diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index d03f4cc..80377c8 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1 +1,14 @@
-APP_NAME=Laravel
\ No newline at end of file
+APP_NAME=Laravel
+
+# PHP container
+
+## NB: PHP user should match the nginx container user due to permissions
+PHP_USER=www
+PHP_GROUP=www
+PHP_PORT=9000
+
+# MySQL container
+MYSQL_USER=laravel
+MYSQL_PASSWORD=
+MYSQL_DATABASE=laravel
+MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 13d4ac5..baaf260 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 .env
-.idea/
\ No newline at end of file
+.idea/
+
+# Project files should be excluded, this is only Docker setup repository
+src
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1e2ba39..f288f0d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,4 @@ For now, if you want to run any commands through appropriate containers, you hav
 There's also an option to just go into container with `bash` (or whatever shell the container posesses) and run commands you need, like `docker-compose exec bash` and in container `php artisan migrate`.
 
 ## To-do for now
-- Command delegator script for running commands within appropriate containers
-- Global search/replace from project root .env file so that there doesn't have to be manual search & replace for all the values
-- Look to see if something differs for containerizing Symfony projects
\ No newline at end of file
+- Command delegator script for running commands within appropriate containers
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/Dockerfile b/config/Dockerfile
index b69b98d..28e4557 100644
--- a/config/Dockerfile
+++ b/config/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
-FROM php:8.0-fpm
+FROM php:8.3-fpm-alpine
+
+ARG uid 1000
+ARG guid 1000
+
+ENV UID ${uid}
+ENV GUID ${guid}
+ENV USER www-data
+ENV GROUP www-data
+ENV PORT 9000
 
 # Copy composer.lock and composer.json
 COPY ./src/composer.lock ./src/composer.json /var/www/
@@ -7,7 +16,7 @@ COPY ./src/composer.lock ./src/composer.json /var/www/
 WORKDIR /var/www
 
 # Install dependencies
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+RUN apk --no-cache add -y \
     build-essential \
     libpng-dev \
     libjpeg62-turbo-dev \
@@ -26,26 +35,22 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
 RUN apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Install extensions
-RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring zip exif pcntl
-RUN docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype --with-jpeg
-RUN docker-php-ext-install gd
+RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring zip exif pcntl \
+    && docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype --with-jpeg \
+    && docker-php-ext-install gd
 
-# Install composer
+# Install Composer
 RUN curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
 
-# Add user for laravel application
-RUN groupadd -g 1000 www
-RUN useradd -u 1000 -ms /bin/bash -g www www
-
-# Copy existing application directory contents
-COPY ./src /var/www
+# Add user for Laravel application and set proper UID/GUID
+RUN groupadd -g 1000 www && useradd -u 1000 -ms /bin/bash -g www www
 
-# Copy existing application directory permissions
-COPY --chown=www:www ./src /var/www
+# Copy existing application directory with proper ownership
+COPY --chown=${USER}:${GROUP} ./src /var/www
 
 # Change current user to www
 USER www
 
-# Expose port 9000 and start php-fpm server
-EXPOSE 9000
+# Expose port and start php-fpm server
+EXPOSE ${PORT}
 CMD ["php-fpm"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/mysql/init.sql b/config/mysql/init.sql
deleted file mode 100644
index 4a4e7aa..0000000
--- a/config/mysql/init.sql
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
--- create the databases
-CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS laravel;
-
--- create the users for each database
-CREATE USER 'davis'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'Derived49!';
-GRANT CREATE, ALTER, INDEX, LOCK TABLES, REFERENCES, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP, SELECT, INSERT ON `laravel`.* TO 'davis'@'%';
-
-FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.local.yml
similarity index 85%
rename from docker-compose.yml
rename to docker-compose.local.yml
index b0e91f4..1561195 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.local.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-
 version: '3'
+
 services:
 
-  #PHP Service
   app:
     build:
       context: .
@@ -17,11 +16,13 @@ services:
     environment:
       SERVICE_NAME: app
       SERVICE_TAGS: dev
+      USER: ${PHP_USER}
+      GROUP: ${PHP_GROUP}
+      PORT: ${PHP_PORT}
     working_dir: /var/www
     networks:
       - app-network
 
-  # Web server
   nginx:
     image: nginx:alpine
     container_name: ${APP_NAME}.nginx
@@ -36,8 +37,7 @@ services:
     networks:
       - app-network
 
-  #MySQL Service
-  db:
+  mariadb:
     image: mysql:8.0
     container_name: ${APP_NAME}.db
     restart: unless-stopped
@@ -49,10 +49,10 @@ services:
       - ./config/mysql/my.cnf:/etc/mysql/my.cnf
       - ./config/mysql/init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql
     environment:
-      MYSQL_USER: davis
-      MYSQL_PASSWORD: Derived49!
-      MYSQL_DATABASE: laravel
-      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD:-Derived49!}
+      MYSQL_USER: ${MYSQL_USER}
+      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_PASSWORD}
+      MYSQL_DATABASE: ${MYSQL_DATABASE:-laravel}
+      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
       SERVICE_TAGS: dev
       SERVICE_NAME: mysql
     networks:
@@ -78,14 +78,11 @@ services:
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
       - portainer_data:/data
 
-# Volume definitions
 volumes: 
   dbdata:
     driver: local
   portainer_data:
     driver: local
 
-#Docker Networks
 networks:
-  app-network:
-    driver: bridge
\ No newline at end of file
+  app-network:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/init.sh b/init.sh
index 50b2285..a58e331 100755
--- a/init.sh
+++ b/init.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # /bin/bash
 
 cp .env.example .env
-docker-compose up -d --build
\ No newline at end of file
+docker-compose up -d
\ No newline at end of file