diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6137a646
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+.idea
+venv
+.vscode
+laconic-so
+laconic_stack_orchestrator.egg-info
+__pycache__
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 94fd9fc6..69e7e234 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,11 +15,21 @@ Ensure that the following are already installed:
    $ python3 --version
    Python 3.8.10
    ```
-1. Docker (Install a current version from dockerco, don't use the version from any Linux distro)
+2. Docker (Install a current version from dockerco, don't use the version from any Linux distro)
    ```
    $ docker --version
    Docker version 20.10.17, build 100c701
    ```
+3. If installed from regular package repository, be aware that the compose plugin may need to be installed, as well.
+   ```
+   DOCKER_CONFIG=${DOCKER_CONFIG:-$HOME/.docker}
+   mkdir -p $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins
+   curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.11.2/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose
+   chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
+   
+   # see https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/linux/#install-the-plugin-manually for further details
+   # or to install for all users.
+   ```
 #### Install
 1. Clone this repository:
    ```
diff --git a/app/build_containers.py b/app/build_containers.py
index 25e8f8dc..8ab3e77f 100644
--- a/app/build_containers.py
+++ b/app/build_containers.py
@@ -41,8 +41,13 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
     quiet = ctx.obj.quiet
     verbose = ctx.obj.verbose
     dry_run = ctx.obj.dry_run
+    local_stack = ctx.obj.local_stack
 
-    dev_root_path = os.path.expanduser(config("CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR", default="~/cerc"))
+    if local_stack:
+        dev_root_path = default=os.getcwd()[0:os.getcwd().rindex("stack-orchestrator")])
+        print(f'Local stack dev_root_path (CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR) overridden to: {dev_root_path}')
+    else:
+        dev_root_path = os.path.expanduser(config("CERC_REPO_BASE_DIR", default="~/cerc"))
 
     if not quiet:
         print(f'Dev Root is: {dev_root_path}')
diff --git a/compose/docker-compose-go-ethereum-foundry.yml b/compose/docker-compose-go-ethereum-foundry.yml
index c4a496b5..20d008f9 100644
--- a/compose/docker-compose-go-ethereum-foundry.yml
+++ b/compose/docker-compose-go-ethereum-foundry.yml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ services:
       DB_HOST: ipld-eth-db
       DB_PORT: 5432
       DB_PASSWORD: password
-      DB_WRITE: true
+      DB_WRITE: "true"
       DB_TYPE: postgres
       DB_DRIVER: sqlx
       DB_WAIT_FOR_SYNC: "true"