diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fceaba4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#files ignored when building docker image
+*/*/test
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index d26a78f..a1e41cd 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,10 +4,9 @@ LABEL maintainer="Ambrose J. Carr <acarr@broadinstitute.org>" \
   software="python 3.6.2" \
   description="python 3.6.2 with pysam, sctools, requests, and a basic science stack"
 
+COPY requirements.txt .
 RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt
 
 WORKDIR usr/local/bin/sctools
 
-COPY . .
-
-RUN pip3 install .
+COPY src/sctools .
\ No newline at end of file