diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e8965af..e6ca341 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -7,4 +7,7 @@ WORKDIR /opt/code
 RUN rm -rf node_modules package_lock.json && \
     npm install
 
+# global deps
+RUN npm i -g gulp-cli
+
 CMD [ "/bin/sh", "-c", "/opt/code/run_instance.sh" ]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 822c058..1efb290 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -8,4 +8,6 @@ services:
     ports:
       - '${APP_PORT:-8080}:${APP_PORT:-8080}'
     volumes:
-      - './usercontent:/opt/code/usercontent'
\ No newline at end of file
+      - './usercontent:/opt/code/usercontent'
+      # uncomment this for debug mode
+      #- './:/opt/code'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/gulpfile.js b/gulpfile.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..042a190
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gulpfile.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+const gulp      = require('gulp');
+const { spawn } = require('child_process');
+const log       = require('fancy-log');
+
+const spawn_dev = () => {
+    return spawn('node', ['--inspect=0.0.0.0', 'index.js'], {stdio: 'inherit'});
+}
+
+let node;
+let shutdown = false;
+
+gulp.task('run_dev', (cb) => {
+
+    log('Running application in development mode...');
+    node = spawn_dev();
+
+    function watch(cb) {
+        if (shutdown == true) return cb();
+        log('Files changed, restarting node...');
+        node.kill('SIGTERM');
+        node = spawn_dev();
+        cb();
+    }
+
+    gulp.watch('.', { events: 'all' }, watch);
+    cb();
+});
+
+function shutdown_f() {
+    shutdown = true;
+    node.kill('SIGINT');
+    node.kill('SIGTERM');
+}
+
+process.on('SIGINT', shutdown_f);
+process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown_f);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5588a67..45f4611 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,11 @@
     "dotenv": "^16.0.3",
     "express": "^4.18.2",
     "express-async-handler": "^1.2.0",
+    "fancy-log": "^2.0.0",
     "glob": "^9.2.1",
     "pug": "^3.0.2"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "gulp": "^4.0.2"
   }
 }
diff --git a/views/main.pug b/views/main.pug
index 21f91e8..5669d1d 100644
--- a/views/main.pug
+++ b/views/main.pug
@@ -11,4 +11,5 @@ block content
             p(style='color:darkred;font-weight:bold;font-size:9pt')
                 | Max uploads limit exceeded. No more uploads would be accepted.
                 br
-                | Contact site administrator so they would increase the limit or delete some uploads.
\ No newline at end of file
+                | Contact site administrator so they would increase the limit or delete some upload.
+        p= exceeded
\ No newline at end of file