diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fdee47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+**/*.env
+.git
+.github
+.husky
+coverage
+logs
+node_modules
+.dockerignore
+.editorconfig
+.eslintrc.cjs
+.gitignore
+.lintstagedrc.json
+.prettierignore
+.prettierrc.js
+compose-test.yaml
+Dockerfile
+README
+ .env.healthcheck.testing
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 94b009c..fa2c3b5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -118,4 +118,6 @@ dist
 .DS_Store
 
 # the keyv data store
-src/data
\ No newline at end of file
+src/data
+
+compose-test.yaml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/healthcheck.js b/healthcheck.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1c7d9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/healthcheck.js
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+import nodemailer from 'nodemailer'
+import axios from 'axios'
+
+const serviceURL = process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SERVICE_URL
+const serviceName = process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SERVICE_NAME
+const shouldPostToWebHook = process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_WEB_HOOK
+const shouldSendEmail =
+  process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_HOST &&
+  process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_USER &&
+  process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_PASS &&
+  process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_EMAIL_FROM &&
+  process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_EMAIL_RECIPIENT
+
+axios
+  .get(serviceURL)
+  .then(async function (response) {
+    try {
+      const body = response.data
+      if (body.healthy === true) {
+        process.exit(0)
+      }
+      await notify(`${serviceName} is unhealthy: ${body.error}`)
+      process.exit(1)
+    } catch (error) {
+      await notify(
+        `${serviceName} is potentially unhealthy - error: ${JSON.stringify(error)}`
+      )
+      process.exit(1)
+    }
+  })
+  .catch(async (error) => {
+    await notify(
+      `${serviceName} is unhealthy and will restart after 3 tries. Error: ${error.message}`
+    )
+    process.exit(1)
+  })
+
+async function notify(message) {
+  console.log(message)
+  if (shouldSendEmail) await sendMail(message)
+  if (shouldPostToWebHook) await postToWebHook(message)
+}
+
+async function postToWebHook(text) {
+  await axios
+    .post(process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_WEB_HOOK, { text })
+    .catch((error) => {
+      console.error(error)
+    })
+}
+
+async function sendMail(message) {
+  const messageParams = {
+    from: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_EMAIL_FROM,
+    to: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_EMAIL_RECIPIENT,
+    subject: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_EMAIL_SUBJECT,
+    text: message
+  }
+
+  const mailTransport = {
+    host: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_HOST,
+    auth: {
+      user: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_USER,
+      pass: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_PASS
+    },
+    ...(process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_PORT && {
+      port: process.env.HEALTH_CHECK_SMTP_PORT
+    })
+  }
+
+  const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport(mailTransport)
+
+  try {
+    await transporter.sendMail(messageParams)
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.log('the email send error: ')
+    console.log(error)
+  }
+}
+
+//import * as http from 'node:http';
+/* const options = { hostname: 'SIGNER', port: (process.env.PORT || 4006), path: '/healthz', method: 'GET' };
+
+http
+    .request(options, (res) => {
+        let body = '';
+
+        res.on('data', (chunk) => {
+            body += chunk;
+        });
+
+        res.on('end', async () => {
+            try {
+                const response = JSON.parse(body);
+                if (response.healthy === true) {
+                    console.log('healthy response received: ', body);
+                    await sendMail("It worked!")
+                    process.exit(0);
+                }
+
+                console.log('Unhealthy response received: ', body);
+                await sendMail(`It worked, but with error: ${JSON.stringify(body)}`)
+                process.exit(1);
+            } catch (err) {
+                console.log('Error parsing JSON response body: ', err);
+                process.exit(1);
+            }
+        });
+    })
+    .on('error', (err) => {
+        console.log('Error: ', err);
+        process.exit(1);
+    })
+    .end(); */
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2c4dedd..31bb473 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@
     "jsonld-document-loader": "^2.0.0",
     "keyv": "^4.5.2",
     "keyv-file": "^0.2.0",
-    "morgan": "~1.9.1"
+    "morgan": "~1.9.1",
+    "nodemailer": "^6.9.14"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@eslint/js": "^9.3.0",