diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 29c296915..618e3d874 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -31,3 +31,4 @@ proxy_server_config_@.yaml
 .gitignore
 proxy_server_config_2.yaml
 litellm/proxy/secret_managers/credentials.json
+hosted_config.yaml
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 87d6bcb74..da54ba0af 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,10 +1,36 @@
+# Base image for building
+ARG LITELLM_BUILD_IMAGE=python:3.9
 
 # Runtime image
 ARG LITELLM_RUNTIME_IMAGE=python:3.9-slim
 # Builder stage
 FROM $LITELLM_BUILD_IMAGE as builder
 
-	@@ -35,8 +34,12 @@ RUN pip wheel --no-cache-dir --wheel-dir=/wheels/ -r requirements.txt
+# Set the working directory to /app
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Install build dependencies
+RUN apt-get clean && apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y gcc python3-dev && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip && \
+    pip install build
+
+# Copy the current directory contents into the container at /app
+COPY . .
+
+# Build the package
+RUN rm -rf dist/* && python -m build
+
+# There should be only one wheel file now, assume the build only creates one
+RUN ls -1 dist/*.whl | head -1
+
+# Install the package
+RUN pip install dist/*.whl
+
+# install dependencies as wheels
+RUN pip wheel --no-cache-dir --wheel-dir=/wheels/ -r requirements.txt
 
 # Runtime stage
 FROM $LITELLM_RUNTIME_IMAGE as runtime
@@ -17,7 +43,8 @@ RUN ls -la /app
 
 # Copy the built wheel from the builder stage to the runtime stage; assumes only one wheel file is present
 COPY --from=builder /app/dist/*.whl .
-	@@ -45,9 +48,17 @@ COPY --from=builder /wheels/ /wheels/
+COPY --from=builder /wheels/ /wheels/
+
 # Install the built wheel using pip; again using a wildcard if it's the only file
 RUN pip install *.whl /wheels/* --no-index --find-links=/wheels/ && rm -f *.whl && rm -rf /wheels
 
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index 55518141d..4402764a6 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -1103,6 +1103,11 @@ async def startup_event():
     # check if master key set in environment - load from there
     master_key = litellm.get_secret("LITELLM_MASTER_KEY", None)
 
+    ### CONNECT TO DB ###
+    # check if DATABASE_URL in environment - load from there
+    if os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", None) is not None and prisma_client is None:
+        prisma_setup(database_url=os.getenv("DATABASE_URL"))
+
     ### LOAD CONFIG ###
     worker_config = litellm.get_secret("WORKER_CONFIG")
     print_verbose(f"worker_config: {worker_config}")
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/utils.py b/litellm/proxy/utils.py
index 0e5b3e0e5..3412b97a4 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/utils.py
@@ -253,23 +253,25 @@ class PrismaClient:
         print_verbose(
             "LiteLLM: DATABASE_URL Set in config, trying to 'pip install prisma'"
         )
-        ## init logging object
+         ## init logging object
         self.proxy_logging_obj = proxy_logging_obj
-        os.environ["DATABASE_URL"] = database_url
-        # Save the current working directory
-        original_dir = os.getcwd()
-        # set the working directory to where this script is
-        abspath = os.path.abspath(__file__)
-        dname = os.path.dirname(abspath)
-        os.chdir(dname)
 
-        try:
-            subprocess.run(["prisma", "generate"])
-            subprocess.run(
-                ["prisma", "db", "push", "--accept-data-loss"]
-            )  # this looks like a weird edge case when prisma just wont start on render. we need to have the --accept-data-loss
-        finally:
-            os.chdir(original_dir)
+        if os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", None) is None: # setup hasn't taken place
+            os.environ["DATABASE_URL"] = database_url
+            # Save the current working directory
+            original_dir = os.getcwd()
+            # set the working directory to where this script is
+            abspath = os.path.abspath(__file__)
+            dname = os.path.dirname(abspath)
+            os.chdir(dname)
+
+            try:
+                subprocess.run(["prisma", "generate"])
+                subprocess.run(
+                    ["prisma", "db", "push", "--accept-data-loss"]
+                )  # this looks like a weird edge case when prisma just wont start on render. we need to have the --accept-data-loss
+            finally:
+                os.chdir(original_dir)
         # Now you can import the Prisma Client
         from prisma import Prisma  # type: ignore