diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/docker-compose.local.yml b/docker-compose.local.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75e4334
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.local.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+services:
+  traefik:
+    image: traefik:v2.0
+    container_name: "explorer-proxy-local-traefik"
+    command:
+      - --providers.docker=true
+      # Enable the API handler in insecure mode,
+      # which means that the Traefik API will be available directly
+      # on the entry point named traefik.
+      - --api.insecure=true
+      # Define Traefik entry points to port [80] for http and port [443] for https.
+      - --entrypoints.invariant-explorer-proxy-web.address=0.0.0.0:80
+      - --log.level=INFO
+    networks:
+      - invariant-explorer-proxy-web
+    ports:
+      - '${PORT_HTTP:-80}:80'
+    volumes:
+      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
+    labels:
+      - "traefik.enable=true"
+      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik-http.entrypoints=invariant-explorer-proxy-web"
+
+  explorer-proxy:
+    build:
+      context: ./proxy
+      dockerfile: ../proxy/Dockerfile.proxy
+    working_dir: /srv/proxy
+    env_file:
+      - .env
+    environment:
+      - DEV_MODE=true
+    networks:
+      - internal
+      - invariant-explorer-proxy-web
+    ports:
+      - "8001:8000"
+    labels:
+      - "traefik.enable=true"
+      - "traefik.http.routers.explorer-proxy-api.rule=(Host(`localhost`) && PathPrefix(`/api/v1/proxy/`)) || (Host(`127.0.0.1`) && PathPrefix(`/api/v1/proxy/`))"
+      - "traefik.http.routers.explorer-proxy-api.entrypoints=invariant-explorer-proxy-web"
+      - "traefik.http.services.explorer-proxy-api.loadbalancer.server.port=8000"
+      - "traefik.docker.network=invariant-explorer-proxy-web"
+
+networks:
+  invariant-explorer-proxy-web:
+    external: true
+  internal:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/proxy/Dockerfile.proxy b/proxy/Dockerfile.proxy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..906df0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxy/Dockerfile.proxy
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+FROM python:3.10
+
+COPY ./requirements.txt /srv/proxy/requirements.txt
+WORKDIR /srv/proxy
+
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+COPY . /srv/proxy
+
+ENTRYPOINT ./run.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/proxy/proxy.py b/proxy/proxy.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ba465b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxy/proxy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+"""Proxy service to forward requests to the appropriate language model provider"""
+
+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+proxy = FastAPI()
+
+
+@proxy.post("/u/{username}/{dataset_name}/{llm_provider}")
+async def chat_completion(username: str, dataset_name: str, llm_provider: str):
+    """Proxy call to a language model provider"""
+    return {"message": f"Upload {dataset_name} for {username} to {llm_provider}"}
diff --git a/proxy/requirements.txt b/proxy/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0615cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxy/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+fastapi
+uvicorn
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/proxy/run.sh b/proxy/run.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54b8698
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxy/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#/bin/bash
+# if DEV_MODE is true, then run the app with auto-reload
+if [ "$DEV_MODE" = "true" ]; then
+    uvicorn serve:proxy_app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload
+else
+    uvicorn serve:proxy_app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
+fi
diff --git a/proxy/serve.py b/proxy/serve.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5e8715
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proxy/serve.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+"""Serve the API"""
+
+import fastapi
+from proxy import proxy
+
+v1 = fastapi.FastAPI()
+
+# install the API routes
+v1.mount("/proxy", proxy)
+
+
+# for debugging, we can check if the API is up
+@v1.get("/")
+async def home():
+    """Check if the API is up"""
+    return {"message": "Hello v1 proxy"}
+
+
+# mount the API under /api/v1
+proxy_app = fastapi.FastAPI()
+proxy_app.mount("/api/v1", v1)
+
+# serve the API
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import uvicorn
+
+    uvicorn.run(proxy_app, host="0.0.0.0", port=8000)