diff --git a/.env.template b/.env.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..325288b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.template
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Elasticsearch environment variables
+# This file will be copied to /app/data/.env during installation
+
+# Java memory settings - leave empty to auto-configure based on container limits
+ES_JAVA_HEAP=
+
+# Security settings - DO NOT CHANGE
+ES_JAVA_HOME=/app/data/jdk
+ES_PATH_CONF=/app/data/config
+
+# Certificate password - DO NOT CHANGE
+CERT_PASSWORD=cloudron
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index bc55616..bed94a6 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-FROM cloudron/base:4.0.0
+FROM cloudron/base:5.0.0
 
-# Install dependencies and OpenJDK 17
+# Install dependencies
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y software-properties-common && \
     add-apt-repository -y ppa:openjdk-r/ppa && \
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     dnsutils \
     openjdk-17-jdk
 
-# Set environment variables
+# Set Elasticsearch version
 ENV ELASTIC_VERSION=8.17.3
 ENV JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ RUN mkdir -p /usr/share/elasticsearch && \
     mv /usr/share/elasticsearch-${ELASTIC_VERSION}/* /usr/share/elasticsearch/ && \
     rm -rf /usr/share/elasticsearch-${ELASTIC_VERSION} elasticsearch-${ELASTIC_VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
 
-# Create necessary directories for data and configuration
+# Create necessary directories
 RUN mkdir -p /app/data/{elasticsearch,logs,config,secrets,jdk/bin,run} && \
     chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch /app/data
 
@@ -41,10 +41,13 @@ RUN mkdir -p /app/data/{elasticsearch,logs,config,secrets,jdk/bin,run} && \
 COPY elasticsearch.yml /app/elasticsearch.yml
 COPY start.sh /app/start.sh
 COPY stop.sh /app/stop.sh
+
+# Set permissions
 RUN chmod +x /app/start.sh /app/stop.sh
 
-# Add healthcheck
+# Health check
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=15s --timeout=10s --start-period=120s --retries=5 \
     CMD curl -fs -u elastic:$(cat /app/data/secrets/elastic_password) http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?pretty || exit 1
 
+# Command to run
 CMD ["/app/start.sh"] 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.sh b/package.sh
index 97226a1..d6092c5 100755
--- a/package.sh
+++ b/package.sh
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ mkdir -p build
 rm -rf build/*
 
 # Copy all files to the build directory
-cp -r CloudronManifest.json Dockerfile .env start.sh stop.sh README.md logo.png build/
+cp -r CloudronManifest.json Dockerfile .env.template elasticsearch.yml start.sh stop.sh README.md logo.png build/
 
 # Create the package
 cd build
-cloudron package
+cloudron build --set-repository andreasdueren/elasticsearch-cloudron --tag latest
 
 echo "Package created successfully!" 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
index 6a7c65f..7052ed6 100644
--- a/start.sh
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,23 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-# Source environment variables (if the file exists)
-[ -f /app/.env ] && source /app/.env || echo "No .env file found, using default environment variables"
+# Check and create .env file if it doesn't exist
+if [ ! -f /app/data/.env ]; then
+    echo "Creating default .env file..."
+    cp /app/.env.template /app/data/.env
+    chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch /app/data/.env
+    chmod 600 /app/data/.env
+fi
+
+# Load environment variables from .env file if it exists
+if [ -f /app/data/.env ]; then
+    echo "Loading environment variables from .env file..."
+    set -o allexport
+    source /app/data/.env
+    set +o allexport
+else
+    echo "No .env file found, using default environment variables"
+fi
 
 # Set constants
 ES_HOME=/usr/share/elasticsearch