diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 12cd495d..69314d78 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -77,15 +77,14 @@ source "$HOME/.cargo/env"
 
 # Install build-time dependencies
 sudo apt update
-sudo apt install -y git gcc libssl-dev pkg-config
-sudo snap install --classic protobuf
-
-# (Optional) Install rockcraft for building the OCI image
-sudo snap install rockcraft --classic --channel edge
+sudo apt install -y git gcc libssl-dev pkg-config protobuf-compiler
 
 # (Optional) Install Docker for running the OCI image
 curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o /tmp/get-docker.sh
 sh /tmp/get-docker.sh
+
+# For running the dotenv files
+cargo install dotenvy --features=cli
 ```
 
 ### Building and running the binaries
@@ -93,43 +92,14 @@ sh /tmp/get-docker.sh
 To build and run the binary during development:
 
 ```shell
-# Setup a .env file
-# You'll need to adjust the values in the resulting .env to point to a suitable PostgreSQL instance.
-cp example.env .env
-
+dotenvy -f .env_files/example.env docker compose up -d #or podman-compose up 
 # Build and run
-cargo run
+dotenvy -f .env_files/example.env cargo run --release
 ```
 
 To _just_ build the binary you can run `cargo build --release`. The result will be placed at
 `./target/release/ratings`.
 
-## Building and running the OCI image
-
-The OCI image for Ratings is built using [`rockcraft`](https://github.com/canonical/rockcraft).
-
-You can get started like so:
-
-```shell
-# Build the image
-rockcraft --verbose
-
-# Grab the version from the rockcraft.yaml
-version="$(grep -Po "^version: \K.+" rockcraft.yaml)"
-
-# Copy the image from the ROCK archive to the local docker daemon
-sudo /snap/rockcraft/current/bin/skopeo \
-    --insecure-policy \
-    copy oci-archive:"ratings_${version}_amd64.rock" docker-daemon:"ratings:${version}"
-
-# Run the service - replace the postgres var with valid database credentials
-docker run --rm \
-    -e POSTGRES="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/ratings" \
-    -e JWT_SECRET="deadbeef" \
-    -p 18080:18080 \
-    "ratings:${version}"
-```
-
 ### About the testsuite
 
 The project includes a comprehensive testsuite made of unit and integration tests. All the tests must pass before the review is considered. If you have troubles with the testsuite, feel free to mention it on your PR description.
@@ -152,21 +122,26 @@ Tests are located under the `tests/` folder and the coordination scripts are loc
 These tests require a database to run against. The easiest way to set up the database, run the tests and clean up is via the following commands:
 
 ```
-# Spin up and bootstrap a test db
-cargo make db-up
-
 # Run the tests
 cargo make full-test
 
-# To tear down the db
-cargo make db-down
-
 # Clean up docker images and build artifacts
 cargo make full-clean
-
 ```
 
 The test suite must pass before merging the PR to our main branch. Any new feature, change or fix must be covered by corresponding tests.
+Also please note that the `category` suite will take *quite a while* to finish, so be patient with it or skip it by manually running the tests you need with `cargo test --test <your-tests>` if you're not touching the category feature.
+
+Note that the above won't work if you use `podman` (unless you've put in effort to alias docker commands to `podman` and `podman-compose`),
+alternatively you can use:
+
+```
+dotenvy -f .env_files/test.env podman-compose up
+dotenvy -f .env_files/test-server.env cargo run
+dotenvy -f .env_files/test.env cargo test
+```
+
+In separate tabs (or `tmux` sessions etc), so long as you have the Docker repositories added as a `podman` source.
 
 ### Code style