diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 75ea5de6ca2..664eefdb4ee 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+.git/
 *.iml
 out/
 *.ipr
@@ -13,35 +14,13 @@ generated-sources/*
 generated-code/*
 *.swp
 *.swo
-
-/target
-/generated-files
-/nbactions.xml
-*.pyc
-__pycache__
-samples/server-generator/scalatra/output
-samples/server-generator/node/output/node_modules
-samples/server-generator/scalatra/target
-samples/server-generator/scalatra/output/.history
-samples/client/petstore/qt5cpp/PetStore/moc_*
-samples/client/petstore/qt5cpp/PetStore/*.o
-samples/client/petstore/objc/PetstoreClient.xcworkspace/xcuserdata
-samples/client/petstore/qt5cpp/build-*
-samples/client/petstore/qt5cpp/PetStore/PetStore
-samples/client/petstore/qt5cpp/PetStore/Makefile
-samples/client/petstore/java/hello.txt
-samples/client/petstore/android/default/hello.txt
-samples/client/petstore/objc/Build
-samples/client/petstore/objc/Pods
-samples/server/petstore/nodejs/node_modules
-target
-.idea
-.lib
-atlassian-ide-plugin.xml
+*.bak
+project/
+samples/*
+target/
+.idea/
+.lib/
 .DS_Store
 
-samples/client/petstore/php/SwaggerClient-php/composer.lock
-samples/client/petstore/php/SwaggerClient-php/vendor/
-
-samples/client/petstore/silex/SwaggerServer/composer.lock
-samples/client/petstore/silex/SwaggerServer/venodr/
+# Not needed in a linux container
+bin/windows/*
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 1976e1aedd6..ec291fef4af 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,14 +1,22 @@
+FROM jimschubert/8-jdk-alpine-mvn:1.0
 
-FROM maven:3-jdk-7-alpine
+ENV GEN_DIR /opt/swagger-codegen
 
-WORKDIR /src
-VOLUME  /src
-VOLUME  /root/.m2/repository
+RUN set -x && \
+    apk add --no-cache bash
 
-ADD . /opt/swagger-codegen
+RUN mkdir /opt
 
-RUN cd /opt/swagger-codegen && mvn package
+ADD . ${GEN_DIR}
 
-ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "/opt/swagger-codegen/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/target/swagger-codegen-cli.jar"]
+VOLUME  ${MAVEN_HOME}/.m2/repository
 
-CMD ["help"]
+WORKDIR ${GEN_DIR}
+
+RUN mvn -am -pl "modules/swagger-codegen-cli" package
+
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+
+CMD ["build"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f629f5589ff..a9a4b63a596 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -110,16 +110,41 @@ After cloning the project, you can build it from source with this command:
 mvn clean package
 ```
 
+### Homebrew
+
+To install, run `brew install swagger-codegen`
+
+Here is an example usage:
+```
+swagger-codegen generate -i http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json -l ruby -o /tmp/test/
+```
+
 ### Docker
-#### Build and run using docker
+
+#### Development in docker
+
+You can use `run-in-docker.sh` to do all development. This script maps your local repository to `/gen`
+in the docker container. It also maps `~/.m2/repository` to the appropriate container location.
+
+To execute `mvn package`:
 
 ```
 git clone https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen
 cd swagger-codegen
 ./run-in-docker.sh mvn package
- ```
+```
 
+Build artifacts are now accessible in your working directory.
 
+Once built, `run-in-docker.sh` will act as an executable for swagger-codegen-cli. To generate code, you'll need to output to a directory under `/gen` (e.g. `/gen/out`). For example:
+
+```
+./run-in-docker.sh help # Executes 'help' command for swagger-codegen-cli
+./run-in-docker.sh langs # Executes 'langs' command for swagger-codegen-cli
+./run-in-docker.sh /gen/bin/go-petstore.sh  # Builds the Go client
+./run-in-docker.sh generate -i modules/swagger-codegen/src/test/resources/2_0/petstore.yaml \
+    -l go -o /gen/out/go-petstore -DpackageName=petstore # generates go client, outputs locally to ./out/go-petstore
+```
 
 #### Run Docker in Vagrant
 Prerequisite: install [Vagrant](https://www.vagrantup.com/downloads.html) and [VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads).
@@ -132,18 +157,54 @@ cd /vagrant
 ./run-in-docker.sh mvn package
  ```
 
-#### Public Docker image
+#### Public Pre-built Docker images
 
- - https://hub.docker.com/r/swaggerapi/swagger-generator/ (official)
- - https://hub.docker.com/r/jimschubert/swagger-codegen-cli/ (unofficial)
+ - https://hub.docker.com/r/swaggerapi/swagger-generator/ (official web service)
+ - https://hub.docker.com/r/swaggerapi/swagger-codegen-cli/ (official CLI)
+=======
 
-### Homebrew
-To install, run `brew install swagger-codegen`
+##### Swagger Generator Docker Image
+
+The Swagger Generator image can act as a self-hosted web application and API for generating code. This container can be  incorporated into a CI pipeline, and requires at least two HTTP requests and some docker orchestration to access generated code.
+
+Example usage (note this assumes `jq` is installed for command line processing of JSON):
 
-Here is an example usage:
 ```
-swagger-codegen generate -i http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json -l ruby -o /tmp/test/
+# Start container and save the container id
+CID=$(docker run -d swaggerapi/swagger-generator)
+# allow for startup
+sleep 5
+# Get the IP of the running container
+GEN_IP=$(docker inspect --format '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}'  $CID)
+# Execute an HTTP request and store the download link
+RESULT=$(curl -X POST --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --header 'Accept: application/json' -d '{
+  "swaggerUrl": "http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json"
+}' 'http://localhost:8188/api/gen/clients/javascript' | jq '.link' | tr -d '"')
+# Download the generated zip and redirect to a file
+curl $RESULT > result.zip
+# Shutdown the swagger generator image
+docker stop $CID && docker rm $CID
 ```
+
+In the example above, `result.zip` will contain the generated client.
+
+##### Swagger Codegen Docker Image
+
+The Swagger Codegen image acts as a standalone executable. It can be used as an alternative to installing via homebrew, or for developers who are unable to install Java or upgrade the installed version.
+
+To generate code with this image, you'll need to mount a local location as a volume.
+
+Example:
+
+```
+docker run --rm -v ${PWD}:/local swagger-api/swagger-codegen generate \
+    -i http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json \
+    -l go \
+    -o /local/out/go
+```
+
+The generated code will be located under `./out/go` in the current directory.
+
 ## Getting Started
 
 To generate a PHP client for http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json, please run the following
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..943ae1a2927
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# GEN_DIR allows to share the entrypoint between Dockerfile and run-in-docker.sh (backward compatible)
+GEN_DIR=${GEN_DIR:-/opt/swagger-codegen}
+JAVA_OPTS=${JAVA_OPTS:-"-Xmx1024M -DloggerPath=conf/log4j.properties"}
+
+codegen="${GEN_DIR}/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/target/swagger-codegen-cli.jar"
+
+case "$1" in
+    generate|help|langs|meta|config-help)
+        # If ${GEN_DIR} has been mapped elsewhere from default, and that location has not been built
+        if [[ ! -f "${codegen}" ]]; then
+            (cd ${GEN_DIR} && exec mvn -am -pl "modules/swagger-codegen-cli" package)
+        fi
+        command=$1
+        shift
+        exec java ${JAVA_OPTS} -jar ${codegen} ${command} "$@"
+        ;;
+    *)  # Any other commands, e.g. docker run imagename ls -la or docker run -it imagename /bin/bash
+        exec "$@"
+        ;;
+esac
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/Dockerfile b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1068581cbc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+FROM java:8-jre-alpine
+
+ADD target/swagger-codegen-cli.jar /opt/swagger-codegen-cli/swagger-codegen-cli.jar
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "/opt/swagger-codegen-cli/swagger-codegen-cli.jar"]
+
+CMD ["help"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/swagger-generator/Dockerfile b/modules/swagger-generator/Dockerfile
index dc31cbd965e..0360aa66ce0 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-generator/Dockerfile
+++ b/modules/swagger-generator/Dockerfile
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
-FROM java:8-jdk
+FROM java:8-jre-alpine
 
 WORKDIR /generator
+
 COPY target/lib/jetty-runner* /generator/jetty-runner.jar
 COPY target/*.war /generator/swagger-generator.war
 
 ENV GENERATOR_HOST=https://generator.swaggerhub.com/api/swagger.json
-RUN apt-get update
 
 EXPOSE 8080
+
 CMD ["java", "-jar", "/generator/jetty-runner.jar", "/generator/swagger-generator.war"]
 
diff --git a/run-in-docker.sh b/run-in-docker.sh
index 39a7601dd03..99581115871 100755
--- a/run-in-docker.sh
+++ b/run-in-docker.sh
@@ -1,34 +1,16 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -e
-cd "$(dirname $BASH_SOURCE)"
+set -exo pipefail
 
-maven_cache_repo="$HOME/.m2/repository"
-myname="$(basename $BASH_SOURCE)"
+cd "$(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE})"
 
-if [ "$1" = "mvn" ]; then
-        cmd="$1"
-        shift
-        args="$@"
-else
-        jar="modules/swagger-codegen-cli/target/swagger-codegen-cli.jar"
-        
-        # Check if project is built
-        if [ ! -f "$jar" ]; then
-                echo "ERROR File not found: $jar"
-                echo "ERROR Did you forget to './$myname mvn package'?"
-                exit 1
-        fi
-        
-        cmd="java -jar /gen/$jar"
-        args="$@"
-fi
+maven_cache_repo="${HOME}/.m2/repository"
 
-mkdir -p "$maven_cache_repo"
+mkdir -p "${maven_cache_repo}"
 
-set -x
-
-docker run -it \
+docker run --rm -it \
         -w /gen \
+        -e GEN_DIR=/gen \
         -v "${PWD}:/gen" \
         -v "${maven_cache_repo}:/root/.m2/repository" \
-        maven:3-jdk-7 $cmd $args
+        --entrypoint /gen/docker-entrypoint.sh \
+        maven:3-jdk-7 "$@"