diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 48f026fa..28718547 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 model_data/local_data/*
 backend/tests/*
+backend/node_modules/*
 recommendations/tests/*
 model_data/tests/*
 infrastructure/*
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 63cd9ac8..df36cfe7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ part of a larger application
 
 # Folders
 
+### backend/
+
+This folder contains the code for the fastapi backend service, which provides an interface to
+much of the functionality in this repository, for the frontend
+
 ### model_data/
 
 This folder contains related to the reading and preparation of
diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
index 2817fd8f..70739265 100644
--- a/backend/README.md
+++ b/backend/README.md
@@ -59,6 +59,26 @@ FastAPI automatically generates interactive API documentation for your applicati
 server and visit <yourlocalurl>/docs in your browser. Alternatively, you can go to
 <yourlocalurl>/redoc to view the documentation in the ReDoc format.
 
+## Building the backend docker image locally
+
+To build the backend docker image locally, run the following command from the root of the project directory:
+
+```commandline
+docker build -t fastapi-lambda-image:latest -f backend/docker/lambda.Dockerfile .
+```
+
+To check the size of the resulting image, run the following command:
+
+```bash
+docker images | grep fastapi-lambda-image
+```
+
+To run a shell inside the Docker container to inspect its contents, run:
+
+```commandline
+docker run -it fastapi-lambda-image:latest /bin/bash
+```
+
 ## Testing
 
 To run tests, run the following command from the root of the project directory:
diff --git a/backend/docker/lambda.Dockerfile b/backend/docker/lambda.Dockerfile
index 2c338015..9e16c21a 100644
--- a/backend/docker/lambda.Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/docker/lambda.Dockerfile
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y netcat-openbsd
 # Install python dependencies
 COPY ./backend/requirements/base.txt ./backend/requirements/base.txt
 RUN pip install --upgrade pip
-RUN pip install -r backend/requirements/base.txt
+# Install and clean up temp caches
+RUN pip install -r backend/requirements/base.txt && rm -rf /root/.cache
 
 # Copy project files
 COPY ./backend/ ./backend
diff --git a/serverless.yml b/serverless.yml
index c6cecba5..28896ad3 100644
--- a/serverless.yml
+++ b/serverless.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ service: fastapi-lambda
 
 provider:
   name: aws
-  runtime: python3.10
   region: eu-west-2
   architecture: x86_64
   environment:
@@ -32,46 +31,11 @@ provider:
             - arn:aws:s3:::${env:PLAN_TRIGGER_BUCKET}/*
 
 
-package:
-  individually: true
-  patterns:
-    - 'backend/**'
-    - '!backend/tests/**'
-    - 'recommendations/**'
-    - '!recommendations/tests/**'
-    # Exclude all of model_data but then re-include the files we need
-    - '!model_data/**'
-    - 'model_data/BaseUtility.py'
-    - 'model_data/config.py'
-    - 'model_data/optimiser/**'
-    - 'model_data/__init__.py'
-    - 'model_data/EpcClean.py'
-    - 'model_data/utils.py'
-    - 'model_data/epc_attributes/**'
-    - 'datatypes/**'
-    - '!infrastructure/**'
-    - '!data_collection/**'
-    - '!node_modules/**'
-    - '!conservation_areas/**'
-    - '!open_uprn/**'
-    - '!land_registry/**'
-    - '!pytest.ini'
-    - '**/README.md'
-
-
 plugins:
   - serverless-python-requirements
   - serverless-domain-manager
 
 custom:
-  pythonRequirements:
-    dockerizePip: true
-    dockerFile: backend/docker/lambda.Dockerfile
-    useDocker: true
-    dockerSsh: true
-    fileName: backend/requirements/base.txt
-    dockerBuildCmdExtraArgs:
-      - '--progress=plain'
   customDomain:
     domainName: api.${self:provider.environment.DOMAIN_NAME}
     createRoute53Record: true
@@ -79,7 +43,8 @@ custom:
 
 functions:
   app:
-    handler: backend.app.main.handler
+    image:
+      uri: ${env:ECR_URI}:latest
     events:
       - http:
           path: /{proxy+}