diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 50003bd..dfbe639 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ analysis_results/
 prometheus_data/
 grafana_data/
 loki_data/
+.docker-local/
 
 # Temporary files
 tmp/
-temp/ 
\ No newline at end of file
+temp/ 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9596b44..3ebe047 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Claude Code Observability Stack
 .PHONY: help up down logs restart clean validate-config
+DOCKER_COMPOSE := ./scripts/docker-compose.sh
 
 help: ## Show this help message
 	@echo "Claude Code Observability Stack"
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ help: ## Show this help message
 
 up: ## Start the observability stack
 	@echo "🚀 Starting Claude Code observability stack..."
-	docker compose up -d
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) up -d
 	@echo "✅ Stack started!"
 	@echo "📊 Grafana: http://localhost:3000 (admin/admin)"
 	@echo "🔍 Prometheus: http://localhost:9090"
@@ -19,29 +20,29 @@ up: ## Start the observability stack
 
 down: ## Stop the observability stack
 	@echo "🛑 Stopping Claude Code observability stack..."
-	docker compose down
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) down
 	@echo "✅ Stack stopped!"
 
 restart: ## Restart the observability stack
 	@echo "🔄 Restarting Claude Code observability stack..."
-	docker compose restart
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) restart
 	@echo "✅ Stack restarted!"
 
 logs: ## Show logs from all services
-	docker compose logs -f
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) logs -f
 
 logs-collector: ## Show OpenTelemetry collector logs
-	docker compose logs -f otel-collector
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) logs -f otel-collector
 
 logs-prometheus: ## Show Prometheus logs
-	docker compose logs -f prometheus
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) logs -f prometheus
 
 logs-grafana: ## Show Grafana logs
-	docker compose logs -f grafana
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) logs -f grafana
 
 clean: ## Clean up containers and volumes
 	@echo "🧹 Cleaning up..."
-	docker compose down -v
+	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) down -v
 	docker system prune -f
 	@echo "✅ Cleanup complete!"
 
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ clean: ## Clean up containers and volumes
 validate-config: ## Validate all configuration files
 	@echo "✅ Validating configurations..."
 	@echo "📋 Checking docker compose.yml..."
-	docker compose config > /dev/null && echo "✅ docker compose.yml is valid"
+	@$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) config > /dev/null && echo "✅ docker compose.yml is valid"
 	@echo "📋 Checking collector-config.yaml..."
 	@if command -v otelcol-contrib >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
 		otelcol-contrib --config-validate --config=collector-config.yaml; \
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ validate-config: ## Validate all configuration files
 status: ## Show stack status
 	@echo "📊 Claude Code Observability Stack Status"
 	@echo "==========================================="
-	@docker compose ps
+	@$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) ps
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "🌐 Service URLs:"
 	@echo "  Grafana:      http://localhost:3000"
@@ -94,4 +95,4 @@ setup-claude: ## Display Claude Code telemetry setup instructions
 demo-metrics: ## Generate demo metrics for testing
 	@echo "🎯 This would generate demo metrics if Claude Code was running"
 	@echo "💡 To see real metrics, ensure Claude Code is configured with telemetry enabled"
-	@echo "📖 Run 'make setup-claude' for setup instructions" 
\ No newline at end of file
+	@echo "📖 Run 'make setup-claude' for setup instructions" 
diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a532b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Changelog
+
+## 2026-02-24
+
+### Added
+- `start.sh` script to:
+  - check Docker CLI availability
+  - show an English message if Docker Desktop is not running
+  - run `make up`
+  - export Claude Code telemetry variables
+  - launch `claude`
+- `scripts/docker-compose.sh` wrapper that detects missing `docker-credential-desktop` and uses a local fallback `DOCKER_CONFIG`.
+
+### Changed
+- `Makefile` now routes Docker Compose commands through `./scripts/docker-compose.sh` via `DOCKER_COMPOSE := ./scripts/docker-compose.sh`.
+- `.gitignore` now ignores `.docker-local/` to avoid committing local Docker fallback config.
+
+### Notes
+- Root issue fixed: `docker compose` failed with:
+  `error getting credentials - err: exec: "docker-credential-desktop": executable file not found in $PATH`.
+- Current remaining startup risk is transient network/image pull errors (e.g. Docker Hub `504 Gateway Time-out`), unrelated to credential helper configuration.
diff --git a/scripts/docker-compose.sh b/scripts/docker-compose.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8bf3f11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/docker-compose.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+set -eu
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(CDPATH= cd -- "$(dirname -- "$0")" && pwd)"
+REPO_ROOT="$(CDPATH= cd -- "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd)"
+
+if command -v docker-credential-desktop >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  exec docker compose "$@"
+fi
+
+DOCKER_CONFIG_DIR="${DOCKER_CONFIG:-$HOME/.docker}"
+DOCKER_CONFIG_FILE="$DOCKER_CONFIG_DIR/config.json"
+
+if [ -f "$DOCKER_CONFIG_FILE" ] && grep -Eq '"credsStore"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"desktop"' "$DOCKER_CONFIG_FILE"; then
+  FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG="${CLAUDE_OTEL_DOCKER_CONFIG:-$REPO_ROOT/.docker-local}"
+  mkdir -p "$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG"
+
+  # Keep user's Docker context/plugin setup, but remove the desktop creds helper.
+  sed '/"credsStore"[[:space:]]*:/d' "$DOCKER_CONFIG_FILE" > "$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG/config.json"
+
+  for shared_dir in cli-plugins contexts; do
+    source_path="$DOCKER_CONFIG_DIR/$shared_dir"
+    target_path="$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG/$shared_dir"
+    if [ -e "$source_path" ] && [ ! -e "$target_path" ]; then
+      ln -s "$source_path" "$target_path"
+    fi
+  done
+
+  if [ ! -f "$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG/config.json" ]; then
+    printf '{\n  "auths": {}\n}\n' > "$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG/config.json"
+  fi
+
+  printf '%s\n' "docker-credential-desktop not found. Using fallback DOCKER_CONFIG=$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG" >&2
+  exec env DOCKER_CONFIG="$FALLBACK_DOCKER_CONFIG" docker compose "$@"
+fi
+
+exec docker compose "$@"
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..fe20ba7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+
+if ! command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "Docker is not installed. Please install Docker Desktop first."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! docker info >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "Docker Desktop is not running. Please start Docker Desktop, wait until it is fully started, then run ./start.sh again."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Starting Claude Code observability stack..."
+make up
+
+echo "Configuring telemetry environment variables..."
+export CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1
+export OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp
+export OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
+export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc
+export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4317
+export OTEL_METRIC_EXPORT_INTERVAL=10000
+export OTEL_LOGS_EXPORT_INTERVAL=5000
+
+echo "Starting Claude Code..."
+claude