diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index fa0761f3..f6f8ee33 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,5 @@
 
 search/meilisearch
 search/data.ms
-search/dumps
 
 run.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/Dockerfile b/db/Dockerfile
index 1e0c6f0a..e761b57e 100644
--- a/db/Dockerfile
+++ b/db/Dockerfile
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ WORKDIR /
 COPY go.mod ./
 COPY go.sum ./
 COPY migrations ./migrations
-RUN tar -xvf migrations/initial_data/cities500.tar.gz -C migrations/initial_data
 
 RUN go mod download
 
diff --git a/db/main.go b/db/main.go
index 366c153f..54b8631f 100644
--- a/db/main.go
+++ b/db/main.go
@@ -115,11 +115,6 @@ func main() {
 			}
 		}
 
-		// bootstrap meilisearch
-		if err := bootstrapMeilisearch(client); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
 		return nil
 	})
 
diff --git a/db/meilisearch.go b/db/meilisearch.go
index 9ba4574b..3415cc62 100644
--- a/db/meilisearch.go
+++ b/db/meilisearch.go
@@ -1,102 +1,13 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
-	"io"
 	"log"
-	"os"
 
 	"github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch-go"
 	"github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models"
 )
 
-func hasIndex(index string, client *meilisearch.Client) (resp bool, err error) {
-
-	if _, err := client.GetIndex(index); err != nil {
-		if err.(*meilisearch.Error).StatusCode == 404 {
-			return false, nil
-		}
-		return false, err
-	}
-	return true, nil
-}
-
-func bootstrapMeilisearch(client *meilisearch.Client) error {
-	indexExists, err := hasIndex("cities500", client)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if !indexExists {
-
-		jsonFile, err := os.Open("migrations/initial_data/cities500.json")
-
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		defer jsonFile.Close()
-
-		byteValue, err := io.ReadAll(jsonFile)
-
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		var cities []map[string]interface{}
-		json.Unmarshal(byteValue, &cities)
-
-		_, err = client.CreateIndex(&meilisearch.IndexConfig{
-			Uid:        "cities500",
-			PrimaryKey: "id",
-		})
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		settings := meilisearch.Settings{
-			SortableAttributes: []string{
-				"_geo",
-			},
-			FilterableAttributes: []string{
-				"_geo",
-			},
-		}
-		_, err = client.Index("cities500").UpdateSettings(&settings)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		_, err = client.Index("cities500").AddDocuments(cities)
-		if err != nil {
-			return (err)
-		}
-	}
-
-	indexExists, err = hasIndex("trails", client)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if !indexExists {
-		_, err = client.CreateIndex(&meilisearch.IndexConfig{
-			Uid:        "trails",
-			PrimaryKey: "id",
-		})
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		settings := meilisearch.Settings{
-			SortableAttributes: []string{
-				"name", "distance", "elevation_gain", "difficulty", "created",
-			},
-			FilterableAttributes: []string{
-				"category", "difficulty", "distance", "elevation_gain", "completed", "_geo", "public", "author",
-			},
-		}
-		_, err = client.Index("trails").UpdateSettings(&settings)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 func indexRecord(r *models.Record, client *meilisearch.Client) error {
 	documents := []map[string]interface{}{
 		{
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index e714e779..c070a76f 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ x-common-env: &cenv
 services:
   search:
     container_name: wanderer-search
-    image: getmeili/meilisearch:v1.6.2
+    build: ./search
     environment:
       <<: *cenv
       MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS: true
diff --git a/search/Dockerfile b/search/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..955e3f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/search/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+FROM getmeili/meilisearch:v1.6.2
+
+COPY ./migrations/migration.dump /meili_data/dumps/migration.dump
+COPY ./run.sh /run.sh
+
+RUN chmod +x /run.sh
+
+CMD [ "/run.sh" ]
+
+
diff --git a/search/migrations/migration.dump b/search/migrations/migration.dump
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..056edab7
Binary files /dev/null and b/search/migrations/migration.dump differ