diff --git a/env_example b/env_example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71a6b3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/env_example
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export CELLXGENE_LOCATION=$(pwd)/.venv/bin/cellxgene
+export CELLXGENE_DATA=../cellxgene_data
+export GATEWAY_IP=127.0.0.1
diff --git a/run.sh.example b/run.sh.example
deleted file mode 100644
index cd0629c..0000000
--- a/run.sh.example
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-export CELLXGENE_LOCATION=$(pwd)/.cellxgene-gateway/bin/cellxgene
-export CELLXGENE_DATA=../cellxgene_data
-export GATEWAY_IP=127.0.0.1
-
-#Once these are set, you run like a normal Flask app
-cellxgene-gateway
diff --git a/start_flask.sh b/start_flask.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f7d2b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start_flask.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# start_gunicorn.sh - Start Cellxgene Gateway with Gunicorn
+#
+# PREREQUISITES:
+# - Gunicorn installed (included with cellxgene 1.3.0, or: pip install gunicorn)
+# - Virtual environment activated or .venv present
+# - .env file with CELLXGENE_LOCATION and CELLXGENE_DATA (or CELLXGENE_BUCKET)
+#
+# USAGE:
+# ./start_gunicorn.sh
+
+# Exit on error
+set -e
+
+# Get the directory where this script is located
+SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+
+
+# Source environment variables
+echo "Loading environment variables..."
+if [ -f "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env" ]; then
+    source "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+else
+    echo "Error: .env file not found at $SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+    echo "Please create it with required environment variables"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Verify required environment variables
+if [ -z "$CELLXGENE_LOCATION" ]; then
+    echo "Error: CELLXGENE_LOCATION not set"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$CELLXGENE_DATA" ] && [ -z "$CELLXGENE_BUCKET" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Either CELLXGENE_DATA or CELLXGENE_BUCKET must be set"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cellxgene-gateway
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/start_gunicorn.sh b/start_gunicorn.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..994b899
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start_gunicorn.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# start_gunicorn.sh - Start Cellxgene Gateway with Gunicorn
+#
+# PREREQUISITES:
+# - Gunicorn installed (included with cellxgene 1.3.0, or: pip install gunicorn)
+# - Virtual environment activated or .venv present
+# - .env file with CELLXGENE_LOCATION and CELLXGENE_DATA (or CELLXGENE_BUCKET)
+#
+# USAGE:
+# ./start_gunicorn.sh
+
+# Exit on error
+set -e
+
+# Get the directory where this script is located
+SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+
+# Source environment variables
+echo "Loading environment variables..."
+if [ -f "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env" ]; then
+    source "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+else
+    echo "Error: .env file not found at $SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+    echo "Please create it with required environment variables"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Verify required environment variables
+if [ -z "$CELLXGENE_LOCATION" ]; then
+    echo "Error: CELLXGENE_LOCATION not set"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$CELLXGENE_DATA" ] && [ -z "$CELLXGENE_BUCKET" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Either CELLXGENE_DATA or CELLXGENE_BUCKET must be set"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Gunicorn configuration
+# WARNING: Multi-worker mode has cache synchronization issues (see plans/002-shared-cache-implementation.md)
+# Each worker maintains its own in-memory cache, causing 404s for static assets when different
+# workers handle requests for the same dataset. Use GUNICORN_WORKERS=1 until shared cache is implemented.
+WORKERS=${GUNICORN_WORKERS:-1}
+BIND=${GATEWAY_IP:-0.0.0.0}:${GATEWAY_PORT:-5005}
+TIMEOUT=${GUNICORN_TIMEOUT:-120}
+WORKER_CLASS=${GUNICORN_WORKER_CLASS:-sync}
+KEEPALIVE=${GUNICORN_KEEPALIVE:-5}
+LOG_LEVEL=${GUNICORN_LOG_LEVEL:-info}
+
+# Production optimization: enable backed mode to reduce memory usage
+export GATEWAY_ENABLE_BACKED_MODE=${GATEWAY_ENABLE_BACKED_MODE:-true}
+
+# Check if gunicorn is installed
+if ! command -v gunicorn &> /dev/null; then
+    echo "Error: gunicorn not found. Install with: pip install gunicorn"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Display configuration
+echo "Starting Cellxgene Gateway with Gunicorn..."
+echo "Configuration:"
+echo "  Data source: ${CELLXGENE_DATA:-$CELLXGENE_BUCKET}"
+echo "  Binding to: $BIND"
+echo "  Workers: $WORKERS"
+echo "  Worker class: $WORKER_CLASS"
+echo "  Timeout: ${TIMEOUT}s"
+echo "  Keepalive: ${KEEPALIVE}s"
+echo "  Log level: $LOG_LEVEL"
+echo "  Backed mode: ${GATEWAY_ENABLE_BACKED_MODE}"
+echo ""
+
+cd "$SCRIPT_DIR"
+
+# Start Gunicorn with optimized settings
+# Additional options you can add via environment variables:
+# - GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS: Restart worker after N requests (prevents memory leaks)
+# - GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS_JITTER: Add randomness to max-requests
+gunicorn cellxgene_gateway.gateway:app \
+    --workers "$WORKERS" \
+    --worker-class "$WORKER_CLASS" \
+    --bind "$BIND" \
+    --timeout "$TIMEOUT" \
+    --keep-alive "$KEEPALIVE" \
+    --access-logfile - \
+    --error-logfile - \
+    --log-level "$LOG_LEVEL" \
+    --preload \
+    ${GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS:+--max-requests "$GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS"} \
+    ${GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS_JITTER:+--max-requests-jitter "$GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS_JITTER"} \
+    "$@"
diff --git a/start_uwsgi.sh b/start_uwsgi.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03d019a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start_uwsgi.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# start_uwsgi.sh - Start Cellxgene Gateway with uWSGI
+#
+# PREREQUISITES:
+# - uWSGI installed (pip install uwsgi)
+# - Virtual environment activated or .venv present
+# - .env file with CELLXGENE_LOCATION and CELLXGENE_DATA (or CELLXGENE_BUCKET)
+#
+# USAGE:
+# ./start_uwsgi.sh
+
+# Exit on error
+set -e
+
+# Get the directory where this script is located
+SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+
+# Source environment variables
+echo "Loading environment variables..."
+if [ -f "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env" ]; then
+    source "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+else
+    echo "Error: .env file not found at $SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+    echo "Please create it with required environment variables"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Verify required environment variables
+if [ -z "$CELLXGENE_LOCATION" ]; then
+    echo "Error: CELLXGENE_LOCATION not set"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$CELLXGENE_DATA" ] && [ -z "$CELLXGENE_BUCKET" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Either CELLXGENE_DATA or CELLXGENE_BUCKET must be set"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# uWSGI configuration
+# WARNING: Multi-worker mode has cache synchronization issues (see plans/002-shared-cache-implementation.md)
+# Each worker maintains its own in-memory cache, causing 404s for static assets when different
+# workers handle requests for the same dataset. Use UWSGI_WORKERS=1 until shared cache is implemented.
+WORKERS=${UWSGI_WORKERS:-1}
+HOST=${GATEWAY_IP:-0.0.0.0}
+PORT=${GATEWAY_PORT:-5005}
+TIMEOUT=${UWSGI_TIMEOUT:-120}
+THREADS=${UWSGI_THREADS:-1}
+
+# Production optimization: enable backed mode to reduce memory usage
+export GATEWAY_ENABLE_BACKED_MODE=${GATEWAY_ENABLE_BACKED_MODE:-true}
+
+# Check if uwsgi is installed
+if ! command -v uwsgi &> /dev/null; then
+    echo "Error: uwsgi not found. Install with: pip install uwsgi"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Display configuration
+echo "Starting Cellxgene Gateway with uWSGI..."
+echo "Configuration:"
+echo "  Data source: ${CELLXGENE_DATA:-$CELLXGENE_BUCKET}"
+echo "  Binding to: $HOST:$PORT"
+echo "  Workers: $WORKERS"
+echo "  Threads: $THREADS"
+echo "  Timeout: ${TIMEOUT}s"
+echo "  Backed mode: ${GATEWAY_ENABLE_BACKED_MODE}"
+echo ""
+
+cd "$SCRIPT_DIR"
+
+# Start uWSGI with optimized settings
+# Additional options you can add via environment variables:
+# - UWSGI_MAX_REQUESTS: Restart worker after N requests (prevents memory leaks)
+exec uwsgi \
+    --http "$HOST:$PORT" \
+    --module cellxgene_gateway.gateway:app \
+    --workers "$WORKERS" \
+    --threads "$THREADS" \
+    --harakiri "$TIMEOUT" \
+    --master \
+    --enable-threads \
+    --single-interpreter \
+    --need-app \
+    --die-on-term \
+    --log-x-forwarded-for \
+    ${UWSGI_MAX_REQUESTS:+--max-requests "$UWSGI_MAX_REQUESTS"} \
+    "$@"