diff --git a/compose/aws_services/celery_worker/Dockerfile b/compose/aws_services/celery_worker/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 3603f61..0000000
--- a/compose/aws_services/celery_worker/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-
-# Set environment variables
-ENV BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=production
-ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
-ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE 1
-
-# Set work directory
-WORKDIR /usr/src/app
-
-# Install system dependencies
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-    libpq-dev \
-    && apt-get purge -y --auto-remove \
-    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-# Requirements are installed here to ensure they will be cached.
-COPY ./requirements .
-
-# Create Python Dependency and Sub-Dependency Wheels.
-RUN pip wheel --wheel-dir /usr/src/app/wheels  \
-    -r ${BUILD_ENVIRONMENT}.txt
-
-# Copy the Django project
-COPY . /usr/src/app/
-
-# Start script for Celery Worker
-COPY ./compose/production/django/celery/worker/start /start-celeryworker
-RUN chmod +x /start-celeryworker
-
-CMD ["/start-celeryworker"]
diff --git a/compose/aws_services/django/Dockerfile b/compose/aws_services/django/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 7155110..0000000
--- a/compose/aws_services/django/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,80 +0,0 @@
-
-# define an alias for the specific python version used in this file.
-FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bullseye as python
-
-# Python build stage
-FROM python as python-build-stage
-
-ARG BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=production
-
-# Install apt packages
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
-  # dependencies for building Python packages
-  build-essential \
-  # psycopg2 dependencies
-  libpq-dev \
-  # HTSlib dependencies
-  zlib1g-dev \
-  libbz2-dev \
-  liblzma-dev
-
-# Requirements are installed here to ensure they will be cached.
-COPY ./requirements .
-
-# Create Python Dependency and Sub-Dependency Wheels.
-RUN pip wheel --wheel-dir /usr/src/app/wheels  \
-  -r ${BUILD_ENVIRONMENT}.txt
-
-
-# Python 'run' stage
-FROM python as python-run-stage
-
-ARG BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=production
-ARG APP_HOME=/app
-
-ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
-ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE 1
-ENV BUILD_ENV ${BUILD_ENVIRONMENT}
-
-WORKDIR ${APP_HOME}
-
-RUN addgroup --system django \
-  && adduser --system --ingroup django django
-
-
-# Install required system dependencies
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
-  # psycopg2 dependencies
-  libpq-dev \
-  # Translations dependencies
-  gettext \
-  # cleaning up unused files
-  && apt-get purge -y --auto-remove -o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=false \
-  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-# All absolute dir copies ignore workdir instruction. All relative dir copies are wrt to the workdir instruction
-# copy python dependency wheels from python-build-stage
-COPY --from=python-build-stage /usr/src/app/wheels  /wheels/
-
-# use wheels to install python dependencies
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --no-index --find-links=/wheels/ /wheels/* \
-  && rm -rf /wheels/
-
-COPY --chown=django:django ./compose/production/django/entrypoint /entrypoint
-RUN sed -i 's/\r$//g' /entrypoint
-RUN chmod +x /entrypoint
-
-# copy application code to WORKDIR
-COPY --chown=django:django . ${APP_HOME}
-
-# make django owner of the WORKDIR directory as well.
-RUN chown django:django ${APP_HOME}
-
-USER django
-
-RUN DATABASE_URL="" \
-  CELERY_BROKER_URL="" \
-  DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="config.settings.test" \
-  python manage.py compilemessages
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint"]
diff --git a/compose/aws_services/django/celery/beat/start b/compose/aws_services/django/celery/beat/start
deleted file mode 100644
index 42ddca9..0000000
--- a/compose/aws_services/django/celery/beat/start
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o pipefail
-set -o nounset
-
-
-exec celery -A config.celery_app beat -l INFO
diff --git a/compose/aws_services/django/celery/flower/start b/compose/aws_services/django/celery/flower/start
deleted file mode 100644
index 4180d67..0000000
--- a/compose/aws_services/django/celery/flower/start
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-
-
-exec celery \
-    -A config.celery_app \
-    -b "${CELERY_BROKER_URL}" \
-    flower \
-    --basic_auth="${CELERY_FLOWER_USER}:${CELERY_FLOWER_PASSWORD}"
diff --git a/compose/aws_services/django/entrypoint b/compose/aws_services/django/entrypoint
deleted file mode 100644
index f15d0b5..0000000
--- a/compose/aws_services/django/entrypoint
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o pipefail
-set -o nounset
-
-
-
-# N.B. If only .env files supported variable expansion...
-export CELERY_BROKER_URL="redis://${REDIS_HOST}:${REDIS_PORT}/0"
-
-
-if [ -z "${POSTGRES_USER}" ]; then
-    base_postgres_image_default_user='postgres'
-    export POSTGRES_USER="${base_postgres_image_default_user}"
-fi
-export DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST}:${POSTGRES_PORT}/${POSTGRES_DB}"
-
-python << END
-import sys
-import time
-
-import psycopg
-
-suggest_unrecoverable_after = 30
-start = time.time()
-
-while True:
-    try:
-        psycopg.connect(
-            dbname="${POSTGRES_DB}",
-            user="${POSTGRES_USER}",
-            password="${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}",
-            host="${POSTGRES_HOST}",
-            port="${POSTGRES_PORT}",
-        )
-        break
-    except psycopg.OperationalError as error:
-        sys.stderr.write("Waiting for PostgreSQL to become available...\n")
-
-        if time.time() - start > suggest_unrecoverable_after:
-            sys.stderr.write("  This is taking longer than expected. The following exception may be indicative of an unrecoverable error: '{}'\n".format(error))
-
-    time.sleep(1)
-END
-
->&2 echo 'PostgreSQL is available'
-
-exec "$@"
diff --git a/compose/aws_services/django/start b/compose/aws_services/django/start
deleted file mode 100644
index 83ffc8f..0000000
--- a/compose/aws_services/django/start
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o pipefail
-set -o nounset
-
-
-python /app/manage.py collectstatic --noinput
-
-exec /usr/local/bin/gunicorn config.asgi --bind 0.0.0.0:5000 --chdir=/app -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker
diff --git a/singularity_local.sh b/singularity_local.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..fb291fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/singularity_local.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,311 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Function to check service readiness
+check_service_ready() {
+    local service_name=$1
+    local check_command=$2
+    local counter=0
+    
+    echo "Waiting for $service_name to start..."
+    while ! eval $check_command; do
+        if [ "$counter" -lt "$TIMEOUT_SECONDS" ]; then
+            sleep 1
+            ((counter++))
+            echo "Checking $service_name... ($counter seconds)"
+        else
+            echo "Timeout reached. $service_name did not start within $TIMEOUT_MINUTES minutes."
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    done
+    echo "$service_name is up and running."
+}
+
+# Function to start each service
+start_service() {
+    case $1 in
+        postgres)
+            singularity exec --bind $yeastregulatorydb_local_postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
+                             --bind $yeastregulatorydb_local_postgres_data_backups:/backups \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres $postgres_sif \
+                             &>./postgres_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "PostgreSQL" "pg_isready -h localhost -p 5432"
+            ;;
+        redis)
+            singularity exec $redis_sif redis-server &> redis_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "Redis" "redis-cli ping > /dev/null 2>&1"
+            ;;
+        django)
+            singularity exec --bind .:/app \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.django \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.regulatory_data \
+                             $django_sif /start &> django_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "Django app" "curl -s http://localhost:8000 > /dev/null"
+            ;;
+        docs)
+            singularity exec --bind .:/app \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.django \
+                             $docs_sif /start-docs &>docs_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "Docs" "echo 'Docs is ready'"
+            ;;
+        celeryworker)
+            singularity exec --bind .:/app \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.django \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.regulatory_data \
+                             $django_sif /start-celeryworker &> celeryworker_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "Celery worker" "echo 'Celery worker is ready'"
+            ;;
+        celerybeat)
+            singularity exec --bind .:/app \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.django \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.regulatory_data \
+                             $django_sif /start-celerybeat &> celerybeat_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "Celery beat" "echo 'Celery beat is ready'"
+            ;;
+        celeryflower)
+            singularity exec --bind .:/app \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.django \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres \
+                             --env-file ./.envs/.local/.regulatory_data \
+                             $django_sif /start-flower &> celeryflower_log.txt &
+            check_service_ready "Celery flower" "echo 'Celery flower is ready'"
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo "Unknown service: $1"
+            ;;
+    esac
+}
+
+# Start specified services
+for service in "${services_to_start[@]}"; do
+    start_service $service
+done
+
+show_help() {
+cat << EOF
+Usage: ${0##*/} [OPTIONS]...
+Launch Singularity containers for a Django application with optional services.
+
+    -h, --help                          display this help and exit
+    -p, --postgres_sif PATH             path to the PostgreSQL Singularity image file
+    -r, --redis_sif PATH                path to the Redis Singularity image file
+    -d, --django_sif PATH               path to the Django Singularity image file
+    -o, --docs_sif PATH                 path to the Docs Singularity image file
+    -g, --postgres_data PATH            path to the PostgreSQL data directory
+    -b, --postgres_backup PATH          path to the PostgreSQL data backups directory
+    -t, --timeout MINUTES               optional timeout in minutes for service readiness checks (default: 3)
+    -s, --services "SERVICE1 SERVICE2"  optional comma separated, no spaces, list of services to start (e.g., postgres,redis,django)
+
+Examples:
+    ${0##*/} -p /path/to/postgres.sif -r /path/to/redis.sif -d /path/to/django.sif -o /path/to/docs.sif \\
+             -g /path/to/postgres_data -b /path/to/postgres_backup -t 3 -s "postgres redis django"
+EOF
+}
+
+# Initialize variables
+postgres_sif=""
+redis_sif=""
+django_sif=""
+docs_sif=""
+postgres_data=""
+postgres_backup=""
+timeout_minutes=3
+services_to_start=()
+
+# Parse options
+OPTS=$(getopt -o hp:r:d:o:g:b:t:s: --long help,postgres_sif:,redis_sif:,django_sif:,docs_sif:,postgres_data:,postgres_backup:,timeout:,services: -n 'parse-options' -- "$@")
+if [ $? != 0 ] ; then echo "Failed parsing options." >&2 ; exit 1 ; fi
+
+eval set -- "$OPTS"
+
+while true; do
+    case "$1" in
+        -h | --help ) show_help; exit 0 ;;
+        -p | --postgres_sif ) postgres_sif="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -r | --redis_sif ) redis_sif="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -d | --django_sif ) django_sif="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -o | --docs_sif ) docs_sif="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -g | --postgres_data ) postgres_data="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -b | --postgres_backup ) postgres_backup="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -t | --timeout ) timeout_minutes="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+        -s | --services )
+            IFS=',' read -r -a services_to_start <<< "$2"
+            shift 2 ;;
+        -- ) shift; break ;;
+        * ) break ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+main() {
+    # Loop over the array of packages to load them
+    spack_packages=("postgresql" "singularityce" "redis")
+    for pkg in "${spack_packages[@]}"; do
+        if ! eval $(spack load --sh $pkg); then
+            echo "Error loading $pkg package with spack. Ensure the package exists and is available."
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        echo "$pkg loaded successfully."
+    done
+
+    let "timeout_seconds=timeout_minutes * 60"
+
+    # Start specified services
+    for service in "${services_to_start[@]}"; do
+        start_service $service
+    done
+}
+
+# Call main function
+main "$@"
+
+
+
+# let "timeout_seconds=timeout_minutes * 60"
+
+# # Implement the rest of your script here, including loading spack packages, 
+# # starting the services as specified in `services_to_start`, and checking for their readiness.
+# # You'll replace or modify the previous loop and checks according to the new variables used.
+
+
+# # Define an array of Spack packages to load
+# spack_packages=("postgresql" "singularityce" "redis")
+
+# # Loop over the array of packages
+# for pkg in "${spack_packages[@]}"; do
+#     if ! eval $(spack load --sh $pkg); then
+#         echo "Error loading $pkg package with spack. Ensure the package exists and is available."
+#         exit 1
+#     fi
+#     echo "$pkg loaded successfully."
+# done
+
+# # pass in the path to where you want postgres data to be 
+# # stored on your local machine
+# yeastregulatorydb_local_postgres_data=$1
+# yeastregulatorydb_local_postgres_data_backups=$2
+
+# # paths to sif files
+# postgres_sif=$3
+# redis_sif=$4
+# django_sif=$5
+# docs_sif=$6
+
+# # optional arguments
+# TIMEOUT_MINUTES="${7:-3}"
+
+# # Convert minutes to seconds for the timeout
+# let "TIMEOUT_SECONDS=TIMEOUT_MINUTES * 60"
+
+# # start the postgres container
+# singularity exec $postgres_sif \
+#     --bind $yeastregulatorydb_local_postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
+#     --bind $yeastregulatorydb_local_postgres_data_backups:/backups \
+#     --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres &
+
+# # Counter to keep track of the time elapsed
+# counter=0
+# # check that the postgres container is up and running
+# # before starting the next container. Timeout and issue exit
+# # error if it takes too long
+# while ! pg_isready -h localhost -p 5432; do
+#     if [ "$counter" -lt "$TIMEOUT_SECONDS" ]; then
+#         echo "Waiting for PostgreSQL to start... $((counter++))s"
+#         sleep 1
+#     else
+#         echo "Timeout reached. PostgreSQL did not start within $TIMEOUT_MINUTES minutes."
+#         exit 1
+#     fi
+# done
+
+# echo "PostgreSQL is up and running."
+
+# # Start the redis container
+# singularity exec $redis_sif redis-server &
+
+# counter=0
+# # Check if Redis is ready
+# echo "Waiting for Redis to start..."
+# while ! redis-cli ping > /dev/null 2>&1; do
+#     if [ "$counter" -lt "$TIMEOUT_SECONDS" ]; then
+#         sleep 1
+#         ((counter++))
+#         echo "Checking Redis... ($counter seconds)"
+#     else
+#         echo "Timeout reached. Redis did not start within $(($TIMEOUT_SECONDS / 60)) minutes."
+#         exit 1
+#     fi
+# done
+
+# echo "Redis is up and running."
+
+# singularity exec $django_sif \
+#     --bind .:/app \
+#     --env-file ./.envs/.local/.django \
+#     --env-file ./.envs/.local/.postgres \
+#     --env-file ./.envs/.local/.regulatory_data \
+#     --port 8000:8000 \
+#     /start &
+
+# # Check if the Django app is ready
+# counter=0
+# echo "Waiting for Django app to start..."
+# while ! curl -s http://localhost:8000 > /dev/null; do
+#     if [ "$counter" -lt "$TIMEOUT_SECONDS" ]; then
+#         sleep 1
+#         ((counter++))
+#         echo "Checking Django app... ($counter seconds)"
+#     else
+#         echo "Timeout reached. Django did not start within $(($TIMEOUT_SECONDS / 60)) minutes."
+#         exit 1
+#     fi
+# done
+
+# echo "Django app is up and running."
+
+
+
+# #   docs:
+# #     image: yeastregulatorydb_local_docs
+# #     container_name: yeastregulatorydb_local_docs
+# #     build:
+# #       context: .
+# #       dockerfile: ./compose/local/docs/Dockerfile
+# #     env_file:
+# #       - ./.envs/.local/.django
+# #     volumes:
+# #       - ./docs:/docs:z
+# #       - ./config:/app/config:z
+# #       - ./yeastregulatorydb:/app/yeastregulatorydb:z
+# #     ports:
+# #       - '9000:9000'
+# #     command: /start-docs
+
+# #   celeryworker:
+# #     <<: *django
+# #     image: yeastregulatorydb_local_celeryworker
+# #     container_name: yeastregulatorydb_local_celeryworker
+# #     depends_on:
+# #       - redis
+# #       - postgres
+# #     ports: []
+# #     command: /start-celeryworker
+
+# #   celerybeat:
+# #     <<: *django
+# #     image: yeastregulatorydb_local_celerybeat
+# #     container_name: yeastregulatorydb_local_celerybeat
+# #     depends_on:
+# #       - redis
+# #       - postgres
+# #     ports: []
+# #     command: /start-celerybeat
+
+# #   flower:
+#     <<: *django
+#     image: yeastregulatorydb_local_flower
+#     container_name: yeastregulatorydb_local_flower
+#     ports:
+#       - '5555:5555'
+#     command: /start-flower