diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7d8a26eff..d397cb502 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,24 +16,43 @@ Antenna uses [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) & [Docker Compose](ht
     127.0.0.1 minio
     127.0.0.1 django
 ```
+3) The following commands will build all services, run them in the background, and then stream the logs.
+   1) Standard development: will use a pre-built version of the frontend that will not have hot-reloading enabled. However, it will make startup time faster when restarting the stack.
+      ```sh
+      # Start the whole compose stack
+      docker compose up -d
 
-2) The following commands will build all services, run them in the background, and then stream the logs.
+      # To stream the logs
+      docker compose logs -f django celeryworker ui
+      # Ctrl+c to close the logs
+
+      NOTE: If you see docker build errors such as `At least one invalid signature was encountered`, these could happen if docker runs out of space. Commands like `docker image prune -f` and `docker system prune` can be helpful to clean up space.
+
+      ```
+      To update the UI Docker container, use the following command to rebuild the frontend and load the new changes
+      (and remember to refresh your browser after!).
+      ```sh
+      docker compose stop ui && docker compose build ui &&  docker compose up ui -d
+      ```
+
+   2) With Hot Reload UI**: Hot reload is enabled for frontend development, but the primary web interface will be slow to load at startup and later restarts.
+      ```sh
+      # Run docker compose with the override config
+      docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose-frontend-dev.override.yml up -d
+      ```
+      _**Do note that this will create a `ui/node_modules` folder if one does not exist yet. This folder is created by the mounting of the `/ui` folder
+      in the [docker-compose-frontend-dev.override.yml](docker-compose-frontend-dev.override.yml), and is written by a `root` user.
+      It will need to be removed, or you will need to modify its access permissions with the `chown` command if you later want to work on the frontend using the [instructions here](#frontend)._
 
-```sh
-    docker compose up -d
-    docker compose logs -f django celeryworker ui
-    # Ctrl+c to close the logs
-```
-NOTE: If you see docker build errors such as `At least one invalid signature was encountered`, these could happen if docker runs out of space. Commands like `docker image prune -f` and `docker system prune` can be helpful to clean up space.
 
-3) Optionally, run additional ML processing services: `processing_services` defines ML backends which wrap detections in our FastAPI response schema. The `example` app demos how to add new pipelines, algorithms, and models. See the detailed instructions in `processing_services/README.md`.
+4) Optionally, run additional ML processing services: `processing_services` defines ML backends which wrap detections in our FastAPI response schema. The `example` app demos how to add new pipelines, algorithms, and models. See the detailed instructions in `processing_services/README.md`.
 
 ```
 docker compose -f processing_services/example/docker-compose.yml up -d
 # Once running, in Antenna register a new processing service called: http://ml_backend_example:2000
 ```
 
-4) Access the platform with the following URLs:
+5) Access the platform with the following URLs:
 
 - Primary web interface: http://localhost:4000
 - API browser: http://localhost:8000/api/v2/
@@ -48,7 +67,7 @@ A default user will be created with the following credentials. Use these to log
 - Email: `antenna@insectai.org`
 - Password: `localadmin`
 
-5) Stop all services with:
+6) Stop all services with:
 
     $ docker compose down
 
diff --git a/compose/local/ui/Dockerfile b/compose/local/ui/Dockerfile
index f3493dd60..47b1287a2 100644
--- a/compose/local/ui/Dockerfile
+++ b/compose/local/ui/Dockerfile
@@ -4,14 +4,21 @@ FROM node:18
 # Set the working directory in the container
 WORKDIR /app
 
+COPY ./ /app
+
 # Configure git to trust the /app directory
+# Not necessary for default, but needed for frontend compose override to have proper
+# build number
 RUN git config --global --add safe.directory /app
 
 # Don't try to open a browser
 ENV BROWSER=none
 
+# Build the ui
+RUN yarn install \
+    && yarn build
+
 # Expose the port the app runs on
 EXPOSE 4000
 
-# Check for changed app dependencies on every start
-CMD ["sh", "-c", "yarn install && yarn start --debug --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4000"]
+CMD ["sh", "-c", "yarn preview --debug --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4000"]
diff --git a/docker-compose-frontend-dev.override.yml b/docker-compose-frontend-dev.override.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..defd03a72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose-frontend-dev.override.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# This docker compose configuration should only be used to override the development compose file, docker-compose.yml
+
+services:
+  ui:
+    volumes:
+      - ./.git:/app/.git:ro
+      - ./ui:/app
+    entrypoint: ["sh", "-c", "yarn install && yarn start --debug --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4000"]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index e1588478d..5d6bfefae 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -56,31 +56,12 @@ services:
       dockerfile: ../compose/local/ui/Dockerfile
     ports:
       - "4000:4000"
-    volumes:
-      - ./.git:/app/.git:ro
-      - ./ui:/app
-      - node_modules:/app/node_modules
     depends_on:
       - django
     environment:
       - CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=true
       - API_PROXY_TARGET=http://django:8000
 
-  docs:
-    image: ami_local_docs
-    build:
-      context: .
-      dockerfile: ./compose/local/docs/Dockerfile
-    env_file:
-      - ./.envs/.local/.django
-    volumes:
-      - ./docs:/docs:z
-      - ./config:/app/config:z
-      - ./ami:/app/ami:z
-    ports:
-      - "9025:9000"
-    command: /start-docs
-
   redis:
     image: redis:6
     container_name: ami_local_redis
diff --git a/ui/.dockerignore b/ui/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e2e84b08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+build/
+node_modules/
diff --git a/ui/vite.config.ts b/ui/vite.config.ts
index d15cf415e..d65ecd750 100644
--- a/ui/vite.config.ts
+++ b/ui/vite.config.ts
@@ -5,9 +5,18 @@ import eslint from 'vite-plugin-eslint'
 import svgr from 'vite-plugin-svgr'
 import viteTsconfigPaths from 'vite-tsconfig-paths'
 
-const commitHash = childProcess
-  .execSync('git rev-parse --short HEAD')
-  .toString()
+let temporaryCommitHash: string
+try {
+    temporaryCommitHash = childProcess
+        .execSync('git rev-parse --short HEAD')
+        .toString()
+} catch (error) {
+    console.warn('Could not get git commit hash:', error)
+    temporaryCommitHash = '- Local docker image: please ensure this is the latest version -'
+}
+
+const commitHash = temporaryCommitHash
+
 
 export default defineConfig(({ mode }) => {
   // Load env file based on `mode` in the current working directory.