diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ba118a49..6fdb61c6 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 services:
   - mysql
+  - docker
+
+sudo: required
 
 language: python            # this works for Linux but is an error on macOS or Windows
 
@@ -61,6 +64,10 @@ install:
     
 script:
   - bash tests/scripts/run_tests.sh
+  - docker build -t rapids .
+
+# after_success:
+# need to push built image to appropriate repo in docker hub (to do: encrypt password)
 
 branches:
   only:
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..916d326d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# getting base image ubuntu
+FROM ubuntu:20.04
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+RUN apt update && apt install -y \
+    libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+    libssl-dev \
+    libxml2-dev \
+    libmysqlclient-dev \
+    mysql-server
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y gnupg
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y software-properties-common
+RUN apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E298A3A825C0D65DFD57CBB651716619E084DAB9
+RUN add-apt-repository 'deb https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu focal-cran40/'
+RUN apt update && apt install -y r-base
+RUN apt install -y pandoc
+RUN apt install -y git
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y vim
+ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
+ENV PATH /opt/conda/bin:$PATH
+RUN apt-get update --fix-missing && \
+    apt-get install -y wget bzip2 ca-certificates curl git && \
+    apt-get clean && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN wget --quiet https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-4.5.11-Linux-x86_64.sh -O ~/miniconda.sh && \
+    /bin/bash ~/miniconda.sh -b -p /opt/conda && \
+    rm ~/miniconda.sh && \
+    /opt/conda/bin/conda clean -tipsy && \
+    ln -s /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh /etc/profile.d/conda.sh && \
+    echo ". /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" >> ~/.bashrc && \
+    echo "conda activate base" >> ~/.bashrc
+ENV TINI_VERSION v0.16.1
+ADD https://github.com/krallin/tini/releases/download/${TINI_VERSION}/tini /usr/bin/tini
+RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/tini
+RUN git clone https://github.com/carissalow/rapids
+ENTRYPOINT [ "/usr/bin/tini", "--" ]
+CMD [ "/bin/bash" ]
+RUN conda update -n base -c defaults conda
+WORKDIR /rapids
+RUN conda env create -f environment.yml -n rapids
+RUN R -e 'renv::restore()'
+COPY rapids_example.sql ./data/external
+RUN echo "source activate rapids" > ~/.bashrc
+ENV PATH /opt/conda/envs/rapids/bin:$PATH
\ No newline at end of file