diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 7cc8194a5..fe6a12860 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -14,3 +14,6 @@ docker.sh
 **/npm-*.log
 **/yarn-*.log
 **/catapult-*.log
+
+/rest/target/
+/rest/logs.log
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 492ee4033..e28aeeaf9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Mongo DB (27017), Server (7900) and Broker (7902) ports are open to localhost.
 In another terminal:
 
 ```
-yarn start
+yarn start:dev
 ```
 
 If everything goes well, you should see catapult-rest running by opening ``http://localhost:3000/node/info`` in a new browser tab.
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Alternatively, you can run bootstrap in `detached` mode to avoid opening a new t
 cd rest
 yarn build
 yarn bootstrap-start-detached
-yarn start
+yarn start:dev
 yarn bootstrap-stop
 ```
 
diff --git a/docker-build-local.sh b/docker-build-local.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9dbb980ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-build-local.sh
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+docker build -t symbol-rest-local .
diff --git a/rest/package.json b/rest/package.json
index 743540144..91aaae235 100644
--- a/rest/package.json
+++ b/rest/package.json
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
     "build": "ncp src/ _build",
     "rebuild": "npm run clean && npm run build",
     "version": "echo $npm_package_version",
-    "start": "node _build/index.js target/gateways/rest/rest.json",
-    "start:debug": "node src/index.js target/gateways/rest/rest.json",
+    "start": "node _build/index.js",
+    "start:dev": "node src/index.js target/gateways/rest/rest.json",
     "test": "mocha --full-trace --recursive",
     "test:coverage": "nyc npm test && nyc report --reporter=text-lcov",
     "test:jenkins": "cross-env JUNIT_REPORT_PATH=test-results.xml mocha --reporter mocha-jenkins-reporter --mongoHost db --forbid-only --full-trace --recursive test || exit 0",