diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 215f3bd6..7e87c217 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 .gradle/*
 build/*
 .idea/*
+.vscode/*
 .ideaDataSources/
 data-test/*
 bin/*
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 17de11c0..67068ec8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,15 +1,26 @@
-FROM eclipse-temurin:21
+# Stage 1: Build the application using Gradle and JDK 21 (Temurin)
+FROM gradle:8.7-jdk21-alpine AS build
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy configuration files to cache dependencies
+COPY build.gradle.kts settings.gradle.kts ./
 
-ARG JAR_FILE=build/libs/*.jar
+# Copy source code and build the application
+# Using the 'gradle' command directly since it's pre-installed
+COPY src ./src
+RUN gradle clean bootJar --no-daemon
 
+# Stage 2: Minimal runtime image using Eclipse Temurin 21 JRE
+FROM eclipse-temurin:21-jre-alpine
 WORKDIR /app
 
+# Copy the built JAR from the previous stage
+COPY --from=build /app/build/libs/*.jar app.jar
+COPY --from=build /app/src/main/resources /app/resources
+
 ENV JAVA_OPTS="-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=*:5005"
 ENV SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE=docker
 
-COPY ${JAR_FILE} /app/app.jar
-COPY src/main/resources /app/resources
-
+# Application configuration
 EXPOSE 8080 5005
-
-CMD ["sh", "-c", "java $JAVA_OPTS -jar /app/app.jar"]
\ No newline at end of file
+ENTRYPOINT exec java $JAVA_OPTS -jar app.jar
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b80f47c5..761f51b0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -146,9 +146,7 @@ docker --version
 
 ### Setup PostgreSQL database
 
-PostgreSQL runs in Docker. The image (postgres:15) is downloaded from Docker Hub when running
-the docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up --build as explained
-in [Run Locally](#run-locally) section.
+PostgreSQL runs in Docker. The image (postgres:15) is downloaded from Docker Hub when running the `./scripts/docker-up.sh` as explained in [Run Locally](#run-locally) section.
 
 Setup Data source in the IntelliJ.
 
@@ -178,8 +176,7 @@ execute
 * Build containers
 
 ```shell
-./gradlew clean bootJar
-docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up --build
+./scripts/docker-up.sh
 ```
 
 Now you have the application running connected to the postgres database.
@@ -235,7 +232,7 @@ You can generate a Postman collection from the application’s OpenAPI specifica
 1. Start the application (e.g. via Docker Compose):
 
 ```shell
-   docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up --build
+   ./scripts/docker-up.sh
 ```
 
 2. In the root directory of the repository, there is a folder called `postman-collection` which
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.yml b/docker/docker-compose.yml
index 0af1e58b..3183a3c2 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,14 @@ services:
       SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME: postgres
       SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD: MFpFnhhICniFNPA
       SPRING_APP_BASE_URL: http://localhost:8080
+    healthcheck:
+      # http://localhost:8080/actuator/health is always DOWN because of the 
+      # lack of mail service authentication
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- http://localhost:8080/actuator/health/ping | grep UP || exit 1"]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 1s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 5s
     networks:
       - app-network
 
diff --git a/scripts/docker-down.sh b/scripts/docker-down.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..bc0a0cbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/docker-down.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash -xe
+
+# Script that kills the test environment and cleanup volumes
+
+dir="$(dirname -- "$(which -- "$0" 2>/dev/null || realpath -- "./$0")")"
+docker compose --ansi never \
+  --file "$dir/../docker/docker-compose.yml" \
+  kill
+if [ "$(docker ps -a -q)" ]; then
+  docker rm -f $(docker ps -a -q)
+fi
+if [ "$(docker volume ls -q)" ]; then
+  docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)
+fi
diff --git a/scripts/docker-up.sh b/scripts/docker-up.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5daf0ecc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/docker-up.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Script that creates the test environment (bringuing it down before) by
+# building the springboot-app (--build), and
+# starting in detached mode (-d), and waiting for it to be healthy (--wait) 
+#
+# Also checks how much time the application needed to be healthy in the end
+
+# Bring it down
+dir="$(dirname -- "$(which -- "$0" 2>/dev/null || realpath -- "./$0")")"
+$dir/docker-down.sh
+
+# Put it up with --build and --wait
+docker compose --ansi never \
+  --file "$dir/../docker/docker-compose.yml" \
+  up --build -d --wait
+
+# Checks how long it took, from "Now" in the container to the StartedAt time 
+# we don't use the local clock to avoid issues with different timezones
+APP=springboot-app
+NOW_TIME=$(docker exec $APP date "+%H:%M:%S")
+NOW_SECONDS=$(date -d "$NOW_TIME" +%s 2>/dev/null || date -j -f "%H:%M:%S" "${NOW_TIME%.*}" +%s)
+echo "Now on $APP is: $NOW_TIME ($NOW_SECONDS)"
+START_TIME=$(docker inspect --format='{{.State.StartedAt}}' $APP)
+START_SECONDS=$(date -d "$START_TIME" +%s 2>/dev/null || date -j -f "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" "${START_TIME%.*}" +%s)
+echo "Started $APP at: $START_TIME ($START_SECONDS)"
+echo "Time to be healthy (in seconds): $((NOW_SECONDS - START_SECONDS))"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application-docker.yml b/src/main/resources/application-docker.yml
index 0ff14fad..59d39aba 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application-docker.yml
+++ b/src/main/resources/application-docker.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@ spring:
   config:
     activate:
       on-profile: docker
+  mail:
+    properties:
+      mail:
+        smtp:
+          enable: false
+          auth: false
+          starttls:
+            enable: false
 
 file:
   storage: