diff --git a/dev/docker-compose.yml b/dev/docker-compose.yml
index 9c317e30b..170a0184d 100644
--- a/dev/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/dev/docker-compose.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ services:
     image: postgres:15.2-bullseye
     container_name: zf_postgresdb
     ports:
-      - 5432:5432
+      - 127.0.0.1:5432:5432
     volumes:
       - pg_data_zimfarm:/var/lib/postgresql/data
       - ./postgres-initdb:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
@@ -14,16 +14,22 @@ services:
   backend:
     build: ../dispatcher/backend
     container_name: zf_backend
-    command: python main.py
+    command: 
+      - gunicorn 
+      - --conf 
+      - /app/gunicorn_conf.py
+      - --bind
+      - 0.0.0.0:8000
+      - --reload
+      - main
     volumes:
       - ../dispatcher/backend/src:/app
       - ../dispatcher/backend/prestart.sh:/app/prestart.sh
       - ../dispatcher/backend/docs:/app/docs
       - ../dispatcher/backend/maint-scripts:/app/maint-scripts
     ports:
-      - 8000:8000
+      - 127.0.0.1:8000:8000
     environment:
-      BINDING_HOST: 0.0.0.0
       DEBUG: 1
       JWT_SECRET: DH8kSxcflUVfNRdkEiJJCn2dOOKI3qfw
       POSTGRES_URI: postgresql+psycopg://zimfarm:zimpass@postgresdb:5432/zimfarm
@@ -36,7 +42,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - ../dispatcher/frontend-ui/src:/app
     ports:
-      - 8001:80
+      - 127.0.0.1:8001:80
     environment:
       ZIMFARM_WEBAPI: http://localhost:8000/v1
     depends_on:
diff --git a/dispatcher/backend/Dockerfile b/dispatcher/backend/Dockerfile
index 6a49b6f76..92f15f592 100644
--- a/dispatcher/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/dispatcher/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
-FROM rgaudin/uwsgi-nginx:python3.8
+FROM python:3.8-slim-bookworm
 LABEL zimfarm=true
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source https://github.com/openzim/zimfarm
 
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -U pip
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir uwsgi==2.0.18
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -U pip gunicorn==21.2.0
 
 COPY requirements.txt /app/
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r /app/requirements.txt
@@ -16,16 +15,6 @@ WORKDIR /app/
 ENV DOCS_DIR /app/docs
 ENV INIT_PASSWORD admin
 
-# from uwsgi-nginx
-ENV UWSGI_INI /app/uwsgi.ini
-ENV UWSGI_CHEAPER 4
-ENV UWSGI_CHEAPER_STEP 2
-ENV UWSGI_PROCESSES 32
-ENV NGINX_MAX_UPLOAD 0
-ENV NGINX_WORKER_PROCESSES 1
-ENV LISTEN_PORT 80
-ENV NGINV_ENABLE_GZIP 1
-
 # mailgun for notifications
 ENV MAILGUN_API_URL https://api.mailgun.net/v3/mg.farm.openzim.org
 ENV MAILGUN_FROM Zimfarm <info@farm.openzim.org>
@@ -52,3 +41,5 @@ RUN chmod +x /app/prestart.sh
 COPY supervisor-listener.py /usr/local/bin/supervisor-listener
 RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/supervisor-listener
 COPY periodic.conf /etc/supervisor/conf.d/periodic.conf
+
+CMD ["gunicorn", "--conf", "/app/gunicorn_conf.py", "--bind", "0.0.0.0:8000", "main"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dispatcher/backend/src/gunicorn_conf.py b/dispatcher/backend/src/gunicorn_conf.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4aa8ac112
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dispatcher/backend/src/gunicorn_conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Gunicorn config variables
+loglevel = "info"
+errorlog = "-"  # stderr
+accesslog = "-"  # stdout
+worker_tmp_dir = "/dev/shm"
+graceful_timeout = 60
+timeout = 60
+keepalive = 5
+threads = 3