diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 51f7352..203cfbe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -170,6 +170,15 @@ Run this version with:
 docker-compose -f docker-compose.cuda.yml up -d --build
 ```
 
+### Running Healthchecks
+
+You can enable healthchecks by including this in your docker-compose.yml file:
+
+```
+healthcheck:
+  test: ['CMD-SHELL', './venv/bin/python healthcheck.py']
+```
+
 ## Arguments
 
 | Argument                    | Description                                                                                                 | Default              | Env. name                    |
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 63bd509..a634356 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     ports:
       - "5000:5000"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ['CMD-SHELL', './venv/bin/python healthcheck.py']
     ## Uncomment above command and define your args if necessary
     # command: --ssl --ga-id MY-GA-ID --req-limit 100 --char-limit 500
     ## Uncomment this section and the `volumes` section if you want to backup your API keys
diff --git a/healthcheck.py b/healthcheck.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd62b4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/healthcheck.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import requests
+response = requests.post(
+    url='http://0.0.0.0:5000/translate',
+    headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
+    json={
+         'q': 'Hello World!',
+         'source': 'en',
+         'target': 'en'
+    }
+)
+# if server unavailable then requests with raise exception and healthcheck will fail