diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index ea5c8c2..b91c673 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu-22.04 AS base
+FROM mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu-22.04
 
-RUN apt-get update && export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
-    && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends \
-    build-essential clang lld make gdb cmake ninja-build \
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends \
+    build-essential clang lld gdb make cmake ninja-build \
     crossbuild-essential-arm64 \
     git curl wget unzip sudo \
     pip \
@@ -13,4 +12,6 @@ RUN apt-get update && export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
 
 RUN pip install conan alembic psycopg2-binary sqlalchemy-utils
 
-COPY to-dos-conan-profile.conf /root/.conan2/profiles/default
\ No newline at end of file
+# If this profile is not copied, the profile must be specified via an argument 
+# when calling `conan`. 
+COPY ./to-dos-conan-profile.conf /root/.conan2/profiles/default
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index a254b35..ebb279d 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -6,13 +6,35 @@
 		"dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
 	},
 	// Use 'forwardPorts' to make a list of ports inside the container available locally.
-	// "forwardPorts": [],
+	"forwardPorts": [
+		4501,
+		7501,
+		9501
+	],
+	// More information about 'portsAttributes' here: https://containers.dev/implementors/json_reference/#port-attributes
+	"portsAttributes": {
+		"4501": {
+			"label": "VSCode Dev Container API Running Port",
+			"requireLocalPort": true
+		},
+		"7501": {
+			"label": "VSCode Dev Container DB Running Port",
+			"requireLocalPort": true
+		},
+		"9501": {
+			"label": "VSCode Dev Container PgAdmin Running Port",
+			"requireLocalPort": true
+		}
+	},
 	// Use 'postCreateCommand' to run commands after the container is created.
-	"postCreateCommand": "conan remote add local-recipes ./deps --type=local-recipes-index", // Add a local recipes store for odb libraries
+	"postCreateCommand": "conan remote add local-recipes ./deps --type=local-recipes-index --force", // Add a local recipes store for odb libraries. Need force flag for redefine while second time container is up
 	// Configure tool-specific properties.
 	// "customizations": {},
 	// Uncomment to connect as root instead. More info: https://aka.ms/dev-containers-non-root.
 	"remoteUser": "root",
+	"remoteEnv": {
+		"LOCAL_WORKSPACE_FOLDER": "${localWorkspaceFolder}"
+	},
 	"runArgs": [
 		// This is necessary to avoid having to manually export environment variables from 
 		// the .env file in every terminal session.
@@ -24,10 +46,10 @@
 	"mounts": [
 		// This mounts increase future building on devcontainer in case any reseting of container volumes
 		// Mount caching of build folder
-        "source=dev-build-cache,target=${containerWorkspaceFolder}/build,type=volume",
+		"source=dev-build-cache,target=${containerWorkspaceFolder}/build,type=volume",
 		// Mount caching of conan dependencies builds
-        "source=dev-conan-cache,target=~/.conan2,type=volume"
-    ],
+		"source=dev-conan-cache,target=/root/.conan2,type=volume"
+	],
 	"customizations": {
 		"vscode": {
 			"extensions": [
diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf4899d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+.github/
+.vscode/
+build/
+ci/
+scripts/
+e2e/
+docs/
+.clang-format
+.clang-tidy
+.env
+.env.example
+.gitattributes
+.gitignore
+CMakeUserPresets.json
+docker-compose.yml
+Dockerfile
+LICENSE
+pgAdmin.json
+README.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml b/.github/workflows/.reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml
similarity index 76%
rename from .github/workflows/reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml
rename to .github/workflows/.reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml
index 851d641..dec87e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/.reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml
@@ -7,17 +7,18 @@ name: Publish Docker image
 # if you build => deploy => run e2e against prod it will build the image 3 times!
 on:
   # to allow to wait for a docker image to be published to proceed in another workflow
-  # workflow_call:
-  # PR-based activation has been added, as there are no workflows that trigger this. 
-  # After adding a workflow with tests, you must revert the change and leave only the `workflow_call`.
-  pull_request:
-    types: [opened, synchronize]
+  workflow_call:
+  # This event has been added for debugging purposes; there is currently no workflow 
+  # that triggers when changes are made to the master branch.
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - master
 
 jobs:
   build-amd64:
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     steps:
-      - name: Check out the repo
+      - name: Checkout the repo
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       # this is needed to address this issue according to the comment https://github.com/devcontainers/ci/issues/271#issuecomment-2301764487
@@ -26,10 +27,14 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           echo "REGISTRY_IMAGE=ghcr.io/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY,,}" >>${GITHUB_ENV}
 
+      # we need to remove the / characters from the branch name, 
+      # as they will cause an error when saving the cache
       - name: Prepare
         run: |
           platform=linux/amd64
           echo "PLATFORM_PAIR=${platform//\//-}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          BRANCH_NAME="${GITHUB_REF_NAME//[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/-}"
+          echo "BRANCH_NAME=${BRANCH_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Docker meta
         id: meta
@@ -59,6 +64,15 @@ jobs:
           labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
           tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY_IMAGE }}
           outputs: type=image,push-by-digest=true,name-canonical=true,push=true
+          # The `cache-from` and `cache-to` instructions allow you to load and unload the image cache on ghcr.io, 
+          # respectively. The `mode=max` option allows each instruction in the Dockerfile to be cached separately, 
+          # regardless of the build stage (in the case of a multi-stage build), which speeds up image builds 
+          # significantly if there have been no changes to the instruction.
+          # More info: 
+          #  - https://github.com/docker/build-push-action/
+          #  - https://docs.docker.com/build/cache/backends/#cache-mode
+          cache-from: type=registry,ref=${{ env.REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:cache-amd64-${{ env.BRANCH_NAME }}
+          cache-to: type=registry,ref=${{ env.REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:cache-amd64-${{ env.BRANCH_NAME }},mode=max
 
       - name: Export digest
         run: |
@@ -86,10 +100,14 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           echo "REGISTRY_IMAGE=ghcr.io/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY,,}" >>${GITHUB_ENV}
 
+      # we need to remove the / characters from the branch name, 
+      # as they will cause an error when saving the cache
       - name: Prepare
         run: |
           platform=linux/arm64
           echo "PLATFORM_PAIR=${platform//\//-}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          BRANCH_NAME="${GITHUB_REF_NAME//[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/-}"
+          echo "BRANCH_NAME=${BRANCH_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Docker meta
         id: meta
@@ -119,6 +137,8 @@ jobs:
           labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
           tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY_IMAGE }}
           outputs: type=image,push-by-digest=true,name-canonical=true,push=true
+          cache-from: type=registry,ref=${{ env.REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:cache-arm64-${{ env.BRANCH_NAME }}
+          cache-to: type=registry,ref=${{ env.REGISTRY_IMAGE }}:cache-arm64-${{ env.BRANCH_NAME }},mode=max
 
       - name: Export digest
         run: |
@@ -165,9 +185,10 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check out the repo
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Add SEMVER_VERSION Env Var with Value from __version File
-        run: |
-          echo "SEMVER_VERSION=$(cat __version)" >>${GITHUB_ENV}
+      # TODO: This needs to be reverted once the semantic versioning workflow is added
+      # - name: Add SEMVER_VERSION Env Var with Value from __version File
+      #   run: |
+      #     echo "SEMVER_VERSION=$(cat __version)" >>${GITHUB_ENV}
 
       - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for Docker
         id: meta
@@ -180,7 +201,8 @@ jobs:
             # full length sha
             type=sha,format=long
             # SemVer human readable version
-            type=raw,value=${{ env.SEMVER_VERSION }}
+            # TODO: This needs to be reverted once the semantic versioning workflow is added
+            # type=raw,value=${{ env.SEMVER_VERSION }}
             # set latest tag for default branch
             # https://github.com/docker/metadata-action/issues/171 explains how to tag latest only on default branch
             type=raw,value=latest,enable=${{ github.ref == format('refs/heads/{0}', github.event.repository.default_branch) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-tests-on-pull-request.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e-tests-on-pull-request.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d98b936
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-tests-on-pull-request.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+name: E2E Tests in PR
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
+
+jobs:
+  # this is needed to wait for the new docker image to be build and published to the registry
+  # so that we can use the image to run the service of the needed commit related version as part of local-env
+  # the idea is taken from here https://stackoverflow.com/a/71489231
+  docker-build-and-push:
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/.reusable-docker-build-and-push.yml
+
+  e2e-test-against-local-env:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    needs: [docker-build-and-push]
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout local-env
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          repository: TourmalineCore/to-dos-local-env
+      
+      # we need to make sure that the values-to-dos-api-cpp.yaml.gotmpl file hasn't been modified 
+      # in the `to-dos-local-env` repository, to ensure that the test runs as expected.
+      - name: Verify values file checksum
+        run: |
+          # the awk command is required to extract the target hash from the output of the sha256sum command
+          VALUES_HASH=$(sha256sum deploy/values-to-dos-api-cpp.yaml.gotmpl | awk '{ print $1 }')
+          if [ "$VALUES_HASH" != ${{ vars.TO_DOS_API_CPP_LOCAL_ENV_HELMFILE_HASH }} ]; then
+            echo "ERROR: checksum mismatch"
+            echo "Expected: 88d14f527d1c39d9af93ddbe2f41462f01b523bdc340b4c62cb72c31a4c46d1f"
+            echo "Actual:   $VALUES_HASH"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Deploy Local Env to Kind k8s
+        uses: devcontainers/ci@v0.3
+        with:
+          runCmd: |
+            # we need to override "latest" image tag of ui inside local-env to run e2e against the current commit api version and not against latest from master
+            # We tried to use yq to change the image tag, but in the values files for helmfile we have non-yaml code that yq can`t parse or ignore
+            # so for that reason we use Stream EDitor which can find needed string using regular expressions and change it to a new value
+            # The -i flag is needed to write new image tag directly to values file
+            sed -i "0,/tag:.*/s//tag: \"sha-${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}\"/" deploy/values-to-dos-api-cpp.yaml.gotmpl
+            
+            # we also need to update the commit sha in the initContainer so that the latest image is used inside it
+            sed -i "0,/image:.*/s//image: \"ghcr.io/tourmalinecore/to-dos-api-cpp:sha-${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}\"/" deploy/values-to-dos-api-cpp.yaml.gotmpl
+
+            # we need to override "latest" ref of service chart inside local-env to run tests against the current commit service chart version and not against latest from master
+            sed -i "0,/git+https:\/\/github.com\/TourmalineCore\/${{ github.event.repository.name }}.git?ref=.*/s//git+https:\/\/github.com\/TourmalineCore\/${{ github.event.repository.name }}.git?ref=${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}/" deploy/helmfile.yaml.gotmpl
+            
+            sed -i "0,/git::https:\/\/github.com\/TourmalineCore\/${{ github.event.repository.name }}.git@\/ci\/values.yaml?ref=.*/s//git::https:\/\/github.com\/TourmalineCore\/${{ github.event.repository.name }}.git@\/ci\/values.yaml?ref=${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}/" deploy/helmfile.yaml.gotmpl
+
+            kind create cluster --name to-dos --config kind-local-config.yaml --kubeconfig ./.to-dos-cluster-kubeconfig
+            # we need to properly expose KUBECONFIG as an absolute path, pwd prints current working directory path
+            export KUBECONFIG=$(pwd)/.to-dos-cluster-kubeconfig
+
+            # When called, Makefile targets execute a sequence of commands. 
+            # The targets are defined in the Makefile located in the root of the to-dos-local-env repository.
+            make deploy-with-cpp-api
+          push: never
+
+      - name: Check out the repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up JDK 17
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+        with:
+          java-version: '17'
+          distribution: 'temurin'
+        
+      - name: Download Karate JAR
+        run: |
+          curl -L https://github.com/karatelabs/karate/releases/download/v1.5.1/karate-1.5.1.jar -o karate.jar
+
+      - name: Run E2E Tests Against Local Env
+        run: |
+          java -jar karate.jar .
+        env:
+          "API_ROOT_URL": "http://localhost:30080/api/to-dos-api"
+
+  e2e-karate-tests-in-docker-compose:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout to repo
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    # If you don't create a .env file, the services in Docker Compose 
+    # won't be able to start because they use this file.
+    - name: Create .env file
+      run: |
+        echo "API_HOST=0.0.0.0" >> .env
+        echo "API_PORT=80" >> .env
+        echo "API_LOG_LEVEL=INFO" >> .env
+        echo "API_NUMBER_OF_THREADS=1" >> .env
+        echo "POSTGRES_HOST=0.0.0.0" >> .env
+        echo "POSTGRES_PORT=5432" >> .env
+        echo "POSTGRES_DB=to-dos-api-cpp-db" >> .env
+        echo "POSTGRES_USER=postgres" >> .env
+        echo "POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password" >> .env
+
+    - name: Run service via docker-compose and run Karate-tests
+      run:  docker compose --profile MockForPullRequest up --exit-code-from to-dos-api-cpp-karate-tests
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cdaae0b..4873f56 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -37,11 +37,13 @@
 *.out
 *.app
 
-# debug information files
+# Debug information files
 *.dwo
 
 # Build files
-
 /build
 __pycache__
 .env
+
+# Service files
+.DS_Store
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 92d1210..2b209b9 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME}
 )
 
 # Tests
-if (ENV{EXCLUDE_UNIT_TESTS_FROM_BUILD} STREQUAL "true")
+if ("$ENV{EXCLUDE_UNIT_TESTS_FROM_BUILD}" STREQUAL "true")
   # Disable test here needed for uncompatible builds, bc `enable_testing` is run executable tests file for collecting tests.
   # E.g. if executable tests are builded for another OS or CPU arch. 
   message(STATUS "UNIT TEST DISABLED")
 else()
   message(STATUS "UNIT TEST ENABLED")
   enable_testing()
-  add_subdirectory(test)
+  add_subdirectory(unit)
 endif()
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index d5cabb7..81e6adc 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -7,13 +7,11 @@ WORKDIR /app
 EXPOSE 80
 
 # pip is installed here because it needs to be available in both the build and final stages
-RUN apt-get update && export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
-    && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends pip
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends pip
 
 FROM base AS build
 
 WORKDIR /src
-COPY . .
 
 RUN apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends \
     build-essential clang lld make cmake ninja-build gdb \
@@ -23,12 +21,26 @@ RUN apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends \
 
 RUN pip install conan
 
+# this is necessary so that Conan can install the dependencies
+COPY conanfile.py /src/
+COPY .devcontainer/to-dos-conan-profile.conf /src/.devcontainer/
+COPY deps/ /src/deps/
+
 # this is necessary so that Conan can see the local dependency recipes
 RUN conan remote add local-recipes ./deps --type=local-recipes-index
 
+RUN conan install . --build=missing \
+    --profile:all=.devcontainer/to-dos-conan-profile.conf \
+    # this is necessary because, by default, the `build_type` property in the profile is set to `Debug`
+    --settings:host="build_type=Release"
+
+# We cannot copy all the content before running `conan install`, because 
+# otherwise the image layers cannot be cached in the pipeline
+COPY . .
+
 RUN conan build . --build=missing \
     --profile:all=.devcontainer/to-dos-conan-profile.conf \
-    # This is necessary because, by default, the `build_type` property in the profile is set to `Debug`
+    # this is necessary because, by default, the `build_type` property in the profile is set to `Debug`
     --settings:host="build_type=Release"
 
 FROM base AS final
@@ -39,7 +51,7 @@ RUN pip install alembic psycopg2-binary sqlalchemy-utils
 WORKDIR /app
 
 # alembic needs this to apply the migrations correctly
-COPY --from=build /src/alembic/* ./alembic/
+COPY --from=build /src/alembic/ ./alembic/
 
 COPY --from=build /src/build/Release/to-dos-api .
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fed04ba..ecfd602 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 # This is necessary so that environment variables from .env 
 # are visible when Makefile commands are executed
-include .env
+-include .env
 export
 
+# By default, Make treats all targets as files; unless you specify that targets 
+# are commands, the instructions will be skipped if a file with the target’s name exists.
+# More info: https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#Phony-Targets
+.PHONY: create-migration apply-migrations run run-code-analysis run-e2e-tests-within-docker-compose
+
 # Generate a new Alembic migration with autogenerate
 create-migration:
 	@cd ./alembic && \
@@ -19,5 +24,5 @@ run: apply-migrations
 	./build/Debug/to-dos-api
 
 # Run clang-tidy static analysis
-run-tidy:
-	@run-clang-tidy -p build/Debug
+run-code-analysis:
+	@run-clang-tidy -p build/Debug
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0ec184c..7fd1a93 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,6 +48,18 @@ To launch the executable, click Launch in the CMake extension.
 Alternatively, you can use make targets.
 - To run the application, use the `make run` command. When the command is executed, the project's dependencies will be checked and, if necessary, installed and compiled.
 
+## Allocated Ports & Services
+
+| Service Name               | Api in Dev Container/Codespaces | Api in IDE | Api in Docker Compose |  Db in Docker Compose | Reserved for MockServer in Docker Compose | PgAdmin in Docker Compose |
+| :------------------------- | :-----------------------------: | :--------: | :-------------------: | :-------------------: | :-------------------------: | :-------------------------: |
+| to-dos-api-cpp     |               4501              |    5501    |          6501         |          7501         |             8501            |             9501            |
+
+Full docs about the allocated ports, reasoning, and the other services bindings in this infrastructre setup are available [here](https://github.com/TourmalineCore/inner-circle-documentation/blob/master/code-style/api-code-style.md#ports).
+
+You can go to `Ports` tab in the `Terminal` parent panel to find available services.
+
+The most useful is `PgAdmin` http://localhost:9501 (password is `postgres`).
+
 ## Linters
 
 The project includes the `clang-tidy` code analyzer and the `clang-format` formatter. Configuration files are located in the project root: `.clang-tidy` and `.clang-format`, respectively.
@@ -104,4 +116,4 @@ The alembic tool is used to work with migrations. To work with it, you need to m
 
 Alternatively, you can use make targets.
 - To create a migration, run the command `make create-migration name=<name-of-migration>`, where `name` is the name of the migration. You can also use `make create-migration`, in which case the migration will be named after the current date and time.
-- To apply the migrations, run the `make apply-migrations` command.
+- To apply the migrations, run the `make apply-migrations` command.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 37cd437..4c1fe33 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,14 +1,105 @@
-version: '3.9'
 services:
-  postgresql:
-    container_name: postgresql
+  to-dos-api-cpp-db:
+    container_name: to-dos-api-cpp-db
     image: postgres:14-alpine
+    profiles:
+      - DbOnly
+      - MockForPullRequest
     env_file:
       - .env
+    ports:
+      - "7501:5432"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: [ "CMD", "/bin/bash", "-c", "pg_isready -U postgres" ]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+    networks:
+      - to-dos-api-cpp-network
+
+  # https://event-driven.io/en/automatically_connect_pgadmin_to_database/
+  to-dos-api-cpp-pgadmin:
+    image: dpage/pgadmin4
+    container_name: to-dos-api-cpp-pgadmin
+    profiles:
+      - DbOnly
+    depends_on:
+      to-dos-api-cpp-db:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    environment:
+      # TODO: We need to think of a way to synchronize the .env file used for the database service. 
+      #       Perhaps we could transfer the pgAdmin environment variables to the .env file.
+      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
+      POSTGRES_DB: to-dos-api-cpp-db
+      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: admin@admin.org
+      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: postgres
+      PGADMIN_CONFIG_SERVER_MODE: 'False'
+      PGADMIN_CONFIG_MASTER_PASSWORD_REQUIRED: 'False'
+      # these 2 variables PGADMIN_CONFIG_PROXY_X_HOST_COUNT and PGADMIN_CONFIG_PROXY_X_PREFIX_COUNT
+      # are needed to enable PgAdmin in Codespaces scenario when it is behind a reverse proxy
+      # https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/17918
+      PGADMIN_CONFIG_PROXY_X_HOST_COUNT: 1
+      PGADMIN_CONFIG_PROXY_X_PREFIX_COUNT: 1
+    ports:
+      - 9501:80
+    networks:
+      - to-dos-api-cpp-network
     volumes:
-      - postgresql-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+      # this is needed so that we can spin it up from within Dev Container where LOCAL_WORKSPACE_FOLDER is defined and from a simple OS terminal of the repo root
+      # list of available config properties can be found here in the source code https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/blob/00dbe58125f0304186f1af5374c9c43bc22d0410/web/pgadmin/utils/__init__.py#L505
+      # Password is no longer a part of this list as it seems to be when the linked article was written
+      - ${LOCAL_WORKSPACE_FOLDER:-.}/pgAdmin.json:/pgadmin4/servers.json
+
+  to-dos-api-cpp:
+    container_name: to-dos-api-cpp
+    profiles:
+      - MockForPullRequest
+    depends_on:
+      to-dos-api-cpp-db:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    build:
+      dockerfile: ./Dockerfile
+      context: .
+      args:
+        EXCLUDE_UNIT_TESTS_FROM_BUILD: "true"
+    # We need to override the entrypoint to apply the migrations to the database before the API starts
+    entrypoint: [ "/bin/bash", "-c", "alembic -c ./alembic/alembic.ini upgrade head && ./to-dos-api" ]
+    env_file:
+      - .env
+    # Unless you override the host to the service name, the API will
+    # not be able to locate the database container on the network
+    environment:
+      # Without redefining the host to 0.0.0.0 (all network interfaces),
+      # connections from outside the container will not be possible
+      - API_HOST=0.0.0.0
+      # To connect to the database service on the internal network, 
+      # the internal network database credentials must be used.
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=to-dos-api-cpp-db
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=5432
     ports:
-      - "5432:5432"
+      - 6501:80
+    networks:
+      - to-dos-api-cpp-network
+
+  to-dos-api-cpp-karate-tests:
+    container_name: 'to-dos-api-cpp-karate-tests'
+    profiles:
+      - MockForPullRequest
+    build:
+      dockerfile: ./KarateDockerfile
+      context: ./e2e
+    depends_on:
+      to-dos-api-cpp:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    command: [ "karate", "/karate" ]
+    volumes:
+      # similar to mock-server volumes we need to support both runs: from Dev Container and from OS
+      - ${LOCAL_WORKSPACE_FOLDER:-.}:/karate
+    environment:
+      API_ROOT_URL: "http://to-dos-api-cpp/api"
+    networks:
+      - to-dos-api-cpp-network
 
-volumes:
-  postgresql-data:
+networks:
+  to-dos-api-cpp-network:
diff --git a/e2e/KarateDockerfile b/e2e/KarateDockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff828ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/KarateDockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+FROM eclipse-temurin:17-jre-noble
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl unzip && apt-get autoremove -y \
+  && apt-get clean -y \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN curl -o karate.jar -L 'https://github.com/intuit/karate/releases/download/v1.5.1/karate-1.5.1.jar'
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "karate.jar"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/e2e/js-utils.js b/e2e/js-utils.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc615a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/js-utils.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+function fn() {
+  return {
+    getEnvVariable: function (variable) {
+      var System = Java.type('java.lang.System');
+
+      return System.getenv(variable);
+    },
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/e2e/to-dos-happy-path.feature b/e2e/to-dos-happy-path.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7bc5ad6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/to-dos-happy-path.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+Feature: To-Dos
+  # https://github.com/karatelabs/karate/issues/1191
+  # https://github.com/karatelabs/karate?tab=readme-ov-file#karate-fork
+
+  Background:
+    * header Content-Type = 'application/json'
+
+  Scenario: Happy Path
+
+    * def jsUtils = read('./js-utils.js')
+    * def apiRootUrl = jsUtils().getEnvVariable('API_ROOT_URL')
+
+    # Step 1: Create a new todo
+    * def randomName = '[API-E2E]-test-todo-' + Math.random()
+
+    Given url apiRootUrl
+    And path 'to-dos'
+    And request
+      """
+      {
+        "name": "#(randomName)"
+      }
+      """
+    When method POST
+    Then status 201
+
+    * print response
+    * def todoId = response.todoId
+
+    # Step 2: Verify that todo is in the list with the id and generated name
+    Given url apiRootUrl
+    And path 'to-dos'
+    When method GET
+    Then match response.toDos contains
+      """
+      {
+        "id": #(todoId),
+        "name": "#(randomName)"
+      }
+      """
+
+    # Step 3: Complete the todo with the id (soft delete)
+    Given url apiRootUrl
+    And path 'to-dos/complete'
+    And request
+      """
+      {
+      "toDoIds": [#(todoId)]
+      }
+      """
+    When method POST
+    Then status 200
+
+    # Step 4: Delete the todo with the id (hard delete)
+    Given url apiRootUrl
+    And path 'to-dos'
+    And param toDoId = todoId
+    When method DELETE
+    Then status 200
+
+    # Step 5: Verify that todo is in the list with the id and generated name has been deleted
+    Given url apiRootUrl
+    And path 'to-dos'
+    When method GET
+    Then match response.toDos !contains { "name": "#(randomName)" }
diff --git a/pgAdmin.json b/pgAdmin.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5867b69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgAdmin.json
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+    "Servers": {
+        "1": {
+            "Group": "Servers",
+            "Name": "to-dos-api-cpp-db (Windows, macOS)",
+            "Host": "host.docker.internal",
+            "Port": 7501,
+            "MaintenanceDB": "to-dos-api-cpp-db",
+            "Username": "postgres",
+            "SSLMode": "prefer"
+        },
+        "2": {
+            "Group": "Servers",
+            "Name": "to-dos-api-cpp-db (Ubuntu, Codespaces)",
+            "Host": "172.17.0.1",
+            "Port": 7501,
+            "MaintenanceDB": "to-dos-api-cpp-db",
+            "Username": "postgres",
+            "SSLMode": "prefer"
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/api/features/to-dos/to-dos-controller.cpp b/src/api/features/to-dos/to-dos-controller.cpp
index 5ee7178..8f2f2bd 100644
--- a/src/api/features/to-dos/to-dos-controller.cpp
+++ b/src/api/features/to-dos/to-dos-controller.cpp
@@ -58,24 +58,26 @@ void ToDosController::addToDo(const HttpRequestPtr& req, std::function<void(cons
 {
     try
     {
+        Json::Value jsonResponse;
         auto json = req->getJsonObject();
 
         if (!json || !json->isMember("name"))
         {
-            Json::Value result;
-            result["status"] = "error";
-            result["message"] = "Invalid JSON";
+            jsonResponse["status"] = "error";
+            jsonResponse["message"] = "Invalid JSON";
 
-            auto resp = HttpResponse::newHttpJsonResponse(result);
+            auto resp = HttpResponse::newHttpJsonResponse(jsonResponse);
             resp->setStatusCode(k400BadRequest);
             callback(resp);
             return;
         }
 
         CreateToDoRequest request { json->get("name", "").asString() };
-        (void) createToDoHandler_->handle(request);
+        auto handlerResponse = createToDoHandler_->handle(request);
 
-        auto resp = HttpResponse::newHttpResponse();
+        jsonResponse["todoId"] = handlerResponse.id;
+
+        auto resp = HttpResponse::newHttpJsonResponse(jsonResponse);
         resp->setStatusCode(k201Created);
         callback(resp);
     }
diff --git a/src/app-config.cpp b/src/app-config.cpp
index fc147d0..21eef29 100644
--- a/src/app-config.cpp
+++ b/src/app-config.cpp
@@ -2,76 +2,86 @@
 
 AppConfig::AppConfig()
 {
-    setApiHost(getEnv("API_HOST", "0.0.0.0"));
-    setApiPort(getEnvInt("API_PORT", 80));
-    setApiNumThreads(getEnvInt("API_NUMBER_OF_THREADS", 1));
-    setDatabaseHost(getEnv("POSTGRES_HOST", "0.0.0.0"));
-    setDatabasePort(getEnv("POSTGRES_PORT", "5432"));
-    setDatabaseName(getEnv("POSTGRES_DB", "to-dos-api-cpp-db"));
-    setDatabaseUser(getEnv("POSTGRES_USER", "postgres"));
-    setDatabasePassword(getEnv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD", "password"));
+    setApiHost(getEnv("API_HOST"));
+    setApiPort(getEnvInt("API_PORT"));
+    setApiNumThreads(getEnvInt("API_NUMBER_OF_THREADS"));
+    setDatabaseHost(getEnv("POSTGRES_HOST"));
+    setDatabasePort(getEnv("POSTGRES_PORT"));
+    setDatabaseName(getEnv("POSTGRES_DB"));
+    setDatabaseUser(getEnv("POSTGRES_USER"));
+    setDatabasePassword(getEnv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD"));
 }
 
 AppConfig& AppConfig::GetInstance()
 {
-        static AppConfig instance;
+    static AppConfig instance;
     return instance;
 }
 
-std::string AppConfig::getEnv(std::string name, std::string defaultValue)
+std::string AppConfig::getEnv(std::string name)
 {
     char* value = std::getenv(name.c_str());
 
-    if (value)
-    {
-        return std::string(value);
-    }
-    else
+    if (!value)
     {
-        LOG_WARN << "Failed to get the value of the " << name << " environment variable; the default value will be used: " << defaultValue;
-        return defaultValue;
+        throw std::invalid_argument("error: failed to extract the " + name + " environment variable value");
     }
+
+    return std::string(value);
 }
 
-uint32_t AppConfig::getEnvInt(std::string name, uint32_t defaultValue)
+std::uint64_t AppConfig::getEnvInt(std::string name)
 {
     char* value = std::getenv(name.c_str());
 
     if (!value)
-        return defaultValue;
-
-    try
     {
-        auto result = std::stoi(value);
-        auto limit = std::numeric_limits<uint32_t>::max();
+        throw std::invalid_argument("error: failed to extract the " + name + " environment variable value");
+    }
 
-        if (result < 0 || result > limit)
-            throw std::overflow_error(
-                "error: an attempt to write a " + name + " value which is larger than what can be stored in a " + std::to_string(limit)
-            );
+    int result;
 
-        return static_cast<uint32_t>(result);
+    try
+    {
+        result = static_cast<std::uint64_t>(std::stoul(value));
     }
     catch (const std::exception& e)
     {
-        LOG_ERROR << e.what();
-        return defaultValue;
+        throw std::invalid_argument("error: failed to parse " + name + ": " + e.what());
+    }
+
+    if (result < 0)
+    {
+        throw std::overflow_error("error: an attempt to write a " + name + " value which is less than 0");
     }
+
+    return result;
 }
 
 trantor::Logger::LogLevel AppConfig::parseLogLevel(const std::string& level)
 {
     // kTrace < kDebug < kInfo < kWarn < kError
     if (level == "TRACE")
+    {
         return trantor::Logger::kTrace;
+    }
     else if (level == "DEBUG")
+    {
         return trantor::Logger::kDebug;
+    }
     else if (level == "INFO")
+    {
         return trantor::Logger::kInfo;
+    }
     else if (level == "WARN")
+    {
         return trantor::Logger::kWarn;
+    }
     else
+    {
+        LOG_WARN << "Unknown log level value: " << level << ", defaulting to kError";
         return trantor::Logger::kError;
+    }
 }
 
 void AppConfig::setApiHost(std::string apiHost)
@@ -80,15 +90,15 @@ void AppConfig::setApiHost(std::string apiHost)
     LOG_DEBUG << "Update value: apiHost_=" << apiHost_;
 };
 
-void AppConfig::setApiPort(uint32_t apiPort)
+void AppConfig::setApiPort(std::uint32_t apiPort)
 {
     apiPort_ = apiPort;
     LOG_DEBUG << "Update value: apiPort_=" << apiPort_;
 };
 
-void AppConfig::setApiNumThreads(uint32_t apiNumThreads)
+void AppConfig::setApiNumThreads(std::uint32_t apiNumThreads)
 {
-    uint32_t numberOfThreads = apiNumThreads;
+    std::uint32_t numberOfThreads = apiNumThreads;
 
     if (numberOfThreads > 0)
     {
@@ -136,14 +146,17 @@ void AppConfig::setDatabasePassword(std::string databasePassword)
 const std::string& AppConfig::getApiHost() const
 { return apiHost_; }
 
-const uint32_t& AppConfig::getApiPort() const
+const std::uint64_t& AppConfig::getApiPort() const
 { return apiPort_; }
 
-const uint32_t& AppConfig::getApiNumThreads() const
+const std::uint64_t& AppConfig::getApiNumThreads() const
 { return apiNumThreads_; }
 
 const trantor::Logger::LogLevel AppConfig::getApiLogLevel()
-{ return parseLogLevel(getEnv("API_LOG_LEVEL", "INFO")); }
+{
+    // The log level may change at runtime, so caching during initialization is not recommended
+    return parseLogLevel(getEnv("API_LOG_LEVEL"));
+}
 
 const std::string& AppConfig::getDatabaseHost() const
 { return databaseHost_; }
diff --git a/src/app-config.h b/src/app-config.h
index d54d4c7..2403642 100644
--- a/src/app-config.h
+++ b/src/app-config.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <limits>
+#include <stdexcept>
 #include <string>
 #include <trantor/utils/Logger.h>
 
@@ -19,8 +20,8 @@ class AppConfig
     AppConfig& operator=(const AppConfig&) = delete;
 
     std::string apiHost_;
-    uint32_t apiPort_;
-    uint32_t apiNumThreads_;
+    std::uint64_t apiPort_;
+    std::uint64_t apiNumThreads_;
 
     std::string databaseHost_;
     std::string databasePort_;
@@ -40,14 +41,14 @@ class AppConfig
      * @param apiPort is port on which the API will be run
      * @return void
      */
-    void setApiPort(uint32_t apiPort);
+    void setApiPort(std::uint32_t apiPort);
 
     /**
      * @brief Setter for the `apiNumThreads_` variable
      * @param apiNumThreads is number of threads on which the API will run
      * @return void
      */
-    void setApiNumThreads(uint32_t apiNumThreads);
+    void setApiNumThreads(std::uint32_t apiNumThreads);
 
     /**
      * @brief Setter for the `databaseHost_` variable
@@ -94,18 +95,16 @@ class AppConfig
     /**
      * @brief Function for retrieving the value of an environment variable
      * @param name is the name of the environment variable
-     * @param defaultValue is the value that will be used if the environment variable doesn't exist
      * @return std::string
      */
-    static std::string getEnv(std::string name, std::string defaultValue);
+    static std::string getEnv(std::string name);
 
     /**
      * @brief Function that retrieves a value from an environment variable and converts it to an integer type
      * @param name is the name of the environment variable
-     * @param defaultValue is the value that will be used if the environment variable doesn't exist
-     * @return uint32_t
+     * @return std::uint64_t
      */
-    static uint32_t getEnvInt(std::string name, uint32_t defaultValue);
+    static std::uint64_t getEnvInt(std::string name);
 
     /**
      * @brief Function for converting a string representing a logging level to the `trantor` type. Default is `trantor::Logger::kError`
@@ -121,15 +120,15 @@ class AppConfig
 
     /**
      * @brief Getter for the `apiPort_` variable
-     * @return const uint32_t
+     * @return const std::uint64_t
      */
-    const uint32_t& getApiPort() const;
+    const std::uint64_t& getApiPort() const;
 
     /**
      * @brief Getter for the `apiNumThreads_` variable
-     * @return const uint32_t
+     * @return const std::uint64_t
      */
-    const uint32_t& getApiNumThreads() const;
+    const std::uint64_t& getApiNumThreads() const;
 
     /**
      * @brief Getter for the `apiLogLevel_` variable
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/unit/CMakeLists.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from test/CMakeLists.txt
rename to unit/CMakeLists.txt
diff --git a/test/addition-operation.cpp b/unit/addition-operation.cpp
similarity index 100%
rename from test/addition-operation.cpp
rename to unit/addition-operation.cpp
diff --git a/test/addition-operation.h b/unit/addition-operation.h
similarity index 100%
rename from test/addition-operation.h
rename to unit/addition-operation.h
diff --git a/test/test_main.cpp b/unit/test_main.cpp
similarity index 100%
rename from test/test_main.cpp
rename to unit/test_main.cpp