diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index aaa796fb..1ea00da2 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@ version: "3.9"
 # Local development environment for Minstrel.
 # Not used by CI — integration tests run against this compose stack manually:
 #   docker compose up -d postgres
-#   go test ./...    # runs full tests (no -short flag)
+#   MINSTREL_TEST_DATABASE_URL=postgres://minstrel:minstrel@localhost:5432/minstrel?sslmode=disable \
+#       go test ./...
+#
+# Full stack (server + db):
+#   docker compose up --build
 
 services:
   postgres:
@@ -22,5 +26,16 @@ services:
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 10
 
+  minstrel:
+    build: .
+    depends_on:
+      postgres:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    environment:
+      SMARTMUSIC_DATABASE_URL: postgres://minstrel:minstrel@postgres:5432/minstrel?sslmode=disable
+      SMARTMUSIC_LOG_FORMAT: text
+    ports:
+      - "4533:4533"
+
 volumes:
   minstrel-pgdata: