diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 044b2c8..21e7c8a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ Move your [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/) application stack f
 
 ## Install
 
-`npm i kiss-docker-compose`
+```
+npm i kiss-docker-compose
+npm i aws-cdk-lib
+```
 
 ## Inline Docker Compose File
 
@@ -180,5 +183,5 @@ export AWS_REGION=us-east-2
 Deploy:
 
 ```
-cdk deploy --app='./lib/integ.default.js'
+npx cdk deploy --app='./lib/integ.default.js'
 ```
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 7e85e1c..8b78a72 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ export class KissDockerCompose extends Construct {
         this.regionOfEC2Instances,
         this.regionOfECR,
         props.dockerComposeFileAsString,
+        undefined,
         props.machineImage,
       );
     }
@@ -319,6 +320,10 @@ export function Ec2InstanceRole(scope: Construct, id: string): cdk.aws_iam.Role
  * @param regionOfEC2Instances EC2 instance region. Usually cdk.Stack.of(this).region
  * @param regionOfECR ECR region. Usually cdk.Stack.of(this).region
  * @param dockerComposeFileAsString always the same as props.dockerComposeFileAsString
+ * @param swapCountIn128MBChunks Default 0. If set to null or 0 or less, does not set swap.
+ * Sets up a swap file with size = Math.Round(swapCountIn128MBChunks) * 128M.
+ * For example, if swapCountIn128MBChunks == 1 then there will be 128MB of swap. There is NOT a check to verify there is enough
+ * storage on the instance to support the swap file size.
  * @param machineImage Used to initialize the EC2 Instance.
  * @returns A NEW EC2 instance which will run Docker Compose when launched and when restarted.
  */
@@ -333,6 +338,7 @@ export function EC2Instance(
   regionOfEC2Instances: string,
   regionOfECR: string,
   dockerComposeFileAsString: string,
+  swapCountIn128MBChunks?: number,
   machineImage?: cdk.aws_ec2.IMachineImage,
 ): cdk.aws_ec2.Instance {
   if (
@@ -427,9 +433,12 @@ export function EC2Instance(
           ec2.InitFile.fromString('/home/ec2-user/docker-compose.yml', dockerComposeFileAsString),
           ec2.InitFile.fromString('/etc/install.sh', installAndStartupScript()),
           ec2.InitFile.fromString('/etc/systemd/system/docker-compose-app.service', dockerComposeAppService()),
+          ec2.InitFile.fromString('/etc/set-up-swap.sh', setUpSwap(swapCountIn128MBChunks)),
           ec2.InitFile.fromString('/home/ec2-user/docker-compose-setup.sh', dockerComposeSetup(cdk.Stack.of(scope).account, regionOfECR, repoURIs)),
           ec2.InitCommand.shellCommand('chmod +x /etc/install.sh'),
           ec2.InitCommand.shellCommand('/etc/install.sh'),
+          ec2.InitCommand.shellCommand('chmod +x /etc/set-up-swap.sh'),
+          ec2.InitCommand.shellCommand('sudo /etc/set-up-swap.sh'),
           ec2.InitFile.fromString('/home/ec2-user/on-stop.sh', onStopScript()),
           ec2.InitCommand.shellCommand('chmod +x /home/ec2-user/on-stop.sh'),
 
@@ -601,3 +610,31 @@ sudo systemctl enable docker-compose-app
   // /etc/install.sh
   return `${installDocker}${installDockerCompose}${dockerOnStartup}`;
 }
+
+function setUpSwap(swapCountIn128MBChunks: number | undefined): string {
+  if (swapCountIn128MBChunks == null || swapCountIn128MBChunks <= 0) {
+    return `#!/bin/bash
+echo "NOT setting up swap"
+`;
+  }
+  swapCountIn128MBChunks = Math.round(swapCountIn128MBChunks);
+
+  return `#!/bin/bash
+# mounting should already be done
+# sudo mount /dev/xvda2 /mnt
+
+# Create the swap file
+sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=128M count=${swapCountIn128MBChunks.toString()}
+
+# permissions
+sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
+
+# make it swap
+sudo mkswap /swapfile
+sudo swapon /swapfile
+
+# Add to fstab so swap persists after restarting
+echo "\n/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0\n" >> /etc/fstab
+`;
+}
+
diff --git a/test/use-swap.test.ts b/test/use-swap.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..875bcb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/use-swap.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { App, Stack } from 'aws-cdk-lib';
+import * as cdk from 'aws-cdk-lib';
+import { Template } from 'aws-cdk-lib/assertions';
+import { dockerComposeFileAsString } from './docker-compose-file-as-string';
+import * as KissDockerCompose from '../src/index';
+
+const mockApp = new App();
+const stack = new Stack(mockApp);
+
+// Supplying EC2Instance as an argument overrides / ignores other properties
+// So we only need to provide this one thing to get the service to deploy with everything we want
+const vpc = KissDockerCompose.VPC(stack, 'testing-stack-vpc');
+const role = KissDockerCompose.Ec2InstanceRole(stack, 'testing-stack-role');
+const instanceSecurityGroup = KissDockerCompose.InstanceSecurityGroup(stack, 'testing-stack-sg', vpc);
+const ec2Instance = KissDockerCompose.EC2Instance(stack, 'testing-stack-ec2-instance', vpc, role, instanceSecurityGroup, [], cdk.aws_ec2.InstanceSize.SMALL, 'us-east-2', 'us-east-2', dockerComposeFileAsString, 10);
+
+new KissDockerCompose.KissDockerCompose(stack, 'testing-stack', {
+  dockerComposeFileAsString,
+  ec2Instance,
+});
+const minimalConfigurationTemplate = Template.fromStack(stack);
+
+test('VPC should exist', () => {
+  minimalConfigurationTemplate.hasResource('AWS::EC2::VPC', {});
+});
+
+test('Role should exist', () => {
+  minimalConfigurationTemplate.hasResource('AWS::IAM::Role', {});
+});
+
+test('Security group should exist', () => {
+  minimalConfigurationTemplate.hasResource('AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup', {});
+});
+
+test('EC2 Instance should exist', () => {
+  minimalConfigurationTemplate.hasResource('AWS::EC2::Instance', {});
+});