diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 8b1213a..cf1f8b3 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
 # the laravel version to install (empty for latest)
 LARAVEL_VERSION=
 
-# weather to run "npm dev run" at boot
-AUTO_START_NPM_DEV=true
+# weather to run "npm dev" at boot
+BOOT_NPM_DEV=true
+
+# runs npm install at boot
+BOOT_NPM_INSTALL=true
+
+# runs composer install at boot
+BOOT_COMPOSER_INSTALL=true
 
 # external ports
 FORWARD_LARAVEL_PORT=80
diff --git a/build/start-container.sh b/build/start-container.sh
index 5b2a357..5ccf337 100644
--- a/build/start-container.sh
+++ b/build/start-container.sh
@@ -6,19 +6,22 @@ set -e
 # init nvm
 \. $NVM_DIR/nvm.sh
 
-
-if [[ "$INSTALL_BEFORE_START" = true ]]; then
-    echo "composer and npm install"
-    composer install
+if [[ "$BOOT_NPM_INSTALL" = true ]]; then
+    echo "npm install"
     npm install
 fi
 
+if [[ "$BOOT_COMPOSER_INSTALL" = true ]]; then
+    echo "composer install"
+    composer install
+fi
+
 if [ ! -f /var/www/html/artisan ]; then
     echo "No existing Laravel project found"
     exit
 fi
 
-if [[ "$AUTO_START_NPM_DEV" = true ]]; then
+if [[ "$BOOT_NPM_DEV" = true ]]; then
     echo "Staring npm dev"
     npm run dev --prefix /var/www/html &
 fi