diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..948c625
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Git
+.git
+.gitignore
+
+# Build artifacts
+tmp/
+*.exe
+*.exe~
+*.dll
+*.so
+*.dylib
+
+# Test binary, built with `go test -c`
+*.test
+
+# Output of the go coverage tool
+*.out
+
+# Dependency directories
+vendor/
+
+# IDE specific files
+.idea/
+.vscode/
+
+# Docker
+Dockerfile
+.dockerignore
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+
+# Local configuration
+test/
+tmp/
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c50be8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Build stage
+FROM golang:1.24-alpine AS builder
+
+# Set working directory
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy go.mod and go.sum files
+COPY go.mod go.sum ./
+
+# Download dependencies
+RUN go mod download
+
+# Copy the source code
+COPY . .
+
+# Build the application
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux go build -a -installsuffix cgo -o member-console .
+
+# Runtime stage
+FROM alpine:latest
+
+# Create a non-root user and group
+RUN addgroup -S appgroup && adduser -S appuser -G appgroup
+
+# Set the working directory
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy the binary from the builder stage
+COPY --from=builder /app/member-console .
+
+# Set environment variables
+ENV PORT=8080 \
+    ENV=production
+
+# Expose the port the app runs on
+EXPOSE 8080
+
+# Switch to non-root user
+USER appuser
+
+# Command to run the application
+ENTRYPOINT ["/app/member-console"]
+CMD ["start"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cec94e8..4baed0e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,3 +23,48 @@ Member console application for users to create, acccess, and manage their accoun
   - [ ] Subresource Integrity (SRI) for CDN assets
 - [ ] Serve HTMX assets not from CDN
 - [ ] Find out if timeout middleware is actually needed or if net/http handles it
+
+## Building and publishing container image
+
+Building and publishing the container image is done using Docker Buildx. This allows us to build multi-platform images for both ARM64 and AMD64 architectures.
+
+```bash
+docker buildx build \
+  --platform linux/arm64,linux/amd64 \
+  -t git.coopcloud.tech/wiki-cafe/member-console:latest \
+  -t git.coopcloud.tech/wiki-cafe/member-console:$(date +%Y-%m-%d) \
+  --push \
+  .
+```
+
+## Deploying image to production
+
+### Generating Secrets
+
+To generate secure values for `session-secret` and `csrf-secret`, use the following commands:
+
+For `session-secret` (a base64-encoded random string):
+
+```bash
+openssl rand -base64 32
+```
+
+Example output:
+
+```
+rJcniy2aWl3vwBcrMJfqsTL+Wys7EwDx/RC+DRrKcYg=
+```
+
+For `csrf-secret` (a 32-character hexadecimal string):
+
+```bash
+openssl rand -hex 16
+```
+
+Example output:
+
+```
+e157b42a5b608882179cb4ac69c12f84
+```
+
+Ensure these secrets are securely stored and persisted for application use.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 29f25b3..8a01302 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package cmd
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
@@ -67,19 +68,18 @@ func initConfig() {
 		viper.SetConfigName("mc-config") // Use "mc-config" as the config file name
 	}
 
-	viper.SetEnvPrefix("MC") // set environment variable prefix
-	viper.AutomaticEnv()     // read in environment variables that match
+	viper.SetEnvPrefix("MC")                               // set environment variable prefix
+	viper.AutomaticEnv()                                   // read in environment variables that match
+	viper.SetEnvKeyReplacer(strings.NewReplacer("-", "_")) // Replace `-` with `_` in environment variable keys
 
 	// If a config file is found, read it in.
 	if err := viper.ReadInConfig(); err != nil {
 		if _, ok := err.(viper.ConfigFileNotFoundError); ok {
-			// Config file not found. This is always an error.
-			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Error: Config file not found:", err)
-			os.Exit(1)
+			// Config file not found. This is now a warning.
+			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Warning: Config file not found. Proceeding with defaults.")
 		} else {
 			// Another error occurred (e.g., malformed YAML). This should be reported.
 			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Error reading config file:", err)
-			os.Exit(1) // Exit for other config read errors
 		}
 	} else {
 		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Using config file:", viper.ConfigFileUsed())
diff --git a/mc-config.yaml b/mc-config.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000