diff --git a/docker/README.md b/docker/README.md
index 26d8c9a37b0..376dc7b2d97 100644
--- a/docker/README.md
+++ b/docker/README.md
@@ -2,6 +2,17 @@
 
 This guide provides instructions for building and running the LiteLLM application using Docker and Docker Compose.
 
+> **Just want to run LiteLLM?** This guide builds from source. To run the published
+> image instead, use `docker-compose.quickstart.yml` in this directory — the
+> two-service stack (gateway + Postgres) that the
+> [Docker quickstart](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/proxy/docker_quick_start) documents:
+>
+> ```bash
+> curl -sSLO https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/raw/main/docker/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
+> printf 'LITELLM_MASTER_KEY=sk-%s\nLITELLM_SALT_KEY=sk-%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
+> docker compose -f docker-compose.quickstart.yml up -d
+> ```
+
 ## Prerequisites
 
 - Docker
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.quickstart.yml b/docker/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..11631603a72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# LiteLLM quickstart stack: the gateway plus a Postgres database that stores
+# models, virtual keys, and spend logs. Used by
+# https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/proxy/docker_quick_start
+#
+#   curl -sSLO https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/raw/main/docker/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
+#   printf 'LITELLM_MASTER_KEY=sk-%s\nLITELLM_SALT_KEY=sk-%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
+#   docker compose -f docker-compose.quickstart.yml up -d
+#
+# Compose reads .env from this directory. Keep it: regenerating LITELLM_SALT_KEY
+# makes credentials already stored in the database unreadable. For anything
+# beyond local evaluation, pin the image to a specific release tag.
+services:
+  litellm:
+    image: docker.litellm.ai/berriai/litellm:main-stable
+    ports:
+      - "4000:4000"
+    environment:
+      LITELLM_MASTER_KEY: ${LITELLM_MASTER_KEY:?set it in .env - see the header of this file}
+      LITELLM_SALT_KEY: ${LITELLM_SALT_KEY:?set it in .env - see the header of this file}
+      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://litellm:litellm@db:5432/litellm
+      STORE_MODEL_IN_DB: "True"
+    depends_on:
+      db:
+        condition: service_healthy
+
+  db:
+    image: postgres:16
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: litellm
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: litellm
+      POSTGRES_DB: litellm
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U litellm"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 10
+    volumes:
+      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+volumes:
+  postgres_data: