diff --git a/neo4j/.env.template b/neo4j/.env.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c58edee0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/neo4j/.env.template
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+NEO4J_USERNAME=neo4j
+NEO4J_PASSWORD=letmein
diff --git a/neo4j/.gitignore b/neo4j/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4c49bd78f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/neo4j/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.env
diff --git a/neo4j/Dockerfile b/neo4j/Dockerfile
index e94a89431..79347d937 100644
--- a/neo4j/Dockerfile
+++ b/neo4j/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 FROM neo4j:3.5.5
 RUN wget https://github.com/neo4j-contrib/neo4j-apoc-procedures/releases/download/3.5.0.1/apoc-3.5.0.1-all.jar -P plugins/
-COPY migrate.sh /usr/local/bin/migrate
+RUN apk add --no-cache --quiet procps
+COPY db_setup.sh /usr/local/bin/db_setup
+COPY entrypoint.sh /docker-entrypoint-wrapper.sh
+ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint-wrapper.sh"]
diff --git a/neo4j/db_setup.sh b/neo4j/db_setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..21ed54571
--- /dev/null
+++ b/neo4j/db_setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+ENV_FILE=$(dirname "$0")/.env
+[[ -f "$ENV_FILE" ]] && source "$ENV_FILE"
+
+if [ -z "$NEO4J_USERNAME" ] || [ -z "$NEO4J_PASSWORD" ]; then
+  echo "Please set NEO4J_USERNAME and NEO4J_PASSWORD environment variables."
+  echo "Setting up database constraints and indexes will probably fail because of authentication errors."
+  echo "E.g. you could \`cp .env.template .env\` unless you run the script in a docker container"
+fi
+
+until echo 'RETURN "Connection successful" as info;' | cypher-shell
+do
+  echo "Connecting to neo4j failed, trying again..."
+  sleep 1
+done
+
+echo '
+RETURN "Here is a list of indexes and constraints BEFORE THE SETUP:" as info;
+CALL db.indexes();
+' | cypher-shell
+
+echo '
+CALL db.index.fulltext.createNodeIndex("full_text_search",["Post"],["title", "content"]);
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (p:Post)          ASSERT p.id IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (c:Comment)       ASSERT c.id IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (c:Category)      ASSERT c.id IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (u:User)          ASSERT u.id IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (o:Organization)  ASSERT o.id IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (t:Tag)           ASSERT t.id IS UNIQUE;
+
+
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (p:Post)          ASSERT p.slug IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (c:Category)      ASSERT c.slug IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (u:User)          ASSERT u.slug IS UNIQUE;
+CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (o:Organization)  ASSERT o.slug IS UNIQUE;
+' | cypher-shell
+
+echo '
+RETURN "Setting up all the indexes and constraints seems to have been successful. Here is a list AFTER THE SETUP:" as info;
+CALL db.indexes();
+' | cypher-shell
diff --git a/neo4j/entrypoint.sh b/neo4j/entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f9c1afbe1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/neo4j/entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# credits: https://github.com/javamonkey79
+# https://github.com/neo4j/docker-neo4j/issues/166 
+
+# turn on bash's job control
+set -m
+
+# Start the primary process and put it in the background
+/docker-entrypoint.sh neo4j &
+
+# Start the helper process
+db_setup
+
+# the my_helper_process might need to know how to wait on the
+# primary process to start before it does its work and returns
+
+
+# now we bring the primary process back into the foreground
+# and leave it there
+fg %1
diff --git a/neo4j/migrate.sh b/neo4j/migrate.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 6f3361b8a..000000000
--- a/neo4j/migrate.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-# If the user has the password `neo4j` this is a strong indicator, that we are
-# the initial default user. Before we can create constraints, we have to change
-# the default password. This is a security feature of neo4j.
-if echo ":exit" | cypher-shell  --password neo4j 2> /dev/null ; then
-  if [[ -z "${NEO4J_PASSWORD}" ]]; then
-    echo "NEO4J_PASSWORD environment variable is undefined. I cannot set the initial password."
-  else
-    echo "CALL dbms.security.changePassword('${NEO4J_PASSWORD}');" | cypher-shell --password neo4j
-  fi
-fi
-
-set -e
-
-echo '
-CALL db.index.fulltext.createNodeIndex("full_text_search",["Post"],["title", "content"]);
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (p:Post)          ASSERT p.id IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (c:Comment)       ASSERT c.id IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (c:Category)      ASSERT c.id IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (u:User)          ASSERT u.id IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (o:Organization)  ASSERT o.id IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (t:Tag)           ASSERT t.id IS UNIQUE;
-
-
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (p:Post)          ASSERT p.slug IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (c:Category)      ASSERT c.slug IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (u:User)          ASSERT u.slug IS UNIQUE;
-CREATE CONSTRAINT ON (o:Organization)  ASSERT o.slug IS UNIQUE;
-'  | cypher-shell
-
-echo "Successfully created all indices and unique constraints:"
-echo 'CALL db.indexes();' | cypher-shell