And finally, insert a record into the database.

```console
example=# INSERT INTO "Students" ("ID", "LastName", "FirstMidName", "EnrollmentDate") VALUES (DEFAULT, 'Whale', 'Moby', '2013-03-20');
```

You should see output like the following.

```console
INSERT 0 1
```

Close the database connection and exit the container shell by running `exit`.

```console
example=# exit
```

## Verify that data persists in the database

Open a browser and view the application at [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080). You should see a simple web application with the text `Student name is Whale Moby`.

Press `ctrl+c` in the terminal to stop your application.

In the terminal, run `docker compose rm` to remove your containers and then run `docker compose up` to run your application again.

```console
$ docker compose rm
$ docker compose up --build
```

Refresh [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080) in your browser and verify that the student name persisted, even after the containers were removed and ran again.

Press `ctrl+c` in the terminal to stop your application.

## Automatically update services

Use Compose Watch to automatically update your running Compose services as you edit and save your code. For more details about Compose Watch, see [Use Compose Watch](/manuals/compose/how-tos/file-watch.md).

Open your `compose.yaml` file in an IDE or text editor and then add the Compose Watch instructions. The following is the updated `compose.yaml` file.

```yaml {hl_lines="11-14"}
services:
  server:
    build:
      context: .
      target: final
    ports:
      - 8080:8080
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    develop:
      watch:
        - action: rebuild
          path: .
  db:
    image: postgres
    restart: always
    user: postgres
    secrets:
      - db-password
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=example
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/db-password
    expose:
      - 5432
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
volumes:
  db-data:
secrets:
  db-password:
    file: db/password.txt
```

Run the following command to run your application with Compose Watch.

```console
$ docker compose watch
```

Open a browser and verify that the application is running at [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080).

Any changes to the application's source files on your local machine will now be
immediately reflected in the running container.

Open `docker-dotnet-sample/src/Pages/Index.cshtml` in an IDE or text editor and update the student name text on line 13 from `Student name is` to `Student name:`.

```diff
-    <p>Student Name is @Model.StudentName</p>
+    <p>Student name: @Model.StudentName</p>
```

Save the changes to `Index.cshmtl` and then wait a few seconds for the application to rebuild. Refresh [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080) in your browser and verify that the updated text appears.

Press `ctrl+c` in the terminal to stop your application.

## Create a development container

At this point, when you run your containerized application, it's using the .NET runtime image. While this small image is good for production, it lacks the SDK tools and dependencies you may need when developing. Also, during development, you may not need to run `dotnet publish`. You can use multi-stage builds to build stages for both development and production in the same Dockerfile. For more details, see [Multi-stage builds](/manuals/build/building/multi-stage.md).