diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index ba632206ac7865e2dedb32627c11fe9a86988c01..219b34d84f93b376d257e2014444b3451063071e 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,14 +1,18 @@
-FROM python:3.11.4-bullseye as requirements-stage
+FROM python:3.11.4-bookworm as requirements-stage
 
 WORKDIR /tmp
 
+# set environment variables
+ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE 1
+ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
+
 RUN pip install poetry
 
 COPY ./pyproject.toml ./poetry.lock* /tmp/
 
 RUN poetry export -f requirements.txt --output requirements.txt --without-hashes
 
-FROM python:3.11.4-bullseye
+FROM python:3.11.4-slim-bookworm
 
 RUN apt update -y && apt upgrade -y && apt install -y python3-dev libpq-dev
 
@@ -22,6 +26,4 @@ COPY . ./
 
 EXPOSE 8000
 
-ENTRYPOINT ["python", "manage.py",  "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
-
-# CMD ["0.0.0.0"]
+CMD ["gunicorn", "--timeout", "120", "--bind", ":8000", "defense_finder_api.wsgi:application"]
diff --git a/backend/poetry.lock b/backend/poetry.lock
index 06dae09dd7584f72a65b96ffb04f46a521e3a09a..460e104599c3b5ef906504d3f5d4468bab3303f1 100644
--- a/backend/poetry.lock
+++ b/backend/poetry.lock
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry and should not be changed by hand.
+# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.5.1 and should not be changed by hand.
 
 [[package]]
 name = "appdirs"
 version = "1.4.4"
 description = "A small Python module for determining appropriate platform-specific dirs, e.g. a \"user data dir\"."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 files = [
@@ -16,7 +15,6 @@ files = [
 name = "asgiref"
 version = "3.7.2"
 description = "ASGI specs, helper code, and adapters"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -34,7 +32,6 @@ tests = ["mypy (>=0.800)", "pytest", "pytest-asyncio"]
 name = "attrs"
 version = "23.1.0"
 description = "Classes Without Boilerplate"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -53,7 +50,6 @@ tests-no-zope = ["cloudpickle", "hypothesis", "mypy (>=1.1.1)", "pympler", "pyte
 name = "bioblend"
 version = "0.16.0"
 description = "Galaxy and CloudMan API library"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 files = [
@@ -74,7 +70,6 @@ testing = ["pytest"]
 name = "black"
 version = "23.7.0"
 description = "The uncompromising code formatter."
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.8"
 files = [
@@ -120,7 +115,6 @@ uvloop = ["uvloop (>=0.15.2)"]
 name = "boto"
 version = "2.49.0"
 description = "Amazon Web Services Library"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 files = [
@@ -132,7 +126,6 @@ files = [
 name = "cattrs"
 version = "23.1.2"
 description = "Composable complex class support for attrs and dataclasses."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -158,7 +151,6 @@ ujson = ["ujson (>=5.4.0,<6.0.0)"]
 name = "certifi"
 version = "2023.7.22"
 description = "Python package for providing Mozilla's CA Bundle."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 files = [
@@ -170,7 +162,6 @@ files = [
 name = "charset-normalizer"
 version = "3.2.0"
 description = "The Real First Universal Charset Detector. Open, modern and actively maintained alternative to Chardet."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7.0"
 files = [
@@ -255,7 +246,6 @@ files = [
 name = "click"
 version = "8.1.6"
 description = "Composable command line interface toolkit"
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -270,7 +260,6 @@ colorama = {version = "*", markers = "platform_system == \"Windows\""}
 name = "colorama"
 version = "0.4.6"
 description = "Cross-platform colored terminal text."
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "!=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,!=3.3.*,!=3.4.*,!=3.5.*,!=3.6.*,>=2.7"
 files = [
@@ -282,7 +271,6 @@ files = [
 name = "django"
 version = "4.2.3"
 description = "A high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.8"
 files = [
@@ -303,7 +291,6 @@ bcrypt = ["bcrypt"]
 name = "django-environ"
 version = "0.10.0"
 description = "A package that allows you to utilize 12factor inspired environment variables to configure your Django application."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5,<4"
 files = [
@@ -312,15 +299,14 @@ files = [
 ]
 
 [package.extras]
-develop = ["coverage[toml] (>=5.0a4)", "furo (>=2021.8.17b43,<2021.9.0)", "pytest (>=4.6.11)", "sphinx (>=3.5.0)", "sphinx-notfound-page"]
-docs = ["furo (>=2021.8.17b43,<2021.9.0)", "sphinx (>=3.5.0)", "sphinx-notfound-page"]
+develop = ["coverage[toml] (>=5.0a4)", "furo (>=2021.8.17b43,<2021.9.dev0)", "pytest (>=4.6.11)", "sphinx (>=3.5.0)", "sphinx-notfound-page"]
+docs = ["furo (>=2021.8.17b43,<2021.9.dev0)", "sphinx (>=3.5.0)", "sphinx-notfound-page"]
 testing = ["coverage[toml] (>=5.0a4)", "pytest (>=4.6.11)"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "django-ninja"
 version = "0.22.2"
 description = "Django Ninja - Fast Django REST framework"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -341,7 +327,6 @@ test = ["black", "django-stubs", "flake8", "isort", "mypy (==0.931)", "psycopg2-
 name = "django-to-galaxy"
 version = "0.6.4"
 description = "Django extension that eases communication with Galaxy instance to execute workflows."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.9,<4.0"
 files = [
@@ -361,7 +346,6 @@ requests-cache = ">=0.9.5,<0.10.0"
 name = "djangorestframework"
 version = "3.14.0"
 description = "Web APIs for Django, made easy."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 files = [
@@ -377,7 +361,6 @@ pytz = "*"
 name = "exceptiongroup"
 version = "1.1.2"
 description = "Backport of PEP 654 (exception groups)"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -388,11 +371,30 @@ files = [
 [package.extras]
 test = ["pytest (>=6)"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "gunicorn"
+version = "21.2.0"
+description = "WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.5"
+files = [
+    {file = "gunicorn-21.2.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:3213aa5e8c24949e792bcacfc176fef362e7aac80b76c56f6b5122bf350722f0"},
+    {file = "gunicorn-21.2.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:88ec8bff1d634f98e61b9f65bc4bf3cd918a90806c6f5c48bc5603849ec81033"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+packaging = "*"
+
+[package.extras]
+eventlet = ["eventlet (>=0.24.1)"]
+gevent = ["gevent (>=1.4.0)"]
+setproctitle = ["setproctitle"]
+tornado = ["tornado (>=0.2)"]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "idna"
 version = "3.4"
 description = "Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA)"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5"
 files = [
@@ -404,7 +406,6 @@ files = [
 name = "markdown"
 version = "3.4.3"
 description = "Python implementation of John Gruber's Markdown."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -419,7 +420,6 @@ testing = ["coverage", "pyyaml"]
 name = "mypy-extensions"
 version = "1.0.0"
 description = "Type system extensions for programs checked with the mypy type checker."
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5"
 files = [
@@ -431,7 +431,6 @@ files = [
 name = "packaging"
 version = "23.1"
 description = "Core utilities for Python packages"
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -443,7 +442,6 @@ files = [
 name = "pathspec"
 version = "0.11.1"
 description = "Utility library for gitignore style pattern matching of file paths."
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -455,7 +453,6 @@ files = [
 name = "platformdirs"
 version = "3.9.1"
 description = "A small Python package for determining appropriate platform-specific dirs, e.g. a \"user data dir\"."
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -471,7 +468,6 @@ test = ["appdirs (==1.4.4)", "covdefaults (>=2.3)", "pytest (>=7.3.1)", "pytest-
 name = "psycopg"
 version = "3.1.9"
 description = "PostgreSQL database adapter for Python"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -496,7 +492,6 @@ test = ["anyio (>=3.6.2)", "mypy (>=1.2)", "pproxy (>=2.7)", "pytest (>=6.2.5)",
 name = "psycopg-binary"
 version = "3.1.9"
 description = "PostgreSQL database adapter for Python -- C optimisation distribution"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -560,7 +555,6 @@ files = [
 name = "pydantic"
 version = "1.10.11"
 description = "Data validation and settings management using python type hints"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -613,7 +607,6 @@ email = ["email-validator (>=1.0.3)"]
 name = "pytz"
 version = "2023.3"
 description = "World timezone definitions, modern and historical"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = "*"
 files = [
@@ -625,7 +618,6 @@ files = [
 name = "pyyaml"
 version = "6.0.1"
 description = "YAML parser and emitter for Python"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 files = [
@@ -634,6 +626,7 @@ files = [
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:69b023b2b4daa7548bcfbd4aa3da05b3a74b772db9e23b982788168117739938"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl", hash = "sha256:81e0b275a9ecc9c0c0c07b4b90ba548307583c125f54d5b6946cfee6360c733d"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:ba336e390cd8e4d1739f42dfe9bb83a3cc2e80f567d8805e11b46f4a943f5515"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:326c013efe8048858a6d312ddd31d56e468118ad4cdeda36c719bf5bb6192290"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp310-cp310-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:bd4af7373a854424dabd882decdc5579653d7868b8fb26dc7d0e99f823aa5924"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:fd1592b3fdf65fff2ad0004b5e363300ef59ced41c2e6b3a99d4089fa8c5435d"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6965a7bc3cf88e5a1c3bd2e0b5c22f8d677dc88a455344035f03399034eb3007"},
@@ -641,8 +634,15 @@ files = [
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:42f8152b8dbc4fe7d96729ec2b99c7097d656dc1213a3229ca5383f973a5ed6d"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl", hash = "sha256:062582fca9fabdd2c8b54a3ef1c978d786e0f6b3a1510e0ac93ef59e0ddae2bc"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:d2b04aac4d386b172d5b9692e2d2da8de7bfb6c387fa4f801fbf6fb2e6ba4673"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:e7d73685e87afe9f3b36c799222440d6cf362062f78be1013661b00c5c6f678b"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:1635fd110e8d85d55237ab316b5b011de701ea0f29d07611174a1b42f1444741"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:bf07ee2fef7014951eeb99f56f39c9bb4af143d8aa3c21b1677805985307da34"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp312-cp312-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:855fb52b0dc35af121542a76b9a84f8d1cd886ea97c84703eaa6d88e37a2ad28"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp312-cp312-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:40df9b996c2b73138957fe23a16a4f0ba614f4c0efce1e9406a184b6d07fa3a9"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6c22bec3fbe2524cde73d7ada88f6566758a8f7227bfbf93a408a9d86bcc12a0"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:8d4e9c88387b0f5c7d5f281e55304de64cf7f9c0021a3525bd3b1c542da3b0e4"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp312-cp312-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:d483d2cdf104e7c9fa60c544d92981f12ad66a457afae824d146093b8c294c54"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:0d3304d8c0adc42be59c5f8a4d9e3d7379e6955ad754aa9d6ab7a398b59dd1df"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp36-cp36m-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:50550eb667afee136e9a77d6dc71ae76a44df8b3e51e41b77f6de2932bfe0f47"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:1fe35611261b29bd1de0070f0b2f47cb6ff71fa6595c077e42bd0c419fa27b98"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp36-cp36m-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl", hash = "sha256:704219a11b772aea0d8ecd7058d0082713c3562b4e271b849ad7dc4a5c90c13c"},
@@ -659,6 +659,7 @@ files = [
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:a0cd17c15d3bb3fa06978b4e8958dcdc6e0174ccea823003a106c7d4d7899ac5"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl", hash = "sha256:28c119d996beec18c05208a8bd78cbe4007878c6dd15091efb73a30e90539696"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:7e07cbde391ba96ab58e532ff4803f79c4129397514e1413a7dc761ccd755735"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp38-cp38-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:49a183be227561de579b4a36efbb21b3eab9651dd81b1858589f796549873dd6"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:184c5108a2aca3c5b3d3bf9395d50893a7ab82a38004c8f61c258d4428e80206"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:1e2722cc9fbb45d9b87631ac70924c11d3a401b2d7f410cc0e3bbf249f2dca62"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:9eb6caa9a297fc2c2fb8862bc5370d0303ddba53ba97e71f08023b6cd73d16a8"},
@@ -666,6 +667,7 @@ files = [
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:5773183b6446b2c99bb77e77595dd486303b4faab2b086e7b17bc6bef28865f6"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl", hash = "sha256:b786eecbdf8499b9ca1d697215862083bd6d2a99965554781d0d8d1ad31e13a0"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:bc1bf2925a1ecd43da378f4db9e4f799775d6367bdb94671027b73b393a7c42c"},
+    {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:04ac92ad1925b2cff1db0cfebffb6ffc43457495c9b3c39d3fcae417d7125dc5"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:faca3bdcf85b2fc05d06ff3fbc1f83e1391b3e724afa3feba7d13eeab355484c"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:510c9deebc5c0225e8c96813043e62b680ba2f9c50a08d3724c7f28a747d1486"},
     {file = "PyYAML-6.0.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:bfdf460b1736c775f2ba9f6a92bca30bc2095067b8a9d77876d1fad6cc3b4a43"},
@@ -675,7 +677,6 @@ files = [
 name = "requests"
 version = "2.31.0"
 description = "Python HTTP for Humans."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -697,7 +698,6 @@ use-chardet-on-py3 = ["chardet (>=3.0.2,<6)"]
 name = "requests-cache"
 version = "0.9.8"
 description = "A transparent persistent cache for the requests library"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7,<4.0"
 files = [
@@ -728,7 +728,6 @@ yaml = ["pyyaml (>=5.4)"]
 name = "requests-toolbelt"
 version = "1.0.0"
 description = "A utility belt for advanced users of python-requests"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*"
 files = [
@@ -743,7 +742,6 @@ requests = ">=2.0.1,<3.0.0"
 name = "six"
 version = "1.16.0"
 description = "Python 2 and 3 compatibility utilities"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*"
 files = [
@@ -755,7 +753,6 @@ files = [
 name = "sqlparse"
 version = "0.4.4"
 description = "A non-validating SQL parser."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5"
 files = [
@@ -772,7 +769,6 @@ test = ["pytest", "pytest-cov"]
 name = "tomli"
 version = "2.0.1"
 description = "A lil' TOML parser"
-category = "dev"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -784,7 +780,6 @@ files = [
 name = "typing-extensions"
 version = "4.7.1"
 description = "Backported and Experimental Type Hints for Python 3.7+"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -796,7 +791,6 @@ files = [
 name = "tzdata"
 version = "2023.3"
 description = "Provider of IANA time zone data"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2"
 files = [
@@ -808,7 +802,6 @@ files = [
 name = "url-normalize"
 version = "1.4.3"
 description = "URL normalization for Python"
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*, !=3.3.*, !=3.4.*, !=3.5.*"
 files = [
@@ -823,7 +816,6 @@ six = "*"
 name = "urllib3"
 version = "2.0.4"
 description = "HTTP library with thread-safe connection pooling, file post, and more."
-category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 files = [
@@ -840,4 +832,4 @@ zstd = ["zstandard (>=0.18.0)"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = "^3.10"
-content-hash = "5b557df5a0c8da5cbac5e8654faa4fb4df0877547b34b7ae60b969ad38894265"
+content-hash = "f84a622ad4938155eb1684c17f4c9ec84f5627496462308a30c9f6885dccd012"
diff --git a/backend/pyproject.toml b/backend/pyproject.toml
index 003c6776faef2de0a9af3e54d22167c515b04b22..b8a47a1ddc40f1c81ea7b4c8f94fcf7f1d6c733c 100644
--- a/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ django-ninja = "^0.22.2"
 psycopg = {extras = ["binary"], version = "^3.1.9"}
 django-to-galaxy = "^0.6.4"
 django-environ = "^0.10.0"
+gunicorn = "^21.2.0"
 
 
 [tool.poetry.group.dev.dependencies]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index b72b38bde776cc942194c6a25c5fbf27e6079724..93062fcebf0b469ab4236c069891922be368f362 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ version: "3.9"
 services:
   defense-finder-api:
     build: ./backend
+    command: 
+      - sh 
+      - -c
+      - >
+        python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
     volumes:
       - ./backend/:/code
     ports: