diff --git a/lbry/scripts/Dockerfile.wallet_server b/lbry/scripts/Dockerfile.wallet_server
index 6178ded9b..80c29be52 100644
--- a/lbry/scripts/Dockerfile.wallet_server
+++ b/lbry/scripts/Dockerfile.wallet_server
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ RUN mkdir -p /home/$user/
 RUN chown -R $user:$user /home/$user/
 
 # install python, pip, git and clean up
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install build-essential git python3.7 python3.7-dev python3-pip && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install build-essential git tar wget python3.7 python3.7-dev python3-pip && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # create and chown database dir
 ARG db_dir=/database
@@ -53,4 +53,5 @@ ENV BANDWIDTH_LIMIT=1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 ENV MAX_SESSIONS=1000000000
 ENV MAX_SEND=1000000000000000000
 ENV EVENT_LOOP_POLICY=uvloop
-ENTRYPOINT ["/home/lbry/.local/bin/torba-server"]
+COPY ./lbry/scripts/wallet_server_entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
+ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/lbry/scripts/wallet_server_entrypoint.sh b/lbry/scripts/wallet_server_entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ead599a61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lbry/scripts/wallet_server_entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# entrypoint for wallet server Docker image
+
+SNAPSHOT_URL="${SNAPSHOT_URL:-}" #off by default. latest snapshot at https://lbry.com/snapshot/wallet
+
+if [[ -n "$SNAPSHOT_URL" ]] && [[ ! -f /database/claims.db ]]; then
+  echo "Downloading wallet snapshot from $SNAPSHOT_URL"
+  wget -O wallet_snapshot.tar.bz2 "$SNAPSHOT_URL"
+  echo "Extracting snapshot..."
+  tar xvjf wallet_snapshot.tar.bz2 --directory /database
+  rm wallet_snapshot.tar.bz2
+fi
+
+/home/lbry/.local/bin/torba-server "$@"