diff --git a/codebase/docker/start.sh b/codebase/docker/start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..866afc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codebase/docker/start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+#!/usr/bin/bash
+
+set -x
+
+# Build image
+if [ "$(docker network list | grep laravel_net)" == "" ]
+then
+    docker network create laravel_net
+fi
+
+
+if [ "$(docker container list | grep laraveldb)" == "" ]
+then
+docker run --name laraveldb --net laravel_net -p 3306:3306 -d \
+       -e  MYSQL_USER=myuser \
+       -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=password \
+       -e MYSQL_DATABASE=laravel \
+       -e MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=true  \
+        mysql:latest
+fi
+
+# only build image if it doesn't exist
+if [ "$(docker image list | grep laravelio)" == "" ]
+then
+    docker build . -t laravelio
+fi
+
+docker run --name laravel  --net laravel_net -p 80:8000 -d \
+       -e DB_CONNECTION=mysql \
+       -e DB_HOST=laraveldb \
+       -e DB_DATABASE=laravel \
+       -e DB_USERNAME=myuser \
+       -e DB_PASSWORD=password \
+       laravelio
+
+curl --write-out '%{http_code}' --silent http://localhost:80/ --output output.html
+