diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e96cc4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+mysql
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0578b50..649bdaa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,3 +12,22 @@ docker-compose up -d
 2. Copy MODX code into `html` folder
 
 3. Visit [localhost:8000](http://localhost:8000)
+
+
+## Run modx only
+If you have mysql setup externally and you want to run modx and connect to the external MySQL, follow steps below:
+
+1. build modx
+```sh
+docker build -t modx_apache ./apache
+```
+2. Copy MODX code into `html` folder
+
+3. Run `modx_apache` image assuming MySQL installed locally
+```sh
+docker run -d --network=host --volume "$(pwd)/html:/var/www/html" -e MODX_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1:3306 \
+-e MODX_DB_PASSWORD=password \
+-e MODX_DB_USER=modx \
+-e MODX_DB_NAME=modx \
+--name modx_apache modx_apache
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apache/Dockerfile b/apache/Dockerfile
index e4266b3..94f93e4 100644
--- a/apache/Dockerfile
+++ b/apache/Dockerfile
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
-FROM php:7.1-apache
+FROM php:8.3-apache
 
-MAINTAINER Vadim Homchik <homchik@gmail.com> (@vh)
+LABEL authors="Vadim Homchik <homchik@gmail.com> (@vh)"
 
 RUN a2enmod rewrite
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y unzip
 
 # install the PHP extensions we need
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y libpng-dev libjpeg-dev unzip sudo && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-	&& docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-png-dir=/usr --with-jpeg-dir=/usr \
-	&& docker-php-ext-install gd opcache mysqli pdo pdo_mysql
+
+ADD --chmod=0755 https://github.com/mlocati/docker-php-extension-installer/releases/latest/download/install-php-extensions /usr/local/bin/
+
+RUN install-php-extensions gd zip pdo_mysql opcache mysqli
+
+# Use the default production configuration
+RUN mv "$PHP_INI_DIR/php.ini-production" "$PHP_INI_DIR/php.ini"
 
 # set recommended PHP.ini settings
 # see https://secure.php.net/manual/en/opcache.installation.php
@@ -15,19 +20,15 @@ RUN { \
 		echo 'opcache.memory_consumption=128'; \
 		echo 'opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8'; \
 		echo 'opcache.max_accelerated_files=4000'; \
-		echo 'opcache.fast_shutdown=1'; \
+		echo 'opcache.revalidate_freq=60'; \
 		echo 'opcache.enable_cli=1'; \
 	} > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/opcache-recommended.ini
 
-# set timezone
-RUN { \
-		echo 'date.timezone=GMT+0'; \
-	} > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/datetime.ini
 
 VOLUME /var/www/html
 
-ENV MODX_VERSION 2.7.0
-ENV MODX_SHA1 79f7399b6cb2a7508852f2e82821a0d5670ef41f
+ENV MODX_VERSION=3.0.5
+ENV MODX_SHA1=c8abde97ab72be7472549270e9af65d9d959062e
 
 # upstream tarballs include ./modx-${MODX_VERSION}/
 RUN curl -o modx.zip -SL http://modx.com/download/direct/modx-${MODX_VERSION}-pl.zip \
diff --git a/apache/docker-entrypoint.sh b/apache/docker-entrypoint.sh
index 6007d11..1eef2f1 100755
--- a/apache/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/apache/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -41,28 +41,33 @@ $stderr = fopen('php://stderr', 'w');
 
 list($host, $port) = explode(':', $argv[1], 2);
 
-$maxTries = 10;
-do {
-	$mysql = new mysqli($host, $argv[2], $argv[3], '', (int)$port);
-	if ($mysql->connect_error) {
-		fwrite($stderr, "\n" . 'MySQL Connection Error: (' . $mysql->connect_errno . ') ' . $mysql->connect_error . "\n");
-		--$maxTries;
-		if ($maxTries <= 0) {
-			exit(1);
+try {
+	$maxTries = 10;
+	do {
+		$mysql = new mysqli($host, $argv[2], $argv[3], '', (int)$port);
+		if ($mysql->connect_error) {
+			fwrite($stderr, "\n" . 'MySQL Connection Error: (' . $mysql->connect_errno . ') ' . $mysql->connect_error . "\n");
+			--$maxTries;
+			if ($maxTries <= 0) {
+				exit(1);
+			}
+			sleep(3);
 		}
-		sleep(3);
-	}
-} while ($mysql->connect_error);
+	} while ($mysql->connect_error);
 
-if (!$mysql->query('CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `' . $mysql->real_escape_string($argv[4]) . '` ' .
-	'DEFAULT CHARACTER SET = \'utf8\' DEFAULT COLLATE \'utf8_general_ci\'')) {
+	if (!$mysql->query('CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `' . $mysql->real_escape_string($argv[4]) . '` ' .
+		'DEFAULT CHARACTER SET = \'utf8\' DEFAULT COLLATE \'utf8_general_ci\'')) {
+
+		fwrite($stderr, "\n" . 'MySQL "CREATE DATABASE" Error: ' . $mysql->error . "\n");
+		$mysql->close();
+		exit(1);
+	} 
 
-	fwrite($stderr, "\n" . 'MySQL "CREATE DATABASE" Error: ' . $mysql->error . "\n");
 	$mysql->close();
-	exit(1);
+} catch(Exception $e) {
+	fwrite($stderr, "\n"."Exception Occurred while connecting to MySQL, reason: ".$e->getMessage());
+	fwrite($stderr, "\nStacktrace:\n".$e->getTraceAsString()."\n" );
 }
-
-$mysql->close();
 EOPHP
 
 	if ! [ -e index.php -a -e core/config/config.inc.php ]; then
@@ -75,7 +80,7 @@ EOPHP
 
 		tar cf - --one-file-system -C /usr/src/modx . | tar xf -
 
-    echo >&2 "Complete! MODX has been successfully copied to $(pwd)"
+    	echo >&2 "Complete! MODX has been successfully copied to $(pwd)"
 
 		: ${MODX_ADMIN_USER:='admin'}
 		: ${MODX_ADMIN_PASSWORD:='admin'}
@@ -116,7 +121,7 @@ EOPHP
 EOF
 		chown www-data:www-data setup/config.xml
 
-    sudo -u www-data php setup/index.php --installmode=new
+    	runuser -u www-data -- php setup/index.php --installmode=new
   else
 		UPGRADE=$(TERM=dumb php -- "$MODX_VERSION" <<'EOPHP'
 <?php
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index e1ce803..0404bfb 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
-version: '3'
 services:
   web:
-    image: maki/modx
+    build: ./apache
     links:
       - 'db:mysql'
     ports:
       - '8000:80'
     environment:
-      MODX_VERSION: 2.7.0
+      MODX_VERSION: 3.0.5
       MODX_DB_HOST: 'mysql:3306'
       MODX_DB_PASSWORD: modx
       MODX_DB_USER: modx