diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bff2d76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.iml
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c27aa69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+ARG TOMCAT_VERSION=9.0.38
+ARG JAVA_VERSION=8
+ARG IMAGE_VERSION=${TOMCAT_VERSION}-jdk${JAVA_VERSION}-openjdk-slim
+
+FROM tomcat:$IMAGE_VERSION
+
+ARG GS_VERSION=2.18.0
+ARG MARLIN_TAG=0_9_4_3
+ARG MARLIN_VERSION=0.9.4.3
+
+ARG WAR_URL=https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/geoserver/GeoServer/${GS_VERSION}/geoserver-${GS_VERSION}-war.zip
+ARG STABLE_PLUGIN_URL=https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/${GS_VERSION}/extensions
+
+# environment variables
+ENV GS_VERSION=${GS_VERSION} \
+    MARLIN_TAG=${MARLIN_TAG} \
+    MARLIN_VERSION=${MARLIN_VERSION} \
+    WAR_URL=${WAR_URL} \
+    STABLE_PLUGIN_URL=${STABLE_PLUGIN_URL} \
+    INITIAL_MEMORY="2G" \
+    MAXIMUM_MEMORY="4G" \
+    JAIEXT_ENABLED=true \
+    STABLE_EXTENSIONS='' \
+#    COMMUNITY_EXTENSIONS='' \
+    DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+    EXTENSION_DOWNLOAD_DIR=/opt/geoserver_extension_downloads \
+    GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/opt/geoserver_data \
+    GEOWEBCACHE_CACHE_DIR=/opt/geowebcache_data
+
+RUN mkdir ${EXTENSION_DOWNLOAD_DIR} ${GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR} ${GEOWEBCACHE_CACHE_DIR}
+
+# install required dependencies
+# also clear the initial webapps
+RUN apt update && \
+    apt install -y curl wget openssl zip fontconfig libfreetype6 && \
+    rm -rf ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps/*
+
+# install geoserver
+RUN wget --progress=bar:force:noscroll -c --no-check-certificate "${WAR_URL}" -O /tmp/geoserver.zip && \
+    unzip /tmp/geoserver.zip geoserver.war -d ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps && \
+    mkdir -p ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps/geoserver && \
+    unzip -q ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps/geoserver.war -d ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps/geoserver && \
+    rm ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps/geoserver.war
+
+# install marlin renderer
+RUN wget --progress=bar:force:noscroll -c --no-check-certificate https://github.com/bourgesl/marlin-renderer/releases/download/v${MARLIN_TAG}/marlin-${MARLIN_VERSION}-Unsafe.jar -O ${CATALINA_HOME}/lib/marlin-${MARLIN_VERSION}-Unsafe.jar
+
+# copy scripts
+COPY scripts /scripts
+RUN chmod +x /scripts/*.sh
+
+# cleanup
+RUN apt clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
+
+WORKDIR ${CATALINA_HOME}
+
+CMD ["/bin/sh", "/scripts/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0d2e45c..07818f4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,51 @@
-# docker
-GeoServer docker image
+# Docker GeoServer image
+
+This docker GeoServer image is based on the following proposal:
+ 
+https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/wiki/GSIP-192
+
+Work is still in progress!
+
+## How it works
+
+1. The [Dockerfile](Dockerfile)
+    1. installs dependencies
+    1. installs the GeoServer by downloading and extracting the war file
+    1. installs the marlin renderer
+    1. defines defaults for environment variables
+1. The [entrypoint.sh](scripts/entrypoint.sh) startup script (in a running container)
+    1. executes [install-extensions.sh](scripts/install-extensions.sh) to download and install GeoServer extensions based on the `STABLE_EXTENSIONS` environment variable.
+    1. handles the `GEOSERVER_OPTS`
+    1. starts the tomcat
+
+## Building
+
+`docker build -t geoserver:test .`
+
+## Running
+
+`docker run -it -e STABLE_EXTENSIONS='wps,csw' -p 8080:8080 geoserver:test`
+
+The extensions will be downloaded on startup of the image (before starting the tomcat).
+
+## Configuration
+
+Pass as environment variables. If not passed, the default values will be used.
+
+* `GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR` (default: /opt/geoserver_data)
+* `INITIAL_MEMORY` (default: 2G)
+* `MAXIMUM_MEMORY` (default: 4G)
+* `JAIEXT_ENABLED` (default: true)
+* `STABLE_EXTENSIONS` as comma separated list, will be downloaded and installed on startup (default: "")
+
+## TODOs
+
+* CORS
+* configuration of JNDI connections in the tomcat/custom tomcat configuration in general
+* default data for gs datadir?
+* possibility to add custom java dependencies (for example the oracle jdbc driver)
+  * in this context: mount `EXTENSION_DOWNLOAD_DIR` and implement checks to cache extensions that have already been downloaded before?
+* log4j properties
+* add possibility to add custom fonts
+* starting from which version we want to provide geoserver images (maybe 2.15.x?)/backwards compatability
+* add a docker-compose demo environment?
diff --git a/scripts/entrypoint.sh b/scripts/entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d329090
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+## Inspired by https://github.com/kartoza/docker-geoserver
+set -e
+
+## install GeoServer extensions before starting the tomcat
+echo "Starting installation of extensions"
+/scripts/install-extensions.sh
+echo "\nFinished installation of extensions"
+
+export GEOSERVER_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -server \
+       -Dfile.encoding=UTF8 \
+       -Djavax.servlet.request.encoding=UTF-8 \
+       -Djavax.servlet.response.encoding=UTF-8 \
+       -Xms${INITIAL_MEMORY} -Xmx${MAXIMUM_MEMORY} \
+       -XX:SoftRefLRUPolicyMSPerMB=36000 -XX:+UseG1GC \
+       -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 -XX:ParallelGCThreads=20 -XX:ConcGCThreads=5 \
+       -Xbootclasspath/a:${CATALINA_HOME}/lib/marlin-${MARLIN_VERSION}-Unsafe.jar \
+       -Dsun.java2d.renderer=org.marlin.pisces.MarlinRenderingEngine \
+       -Dorg.geotools.coverage.jaiext.enabled=${JAIEXT_ENABLED}"
+
+## JVM command line arguments
+export JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} ${GEOSERVER_OPTS}"
+
+## Start the tomcat
+exec /usr/local/tomcat/bin/catalina.sh run
diff --git a/scripts/install-extensions.sh b/scripts/install-extensions.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00f2bf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/install-extensions.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Inspired by https://github.com/kartoza/docker-geoserver
+
+function download_extension() {
+  URL=$1
+  EXTENSION=$2
+  if curl --output /dev/null --silent --head --fail "${URL}"; then
+      DOWNLOAD_FILE="${EXTENSION_DOWNLOAD_DIR}/geoserver-${GS_VERSION}-${EXTENSION}-plugin.zip"
+      echo -e "\nDownloading ${EXTENSION}-extension from ${URL}"
+      wget --progress=bar:force:noscroll -c --no-chec k-certificate "${URL}" -O ${DOWNLOAD_FILE}
+      unzip -q -o ${DOWNLOAD_FILE} -d ${CATALINA_HOME}/webapps/geoserver/WEB-INF/lib
+    else
+      echo "URL does not exist: ${URL}"
+  fi
+}
+
+# Install stable plugins
+for EXTENSION in $(echo "${STABLE_EXTENSIONS}" | tr ',' ' '); do
+  URL="${STABLE_PLUGIN_URL}/geoserver-${GS_VERSION}-${EXTENSION}-plugin.zip"
+  download_extension ${URL} ${EXTENSION}
+done