diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index eb7a46a..d318b3f 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -7,9 +7,17 @@ steps:
     image: alpine
     commands:
       - apk update
-      - apk add envsubst curl
-      - envsubst < portainer_deploy.template.json > portainer_deploy.json
-      - curl -d @portainer_deploy.json -H "Content-Type:application/json" -H "X-API-Key:ptr_RwxH2Cd+htdD2FoFiG46erT9beyvj9VoF3BrQPtDH3Q=" -X POST https://dvportainer.privatedns.org/api/stacks/create/standalone/repository?endpointId=10
+      - apk add envsubst curl python3
+      - python3 -m ensurepip
+      - pip3 install requests python-dotenv --quiet
+      - python3 deploy/portainer/deploy.py                                  \
+            --PORTAINER https://dvportainer.privatedns.org                  \
+            --API_KEY=ptr_RwxH2Cd+htdD2FoFiG46erT9beyvj9VoF3BrQPtDH3Q=      \
+            --PORTAINER_EP=CICD-runner                                      \
+            --DEPLOY_REPO_URL=${DRONE_REPO_LINK}                            \
+            --DEPLOY_REF=${DRONE_COMMIT_REF}                                \
+            --DEPLOY_HOST=dvdemo.privatedns.org                             \
+            --DEPLOY_NAME=${DRONE_COMMIT_SHA}
 
 trigger:
   branch:
diff --git a/deploy/portainer/.env b/deploy/portainer/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c5f482
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/portainer/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+PORTAINER=https://dvportainer.privatedns.org
+API_KEY=ptr_RwxH2Cd+htdD2FoFiG46erT9beyvj9VoF3BrQPtDH3Q=
+PORTAINER_EP=CICD-runner
+DEPLOY_REPO_URL=https://dvgit.privatedns.org/lars/DeployTests
+DEPLOY_REF=refs/heads/main
+DEPLOY_HOST=dvdemo.privatedns.org
+DEPLOY_PROJECT=ManualDeployTests
+DEPLOY_NAME=ManualDeploy
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/deploy/portainer/deploy.py b/deploy/portainer/deploy.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..109ddae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/portainer/deploy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import os
+import sys
+import argparse
+import requests
+import json
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+from string import Template
+
+load_dotenv()
+
+required_env_vars = {
+    'PORTAINER': 'The portainer instance to deploy to',
+    'API_KEY': 'API-Key to access portainer instance',
+    'PORTAINER_EP': 'Portainer Environment EndPoint to deploy to',
+    'DEPLOY_REPO_URL': 'The repository URL to deploy',
+    'DEPLOY_REF': 'The git ref to deploy',
+    'DEPLOY_HOST': 'The host name under which the deployment will be reachable',
+    'DEPLOY_NAME': 'Custom name to use as the deployment name',
+}
+
+# Try getting all arguments from (in order): 1 command line, 2 .env file, 3 Environment
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Deploys a docker compose application to portainer.')
+
+for var, usage in required_env_vars.items():
+    parser.add_argument(f'--{var}', default=os.getenv(var, None), help=usage)
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
+# Check if all were parsed
+not_parsed = []
+for var, usage in required_env_vars.items():
+    if not getattr(args, var):
+        not_parsed.append(var)
+    else:
+        print(f'--{var}: {getattr(args, var)}')
+
+if not_parsed:
+    print(f"Error: The following required environment variables were not provided: {', '.join(not_parsed)}")
+    parser.print_help()
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+portainer=args.PORTAINER
+api_key=args.API_KEY
+portainer_ep=args.PORTAINER_EP
+
+# Deploy variables to substitute in portainer deploy template
+deploy_variables = {key: getattr(args, key) for key in 
+    ['DEPLOY_REPO_URL', 'DEPLOY_HOST', 'DEPLOY_PROJECT', 'DEPLOY_NAME', 'DEPLOY_REF']
+}
+
+### Find CICD-runner portainer environment endpointId ###
+headers = {
+    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
+    'X-API-Key': api_key,
+}
+url = f'{portainer}/api/endpoints'
+json_endpoints = None
+try:
+    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
+    response.raise_for_status()  # Raise HTTPError for bad requests
+    json_endpoints = response.json()
+    
+except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
+    raise Exception(f'Could not retrieve portainer endpoints: {err}')
+
+endpoint_id = None
+for endpoint in json_endpoints:
+    if endpoint["Name"] == portainer_ep:
+        endpoint_id = endpoint["Id"]
+        break
+if endpoint_id is None:
+    raise Exception(f'Portainer endpoint \'{portainer_ep}\' not found.')
+else:
+    print(f'Found portainer endpoint \'{portainer_ep}\' has id: \'{endpoint_id}\'.')
+
+
+### Template substitution for the portainer stack deployment ###
+portainer_deploy_json = None
+with open('portainer_deploy.template.json', 'r') as file:
+    portainer_template = Template(file.read())
+
+# Perform variable substitution
+portainer_deploy_json = portainer_template.substitute(**deploy_variables)
+
+### Deploy to portainer ###
+headers = {
+    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
+    'X-API-Key': api_key,
+}
+url = f'{portainer}/api/stacks/create/standalone/repository?endpointId={endpoint_id}'
+try:
+    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=json.loads(portainer_deploy_json))
+    response.raise_for_status()  # Raise HTTPError for bad requests
+    response_data = response.json()  # Parse response JSON
+
+except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
+    raise Exception(f'Could not deploy portainer stack: {err}')
+
+print(f'Successfully deployed project')
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/portainer_deploy.docker-compose.yml b/deploy/portainer/portainer_deploy.docker-compose.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from portainer_deploy.docker-compose.yml
rename to deploy/portainer/portainer_deploy.docker-compose.yml
diff --git a/portainer_deploy.template.json b/deploy/portainer/portainer_deploy.template.json
similarity index 62%
rename from portainer_deploy.template.json
rename to deploy/portainer/portainer_deploy.template.json
index 5630c19..39d6e92 100644
--- a/portainer_deploy.template.json
+++ b/deploy/portainer/portainer_deploy.template.json
@@ -13,15 +13,19 @@
   "env": [
     {
       "name": "HOST",
-      "value": "dvdemo.privatedns.org"
+      "value": "${DEPLOY_HOST}"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME",
+      "value": "${DEPLOY_NAME}"
     }
   ],
   "fromAppTemplate": false,
-  "name": "DeployTest_${DRONE_COMMIT}",
+  "name": "${DEPLOY_NAME}",
   "repositoryAuthentication": true,
   "repositoryUsername": "cicd",
-  "repositoryPassword": "gJ6@$7ZjWGyV4%i",
-  "repositoryReferenceName": "${DRONE_COMMIT_REF}",
-  "repositoryURL": "${DRONE_REPO_LINK}",
+  "repositoryPassword": "gJ6@$$7ZjWGyV4%i", 
+  "repositoryReferenceName": "${DEPLOY_REF}",
+  "repositoryURL": "${DEPLOY_REPO_URL}",
   "tlsskipVerify": false
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 2112a12..58389ae 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ version: '3.4'
 
 services:  
   http-echo:
-    container_name: http-echo
     image: mendhak/http-https-echo:latest
     expose:
       - 8080
diff --git a/portainer_deploy.json b/portainer_deploy.json
deleted file mode 100644
index e97245d..0000000
--- a/portainer_deploy.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "additionalFiles": [],
-  "autoUpdate": {
-    "forcePullImage": false,
-    "forceUpdate": false,
-    "interval": "1m30s",
-    "jobID": "15",
-    "webhook": "05de31a2-79fa-4644-9c12-faa67e5c49f0"
-  },
-  "composeFile": "docker-compose.yml",
-  "env": [
-    {
-      "name": "HOST",
-      "value": "dvdemo.privatedns.org"
-    },
-    {
-      "name": "ECHO_PATH",
-      "value": "deployed_echo"
-    }
-  ],
-  "fromAppTemplate": false,
-  "name": "DeployTest_test1",
-  "repositoryAuthentication": true,
-  "repositoryUsername": "cicd",
-  "repositoryPassword": "gJ6@$7ZjWGyV4%i",
-  "repositoryReferenceName": "refs/heads/main",
-  "repositoryURL": "https://dvgit.privatedns.org/lars/DeployTests",
-  "tlsskipVerify": false
-}