diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 99c3adc..5d1eb4d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -74,3 +74,31 @@ selfcheck: ## check that the Makefile is well-formed
 
 pylintrc: ## check that the Makefile is well-formed
 	edx_lint write pylintrc
+
+nuke:
+	@echo "Removing containers, networks, and data... 🧨"
+	@echo
+	docker compose down -v
+
+es-health-local-api:
+	@echo "Assuming you've got docker up, getting health of elasticsearch... 📄"
+	@echo
+	curl 'localhost:9200/_cat/health?format=json&pretty=true'
+
+es-list-indexes-local-api:
+	@echo "Assuming you've got docker up, getting elasticsearch indexes via API call... 📄"
+	curl 'localhost:9200/_cat/indices?format=json&pretty=true'
+
+es-print-java-env:
+	@echo "printing runtime value of ES_JAVA_OPTS"
+	docker-compose run --rm elastic printenv ES_JAVA_OPTS
+
+up:
+	@echo "Bringing up elastic 6 in docker 🚀"
+	docker compose up -d --remove-orphans
+
+down:
+	@echo "Destroying local containers, but keeping data volumes intact... 😴"
+	docker compose down
+
+
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 5cf86fe..73cdd70 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ version: '2.1'
 
 services:
   elastic:
-    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:6.0.1
+    # arm64v8 is for Apple M1
+    image: webhippie/elasticsearch:6.4
     ports:
       - 9200:9200
       - 9300:9300
@@ -23,31 +24,41 @@ services:
       interval: 10s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 10
-  db:
-    image: postgres
-    restart: always
-    ports:
-    - "5432:5432"
-    environment:
-      POSTGRES_USER: "pguser"
-      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "pgpass"
-      POSTGRES_DB: "pgdb"
+    volumes:
+      # for normal elasticsearch:
+      # - elasticsearch:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
+      # for webhippie/elasticsearch:
+      - elasticsearch:/var/lib/elasticsearch
 
-# uncomment to get kibana, which can be useful for analyzing index contents
-# this is currently not a required part of testing infrastructure, just left here for convenience
-#  kibana:
-#    image: docker.elastic.co/kibana/kibana:6.0.1
-#    depends_on:
-#      elastic:
-#        condition: service_healthy
-#    links:
-#      - elastic
+  # commented out because right now we're not using postgres for tests
+# comment back in if we need it for multiprocessing tests
+#  db:
+#    image: postgres
+#    restart: always
 #    ports:
-#      - 5601:5601
+#    - "5432:5432"
 #    environment:
-#      - "ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://elastic:9200"
-#    healthcheck:
-#        test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:5601"]
-#        interval: 10s
-#        timeout: 10s
-#        retries: 10
\ No newline at end of file
+#      POSTGRES_USER: "pguser"
+#      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "pgpass"
+#      POSTGRES_DB: "pgdb"
+
+# uncomment to get kibana, which can be useful for analyzing index contents
+# this is currently not a required part of testing infrastructure, just left here for convenience
+  kibana:
+    image: docker.elastic.co/kibana/kibana:6.4.3
+    depends_on:
+      elastic:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    links:
+      - elastic
+    ports:
+      - 5601:5601
+    environment:
+      - "ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://elastic:9200"
+    healthcheck:
+        test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:5601"]
+        interval: 10s
+        timeout: 10s
+        retries: 10
+volumes:
+    elasticsearch:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d7d0852..74e8e9f 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def get_version(*file_paths):
     license='MIT',
     include_package_data=True,
     install_requires=[
-        "Django>=1.8", "elasticsearch-dsl>=6.4.0<7.0.0", "texttable>=1.2.1",
+        "Django>=1.8", "elasticsearch-dsl>=6.4.0,<7.0.0", "texttable>=1.2.1",
         "multiprocessing-logging>=0.2.6"
     ],
     zip_safe=False,