diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 493421e..4e47eb3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ Default: lsmb
 Set this if you want to automatically log in to a particular LedgerSMB database
 without needing to enter the name of that database on the login.pl login screen.
 
+## `LSMB_WORKERS`
+
+Default: 5
+
+Set this if you want to run in a memory-constrained environment. E.g. set it to
+2 when running in a 1 GB memory setup. Please do note that this may adversely
+affect the performance experience of users.
+
 ## Mail configuration
 
 * `SSMTP_ROOT` (config: `Root`)
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index e37c0ad..517523b 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ services:
     networks:
       - internal
       - default
-    # The PORTS section below maps the LedgerSMB container port (5762)
+    # Uncomment the 'ports' section to map the LedgerSMB container port (5762)
     #  to the host's port of the same number, thus making LedgerSMB
     #  available on http://<host-dns-or-ip>:5762/
     #     SECURITY NOTE: Do this for evaluation purposes only!
@@ -40,7 +40,16 @@ services:
     #       and other sensitive data
     # ports:
     #   - "5762:5762"
-    # environment:
+    environment:
+      # The LSMB_WORKERS environment variable lets you select the number
+      # of processes serving HTTP requests. The default number of 2 workers
+      # is geared toward limited-memory situations (1 GB). In order to
+      # improve the performance experience, increase memory and the
+      # number of workers
+      #
+      LSMB_WORKERS: 2
+      #
+      #
       # SSMTP_ROOT:
       # SSMTP_HOSTNAME:
       # SSMTP_MAILHUB:
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
index a34699e..6f26209 100755
--- a/start.sh
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -28,4 +28,8 @@ fi
 #fi
 
 # start ledgersmb
-exec starman --port 5762 --preload-app tools/starman.psgi
+# --preload-app allows application initialization to kill the entire
+# starman instance (instead of just the worker, which will immediately
+# get restarted); it also has a positive effect on memory use
+
+exec starman --port 5762 --workers ${LSMB_WORKERS:-5} --preload-app bin/ledgersmb-server.psgi