diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a9a9cd3ae..208c3c15d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --find-links=/wheels/ -r requirements.txt \
     && pip install *.whl \
     && rm -f *.whl
 
+# if user has set os.environ['DATABASE_URL'] != None, run prisma generate 
+RUN if [ -n "$DATABASE_URL" ]; then \
+      echo "DATABASE_URL is set to: $DATABASE_URL"; \
+      prisma generate; \
+    fi
+
 EXPOSE 4000/tcp
 
 # Set your entrypoint and command