diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 150df5e..bb4fb0f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,14 +13,28 @@ inventory over my various servers and other network equipment.
    in the future and SQlite is not supported for production.
 
 ### Local Setup
-3. Run `make local` to create the virtual environment for developemenet
-   http://localhost:8000 . You're now all set to start developing.
+3. Run `make local` to create the virtual environment for development.
+   You're now all set to start developing.
 
 ### Docker Setup
 3. Run `make` to start the development server. You can access it
    at   http://localhost:8000 . You're now all set to start developing. \
    If you need to run migrations you can simply restart the Docker container.
 
+#### Environment Variables
+
+To customise the application in the Docker container you can use environment
+variables in the docker-compose.yml file. Currently the following variables are
+supported.
+
+- **DJANGO_SECRET_KEY** the secret key is mandatory, otherwise the application
+  doesn't run. Make sure that it is some long random string.
+- **DJANGO_DEBUG** settings this variable to any value enables the Django debug
+  mode. Make sure that you don't set it on a production server.
+- **DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE** the path to the settings file to use in the
+  container. This requires a dotet syntax. The default is
+  `network_inventory.settings.docker`.
+
 ## Todos
 - [ ] Create an Apache configuration
 - [ ] configure htaccess or something similar
@@ -53,4 +67,4 @@ inventory over my various servers and other network equipment.
 ## Developemenet
 
 For a detailed documentation of the source have a look at the
-[documentation](https://git.2li.ch/Nebucatnetzer/network_inventory/src/branch/master/docs/docs.org).
\ No newline at end of file
+[documentation](https://git.2li.ch/Nebucatnetzer/network_inventory/src/branch/master/docs/docs.org).
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index ee5decf..6278005 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "8000:8000"
     environment:
-      - DEBUG=False
       - DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=network_inventory.settings.docker
-      - SECRET_KEY=developemenet_key
+      - DJANGO_DEBUG=True
+      - DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=foo
     depends_on:
       - db
diff --git a/network_inventory/network_inventory/settings/docker.py b/network_inventory/network_inventory/settings/docker.py
index 2daad20..ac2cac3 100644
--- a/network_inventory/network_inventory/settings/docker.py
+++ b/network_inventory/network_inventory/settings/docker.py
@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@ ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
     '127.0.0.1',
 ]
 
-DEBUG = True
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
-SECRET_KEY = os.getenv('SECRET_KEY')
+SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('DJANGO_SECRET_KEY')
+
+DEBUG = os.environ.get('DJANGO_DEBUG')
 
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {