diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a996197..73a8956 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,6 +37,16 @@ Then bring up an instance of the whole Ocean Protocol network stack with:
 git clone git@github.com:oceanprotocol/docker-images.git
 cd docker-images/
 
+./start_ocean.sh
+
+```
+
+Or
+
+```bash
+git clone git@github.com:oceanprotocol/docker-images.git
+cd docker-images/
+
 docker-compose --project-name=ocean up
 ```
 
@@ -65,6 +75,22 @@ export OCEAN_VERSION=latest
 docker-compose --project-name=ocean up
 ```
 
+### Options
+
+The keeper-contracts component runs with ganache by default and every run will produce and deploy new instances of the keeper contracts.
+Ganache can be run with a specific database path by setting the env var `REUSE_DATABASE` to "true". By default, the ganache database will be setup in the cwd.
+
+The following env vars enable some customization:
+* DEPLOY_CONTRACTS: skip deploying smart contracts by setting this to "false", in this case `REUSE_DATABASE` should be set to True in the previous run when using ganache
+* KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME: set to one of "ganache" (default), "kovan", or "ocean_poa_net_local" 
+* ARTIFACTS_FOLDER: this is where the deployed smart contracts abi files will be available. This can be pointed at any path you like. When running a separate pleuston instance, it may be necessary to copy the abi files from this artifacts folder to the @oceanprotocol/keeper-contracts/artifacts folder in pleuston
+
+A subset of the components can be run by modifying the docker-compose file directly or by using one 
+of the other pre-built compose files:
+* `docker-compose-no-pleuston.yml` runs all components without the pleuston. This is useful for developing/debugging 
+the front-end app. So first the docker compose container can be started then pleuston can be started separately from source. You can also use `./start_ocean.sh --no-pleuston` to do this
+* `docker-compose-local-parity-node.yml` is similar to the above with no pleuston, but runs a local parity POA node instead of ganache-cli. You can also use `./start_ocean.sh --local-parity-node` instead
+
 ## Contributing
 
 We use GitHub as a means for maintaining and tracking issues and source code development.
diff --git a/docker-compose-local-parity-node.yml b/docker-compose-local-parity-node.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a85d25c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose-local-parity-node.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+version: '2.1'
+
+# Run: docker-compose --project-name=ocean up
+
+services:
+  mongodb:
+    image: mongo:3.6
+    ports:
+    - "27017:27017"
+    command: mongod
+    networks:
+    - backend
+
+  parity-node:
+    image: parity/parity:stable
+    command:
+      --config /parity/config/validator.toml
+      --engine-signer 0x00bd138abd70e2f00903268f3db08f2d25677c9e
+      --jsonrpc-interface 0.0.0.0
+      --ws-interface 0.0.0.0
+      --ui-interface 0.0.0.0
+      --unsafe-expose
+      --jsonrpc-cors all
+      --unlock 0x00bd138abd70e2f00903268f3db08f2d25677c9e
+    volumes:
+      - ./parity/parity/config:/parity/config:ro
+      - parity-node:/root/.local/share/io.parity.ethereum/
+      - ./parity/parity/authorities/validator0.json:/root/.local/share/io.parity.ethereum/keys/ocean-network/validator.json:ro
+      - ./parity/parity/keys:/root/.local/share/io.parity.ethereum/keys/ocean-network
+      - ./parity/parity/authorities/validator0.pwd:/parity/validator.pwd:ro
+      - ./parity/parity/node0.network.key:/root/.local/share/io.parity.ethereum/network/key:ro
+    ports:
+      - 8545:8545
+    networks:
+    - backend
+
+  keeper-contracts:
+    image: oceanprotocol/keeper-contracts:${OCEAN_VERSION:-stable}
+    networks:
+    - backend
+    environment:
+      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: "true"
+      DEPLOY_CONTRACTS: ${DEPLOY_CONTRACTS}
+      DATABASE_PATH: "/ganache-db"
+      REUSE_DATABASE: ${REUSE_DATABASE}
+      NETWORK_NAME: ${KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME}
+      POA_HOST: "parity-node"
+    volumes:
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/keeper-contracts/artifacts/
+    - ${GANACHE_DATABASE_PATH}/ganache-db:/ganache-db
+
+  provider:
+    image: oceanprotocol/provider:${OCEAN_VERSION:-stable}
+    ports:
+    - 5000:5000
+    networks:
+    - backend
+    depends_on:
+    - keeper-contracts
+    environment:
+      KEEPER_HOST: http://parity-node
+      DB_HOSTNAME: mongodb
+      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: 'true'
+    volumes:
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/usr/local/keeper-contracts/:ro
+
+
+networks:
+  backend:
+
+volumes:
+  parity-node:
diff --git a/docker-compose-no-pleuston.yml b/docker-compose-no-pleuston.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af469b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose-no-pleuston.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+version: '2.1'
+
+# Run: docker-compose --project-name=ocean up
+
+services:
+  mongodb:
+    image: mongo:3.6
+    ports:
+    - "27017:27017"
+    command: mongod
+    networks:
+    - backend
+
+  keeper-contracts:
+    image: oceanprotocol/keeper-contracts:${OCEAN_VERSION:-stable}
+    ports:
+    - 8545:8545
+    networks:
+    - backend
+    environment:
+      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: "true"
+      DEPLOY_CONTRACTS: ${DEPLOY_CONTRACTS}
+      DATABASE_PATH: "/ganache-db"
+      REUSE_DATABASE: ${REUSE_DATABASE}
+      NETWORK_NAME: ${KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME}
+    volumes:
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/keeper-contracts/artifacts/
+    - ${GANACHE_DATABASE_PATH}/ganache-db:/ganache-db
+
+  provider:
+    image: oceanprotocol/provider:${OCEAN_VERSION:-stable}
+    ports:
+    - 5000:5000
+    networks:
+    - backend
+    depends_on:
+    - keeper-contracts
+    environment:
+      KEEPER_HOST: http://keeper-contracts
+      DB_HOSTNAME: mongodb
+      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: "true"
+    volumes:
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/usr/local/keeper-contracts/:ro
+
+networks:
+  backend:
+
+
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 9618be0..d005c61 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -18,9 +18,14 @@ services:
     networks:
     - backend
     environment:
-      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: 'true'
+      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: "true"
+      DEPLOY_CONTRACTS: ${DEPLOY_CONTRACTS}
+      DATABASE_PATH: "/ganache-db"
+      REUSE_DATABASE: ${REUSE_DATABASE}
+      NETWORK_NAME: ${KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME}
     volumes:
-    - artifacts:/keeper-contracts/artifacts/
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/keeper-contracts/artifacts/
+    - ${GANACHE_DATABASE_PATH}/ganache-db:/ganache-db
 
   provider:
     image: oceanprotocol/provider:${OCEAN_VERSION:-stable}
@@ -33,9 +38,9 @@ services:
     environment:
       KEEPER_HOST: http://keeper-contracts
       DB_HOSTNAME: mongodb
-      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: 'true'
+      LOCAL_CONTRACTS: "true"
     volumes:
-    - artifacts:/usr/local/keeper-contracts/:ro
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/usr/local/keeper-contracts/:ro
 
   pleuston:
     image: oceanprotocol/pleuston:${OCEAN_VERSION:-stable}
@@ -48,10 +53,9 @@ services:
       OCEAN_HOST: provider
       LOCAL_CONTRACTS: 'true'
     volumes:
-    - artifacts:/pleuston/node_modules/@oceanprotocol/keeper-contracts/artifacts/:ro
+    - ${ARTIFACTS_FOLDER}:/pleuston/node_modules/@oceanprotocol/keeper-contracts/artifacts/:ro
 
 networks:
   backend:
 
-volumes:
-  artifacts:
+
diff --git a/start_ocean.sh b/start_ocean.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e21eea9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start_ocean.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+export OCEAN_VERSION=latest
+# Must be set to true for the first run, change it to "false" to avoid migrating the smart contracts on each run.
+export DEPLOY_CONTRACTS="true"
+# Ganache specific option, these two options have no effect when not running ganache-cli
+export GANACHE_DATABASE_PATH="."
+export REUSE_DATABASE="false"
+# Specify which ethereum client to run or connect to: kovan, ganache, or ocean_poa_net_local
+export KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME="ganache"
+export ARTIFACTS_FOLDER=~/.ocean/keeper-contracts/artifacts
+
+if [ "$1" == "--no-pleuston" ]
+then
+export REUSE_DATABASE="true"
+docker-compose -f docker-compose-no-pleuston.yml up
+
+elif [ "$1" == "--local-parity-node" ]
+then
+export KEEPER_NETWORK_NAME="ocean_poa_net_local"
+docker-compose -f docker-compose-local-parity-node.yml up
+
+else
+docker-compose up
+
+fi
\ No newline at end of file