
+
+    setup_env(args.env_file); // Defaults to mainnet if empty
 
     let conf = config::Config::from_env();
     tracing::debug!("Using config:\n{:?}", conf);
 
-    let storage = db::Storage::init().await?;
+    let storage = db::Storage::init(args.connection_url).await?;
     let db_pool = storage.pool_owned().await;
     tokio::spawn(async move {
         background_task::spawn_in_background(db_pool).await;
         tracing::info!("Started task");
     });
 
-    let shutdown_handles =
-        http::server::start_http_api(storage.pool_owned().await, conf.http_port())
-            .await
-            .expect("Failed to start server");
-    tracing::info!("Started HTTP server on port {}", conf.http_port());
+    let shutdown_handles = http::server::start_http_api(storage.pool_owned().await, args.http_port)
+        .await
+        .expect("Failed to start server");
+    tracing::info!("Started HTTP server on port {}", args.http_port);
 
     wait_for_signal().await;