diff --git a/.env.default b/.env.default
index dbdcd7560..b78b5599a 100644
--- a/.env.default
+++ b/.env.default
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ DOCKER_COMPOSE_APP_DEV_PORT_TARGET=9001
 # The env var DEFAULT_PAD_TEXT seems to be mandatory in the latest version of etherpad.
 DOCKER_COMPOSE_APP_DEV_ENV_DEFAULT_PAD_TEXT="Welcome to etherpad"
 
+DOCKER_COMPOSE_APP_DEV_ADMIN_PASSWORD=
+
 DOCKER_COMPOSE_POSTGRES_DEV_ENV_POSTGRES_DATABASE=db
 DOCKER_COMPOSE_POSTGRES_DEV_ENV_POSTGRES_PASSWORD=etherpad-lite-password
 DOCKER_COMPOSE_POSTGRES_DEV_ENV_POSTGRES_USER=etherpad-lite-user
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 33f00016e..0e37f3b64 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -87,7 +87,9 @@ FROM build as development
 
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./src/package.json .npmrc ./src/pnpm-lock.yaml ./src/
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./src/bin ./src/bin
-COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ${SETTINGS} "${EP_DIR}"/settings.json
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./var ./var
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./node_modules ./node_modules
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ${SETTINGS} ./settings.json
 
 RUN { [ -z "${ETHERPAD_PLUGINS}" ] || \
       pnpm install --no-save --legacy-peer-deps ${ETHERPAD_PLUGINS}; } && \
@@ -101,7 +103,10 @@ FROM build as production
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
 ENV ETHERPAD_PRODUCTION=true
 
-COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./ ./
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./src ./src
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./var ./var
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./node_modules ./node_modules
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ${SETTINGS} ./settings.json
 
 # Plugins must be installed before installing Etherpad's dependencies, otherwise
 # npm will try to hoist common dependencies by removing them from
diff --git a/doc/docker.adoc b/doc/docker.adoc
index 5b58335ba..ec5277f80 100644
--- a/doc/docker.adoc
+++ b/doc/docker.adoc
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Starting dev server:
 docker compose exec app bash -c "./src/bin/run.sh"
 ```
 
-For production, please create your own docker compose file and change the `target` property in the build section to `production`, for instance:
+For production, please create your own docker compose file and change the `target` property in the build section to `production`. In addition, change the NODE_ENV in environment to production. For instance:
 
 ```
 docker compose -f docker-compose-production.yml up -d
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index d2c4b4794..4a7bd3196 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -14,12 +14,14 @@ services:
     tty: true
     stdin_open: true
     volumes:
-      - .:/opt/etherpad-lite
+      - ./src:/opt/etherpad-lite/src
       - node_modules:/opt/etherpad-lite/src/node_modules
+      - pnpm-store:/opt/etherpad-lite/src/.pnpm-store
     depends_on:
       - postgres
     environment:
       NODE_ENV: development
+      ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${DOCKER_COMPOSE_APP_DEV_ADMIN_PASSWORD}
       DB_CHARSET: ${DOCKER_COMPOSE_APP_DEV_ENV_DB_CHARSET:-utf8mb4}
       DB_HOST: postgres
       DB_NAME: ${DOCKER_COMPOSE_POSTGRES_DEV_ENV_POSTGRES_DATABASE:?}
@@ -56,4 +58,5 @@ services:
 
 volumes:
   postgres_data:
-  node_modules:
\ No newline at end of file
+  node_modules:
+  pnpm-store:
\ No newline at end of file