diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index e45791cb..4d3bfaa5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -85,6 +85,6 @@ jobs:
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
         with:
           context: .
-          file: deployment/docker/centos/Dockerfile
+          file: deployment/docker/rockylinux/Dockerfile
           push: true
           tags: ${{ join(fromJson(steps.gettags.outputs.tags)) }}
diff --git a/deployment/docker/rockylinux/.dockerignore b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e2bec014
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Dockerfile
+.git
+.gitignore
diff --git a/deployment/docker/rockylinux/Dockerfile b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ef577694
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#docker build . -t searchengine
+# docker build . -f deployment/docker/rockylinux/Dockerfile -t searchengine
+FROM rockylinux/rockylinux:9.0
+USER root
+RUN dnf update -y
+RUN dnf groupinstall "Development Tools" -y
+RUN  dnf install libpq-devel -y
+RUN dnf install python3-pip -y
+RUN dnf install -y   python3-devel.x86_64
+RUN dnf clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/yum
+RUN mkdir /searchengine
+ADD  deployment/docker/rockylinux/start_gunicorn_serch_engine.sh /searchengine
+ADD  deployment/docker/rockylinux/run_app.sh /searchengine
+ADD .  /searchengine
+RUN cd /searchengine
+RUN mkdir /etc/searchengine
+RUN mkdir /etc/searchengine/chachedata
+RUN mkdir /etc/searchengine/logs
+WORKDIR /searchengine
+RUN pip3 install -r  requirements.txt
+RUN pip3 install gunicorn
+EXPOSE 5577
+ENTRYPOINT ["bash", "run_app.sh"]
diff --git a/deployment/docker/rockylinux/run_app.sh b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/run_app.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a1cac35a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/run_app.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+echo "$@"
+
+#test if the configuration file exists, if not it will copy it from the app configuration folder
+test -f /etc/searchengine/.app_config.yml || cp /searchengine/configurations/app_config.yml /etc/searchengine/.app_config.yml
+
+#Check the script input
+if [[ $@ == run_app* ]] ; then
+  url_perfix=${@/run_app/}
+  echo using prefix: $url_perfix
+  bash start_gunicorn_serch_engine.sh $url_perfix
+elif [ -z  "$@" ] || [ "$@" = "run_app" ]; then
+  echo "Starting the app"
+  bash start_gunicorn_serch_engine.sh
+else
+  echo "$@"
+  python3 manage.py "$@"
+fi
diff --git a/deployment/docker/rockylinux/start_gunicorn_serch_engine.sh b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/start_gunicorn_serch_engine.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9b8fd400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/docker/rockylinux/start_gunicorn_serch_engine.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+NAME="omero_search_engine"
+USER root
+APPPATH=/searchengine
+SOCKFILE=/etc/searchengine/sock3 #change this to project_dir/sock (new file will be created)
+echo "Starting $NAME as `whoami`"
+export PATH="$APPPATH:$PATH"
+echo "staring the app"
+# Create the run directory if it doesn't exist
+RUNDIR=$(dirname $SOCKFILE)
+echo "$RUNDIR"
+test -d $RUNDIR || mkdir -p $RUNDIR
+LOGS=/etc/searchengine/logs
+LOGSDIR=$(dirname $LOGS)
+test -d $LOGSDIR || mkdir -p $LOGSDIR
+user=$USER
+echo "Start Gunicorn ...."
+echo "$HOME"
+echo pwd
+cd $APPPATH
+if [ -z  "$@" ]; then
+  exec gunicorn "omero_search_engine:create_app('production')" -b 0.0.0.0:5577 --timeout 0 --name "$NAME"   --bind=unix:$SOCKFILE  --log-file=$LOGSDIR/logs/engine_gunilog.log --access-logfile=$LOGSDIR/logs/engine_access.log -error-logfile=$LOGSDIR/logs/engine_logs/engine_error.log  --workers 4
+else
+  echo Run with SCRIPT_NAME=$@
+  SCRIPT_NAME=/"$@"/ exec gunicorn "omero_search_engine:create_app('production')" -b 0.0.0.0:5577 --timeout 0 --name "$NAME"   --bind=unix:$SOCKFILE  --log-file=$LOGSDIR/logs/engine_gunilog.log --access-logfile=$LOGSDIR/logs/engine_access.log -error-logfile=$LOGSDIR/logs/engine_logs/engine_error.log  --workers 4
+fi