diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8418513
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# typesense-project/.env
+
+# Choose a strong, random string for your Admin API Key
+TYPESENSE_ADMIN_API_KEY=imdiowenxodjioqwenlj
+
+# You can also specify the Typesense version here if you want to pin it
+TYPESENSE_VERSION=28.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..27937b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# typesense-project/docker-compose.yml
+version: '3.8'
+
+services:
+  typesense:
+    image: typesense/typesense:${TYPESENSE_VERSION:-latest} # Uses TYPESENSE_VERSION from .env, defaults to latest
+    container_name: typesense_server
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    ports:
+      - "8108:8108" # Expose Typesense API port
+    volumes:
+      - ./typesense-data:/data # Persist Typesense data on the host machine
+                               # The /data directory inside the container is where Typesense stores its data
+    environment:
+      # Pass the API key from the .env file to the container
+      # The Typesense container will pick this up via the --api-key command-line argument
+      TYPESENSE_API_KEY_FILE: /etc/typesense/typesense-api-key # Path inside container
+      # If you prefer to pass it directly as an env var (less secure if env vars are logged):
+      TYPESENSE_API_KEY: ${TYPESENSE_ADMIN_API_KEY}
+
+    # Command to start Typesense
+    # It needs to know where the data directory is and what the API key is.
+    command: '--data-dir /data --api-key=${TYPESENSE_ADMIN_API_KEY} --enable-cors'
+    # The --enable-cors flag is useful for local development when your frontend
+    # (e.g., on localhost:3000 or localhost:8000) talks to Typesense on localhost:8108
+
+    # Optional: Healthcheck to ensure Typesense is ready
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8108/health"]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 10s # Give it some time to start up initially
+
+networks:
+  default: # Default network, services can reach each other by service name
\ No newline at end of file