diff --git a/bookwyrm/settings.py b/bookwyrm/settings.py
index 1d1ea154..317f5d64 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/settings.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/settings.py
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = [
     "celery",
     "imagekit",
     "storages",
+    "debug_toolbar",
 ]
 
 MIDDLEWARE = [
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ MIDDLEWARE = [
     "bookwyrm.middleware.IPBlocklistMiddleware",
     "django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware",
+    "debug_toolbar.middleware.DebugToolbarMiddleware",
 ]
 
 ROOT_URLCONF = "bookwyrm.urls"
@@ -268,3 +270,13 @@ else:
     MEDIA_FULL_URL = f"{PROTOCOL}://{DOMAIN}{MEDIA_URL}"
     STATIC_FULL_URL = f"{PROTOCOL}://{DOMAIN}{STATIC_URL}"
     MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env("MEDIA_ROOT", "images"))
+
+
+def show_toolbar(_):
+    """workaround for docker"""
+    return True
+
+
+DEBUG_TOOLBAR_CONFIG = {
+    "SHOW_TOOLBAR_CALLBACK": show_toolbar,
+}
diff --git a/bookwyrm/urls.py b/bookwyrm/urls.py
index 7cdfd92a..a6e9f123 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/urls.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/urls.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 """ url routing for the app and api """
+import debug_toolbar
+
 from django.conf.urls.static import static
 from django.contrib import admin
-from django.urls import path, re_path
+from django.urls import path, re_path, include
 from django.views.generic.base import TemplateView
 
 from bookwyrm import settings, views
@@ -554,4 +556,5 @@ urlpatterns = [
     re_path(
         r"^summary_revoke_key/?$", views.summary_revoke_key, name="summary-revoke-key"
     ),
+    path("__debug__/", include(debug_toolbar.urls)),
 ] + static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 534a0593..ff0f996c 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ django-redis==5.2.0
 
 # Dev
 black==21.4b0
+django-debug-toolbar==3.2.1
 pytest-django==4.1.0
 pytest==6.1.2
 pytest-cov==2.10.1