diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3185a9b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+__pycache__/
+*.pyc
+*.pyo
+*.pyd
+.venv/
+venv/
+.git/
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..55f14699
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Use an official Python runtime as a base image.
+FROM python:slim
+
+# Set the working directory inside the container.
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Install system dependencies.
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    build-essential \
+    pkg-config \
+    libicu-dev \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+COPY requirements.txt /app/
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+
+COPY . /app
+
+# Set the PYTHONPATH environment variable to include the src directory.
+ENV PYTHONPATH=/app/src
+
+# Set the entry point to the main CLI script.
+ENTRYPOINT ["python", "src/scribe_data/cli/main.py"]