diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a71672a..26951d8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -128,3 +128,4 @@ dmypy.json
 # Pyre type checker
 .pyre/
 test-data/WIGOS_0-454-2-AWSCHIKANGAWA_20221109T135500.bufr4
+test-config.yml
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cb8686
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+FROM python:3.9.17-slim-buster
+
+ENV LOG_LEVEL=INFO
+
+# Set the working directory to /app/pywis-pubsub
+WORKDIR /app/pywis-pubsub
+
+# first install requirements to speed up rebuilds
+COPY requirements.txt /app/pywis-pubsub
+RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+
+# Copy the current directory contents into the container at /app/pywis-pubsub
+COPY . /app/pywis-pubsub
+
+# install pywis-pubsub
+RUN python3 setup.py install
+
+# run pywis-pubsub subscribe
+CMD pywis-pubsub subscribe --config /tmp/local.yml --verbosity $LOG_LEVEL
diff --git a/pywis_pubsub/subscribe.py b/pywis_pubsub/subscribe.py
index 283d96a..81fb587 100644
--- a/pywis_pubsub/subscribe.py
+++ b/pywis_pubsub/subscribe.py
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@
 
 import click
 
+import threading
+import time
+import os
+
 from pywis_pubsub import cli_options
 from pywis_pubsub import util
 from pywis_pubsub.geometry import is_message_within_bbox
@@ -36,6 +40,7 @@
 from pywis_pubsub.validation import validate_message
 from pywis_pubsub.verification import data_verified
 
+import urllib3
 
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -169,6 +174,64 @@ def on_message_handler(client, userdata, msg):
             LOGGER.error(msg, exc_info=True)
 
 
+def subscription_polling(
+        client: MQTTPubSubClient,
+        url: str,
+        interval: int,
+        qos: int,
+        timeout: int = 5) -> None:
+    """
+    Polls a subscription URL and subscribes to topics that are returned.
+    Unsubscribes from topics that are not returned.
+
+    args:
+        client: MQTTPubSubClient
+            Client to subscribe/unsubscribe with
+        url: str
+            URL to poll for subscriptions
+        interval: int
+            Interval in seconds to poll the URL
+        qos: int
+            QoS to subscribe/unsubscribe with
+        timeout: int
+            Timeout in seconds for the HTTP request
+    """
+
+    subscriptions = []
+
+    LOGGER.info(f'Starting subscription polling with interval {interval}')
+    LOGGER.info(f'Polling URL: {url}')
+    # while-loop that checks if topics need to be updated
+    loop = True
+    while loop:
+        try:
+            http = urllib3.PoolManager()
+            response = http.request('GET', url, timeout=timeout)
+            status = response.status
+            if status != 200:
+                LOGGER.error(f"HTTP error while polling URL: {status}")
+                time.sleep(interval)
+                continue
+            new_subscriptions = json.loads(response.data.decode('utf-8'))
+        except Exception as e:
+            LOGGER.error(f"Error while parsing subscription URL response: {e}")
+            time.sleep(interval)
+            continue
+        LOGGER.info(f"Received {len(new_subscriptions)} subscriptions")
+        for topic in subscriptions:
+            LOGGER.debug(f"Checking if {topic} is still subscribed")
+            if topic not in new_subscriptions:
+                LOGGER.info(f"Unsubscribing from {topic}")
+                client.conn.unsubscribe(topic)
+        for new_topic in new_subscriptions:
+            LOGGER.debug(f"Checking if {new_topic} is already subscribed")
+            if new_topic not in subscriptions:
+                LOGGER.info(f"Subscribing to {new_topic}")
+                client.conn.subscribe(new_topic, qos=qos)
+        subscriptions = new_subscriptions
+        time.sleep(interval)
+
+
 @click.command()
 @click.pass_context
 @cli_options.OPTION_CONFIG
@@ -178,6 +241,8 @@ def on_message_handler(client, userdata, msg):
 def subscribe(ctx, config, download, bbox=[], verbosity='NOTSET'):
     """Subscribe to a broker/topic and optionally download data"""
 
+    click.echo('Starting pywis-pubsub subscribe')
+
     if config is None:
         raise click.ClickException('missing --config')
     config = util.yaml_load(config)
@@ -188,7 +253,6 @@ def subscribe(ctx, config, download, bbox=[], verbosity='NOTSET'):
     qos = int(config.get('qos', 1))
     subscribe_topics = config.get('subscribe_topics', [])
     verify_certs = config.get('verify_certs', True)
-
     options = {
         'verify_certs': verify_certs
     }
@@ -208,5 +272,22 @@ def subscribe(ctx, config, download, bbox=[], verbosity='NOTSET'):
     client = MQTTPubSubClient(broker, options)
     client.bind('on_message', on_message_handler)
     click.echo(f'Connected to broker {client.broker_safe_url}')
-    click.echo(f'Subscribing to subscribe_topics {subscribe_topics}')
+
+    if config.get('subscription_polling_enabled', False):
+        click.echo('Subscription polling enabled')
+        sub_url = config.get('subscription_polling_url')
+        sub_interval = config.get('subscription_polling_interval', 5)
+        click.echo(f'Subscription polling URL: {sub_url}')
+        click.echo(f'Subscription polling interval: {sub_interval}')
+        if sub_url is None:
+            error = 'missing subscription_polling_url in config'
+            raise click.ClickException(error)
+        # start subscription polling in separate thread
+        polling_thread = threading.Thread(
+            target=subscription_polling,
+            args=(client, sub_url, sub_interval, qos))
+        polling_thread.start()
+    else:
+        click.echo('Subscription polling disabled')
+        click.echo(f'Subscribing to subscribe_topics {subscribe_topics}')
     client.sub(subscribe_topics, qos)