diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index becac1f..76ceb1d 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 API_SECRET="change_me"
 WHISPER_MODEL="small"
 DOMAIN="whisperbox.localhost"
+DATABASE_URI="sqlite:///etc/whisperbox/data/whisperbox.sqlite"
diff --git a/app/worker/main.py b/app/worker/main.py
index c6acc09..5c7536d 100644
--- a/app/worker/main.py
+++ b/app/worker/main.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from asyncio.log import logger
+from typing import Any, Optional
 from uuid import UUID
 
 from celery import Task
@@ -12,11 +13,30 @@ from app.worker.strategies.local import LocalStrategy
 
 celery = get_celery_binding()
 
+class TranscribeTask(Task):
+    abstract = True
 
-@celery.task(bind=True, soft_time_limit=2 * 60 * 60)  # TODO: make configurable
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
+        # currently only `LocalStrategy` is implemented.
+        # TODO: implement remote processing strategy.
+        self.strategy: Optional[LocalStrategy] = None
+
+    def __call__(self, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
+        # load model into memory once when the first task is processed.
+        if not self.strategy:
+            self.strategy = LocalStrategy()
+        return self.run(*args, **kwargs)
+
+
+@celery.task(
+    base=TranscribeTask, bind=True, soft_time_limit=2 * 60 * 60
+)
 def transcribe(self: Task, job_id: UUID) -> None:
     try:
+        # runs in a separate thread => requires sqlite's WAL mode to be enabled.
         db: Session = SessionLocal()
+
         job = db.query(models.Job).filter(models.Job.id == job_id).one()
 
         if (
@@ -34,23 +54,23 @@ def transcribe(self: Task, job_id: UUID) -> None:
 
         logger.info(f"[{job.id}]: set task to status processing.")
 
-        # pick a transcription strategy.
-        # currently only `local` is supported.
         job_record = schemas.Job.from_orm(job)
-        strategy = LocalStrategy(
-            db=db, job_id=job.id, url=job_record.url, config=job_record.config
-        )
 
         # process selected task.
-        # currently only `transcribe` is supported.
         if job.type == schemas.JobType.transcript:
-            result = strategy.transcribe()
-            logger.info(f"[{job.id}]: successfully transcribed audio.")
+            result = self.strategy.transcribe(
+                url=job_record.url, job_id=job_record.id, config=job_record.config
+            )
         elif job.type == schemas.JobType.translation:
-            result = strategy.translate()
-            logger.info(f"[{job.id}]: successfully translated audio.")
+            result = self.strategy.translate(
+                url=job_record.url, job_id=job_record.id, config=job_record.config
+            )
         else:
-            result = strategy.detect_language()
+            result = self.strategy.detect_language(
+                url=job_record.url, job_id=job_record.id, config=job_record.config
+            )
+
+        logger.info(f"[{job.id}]: successfully processed audio.")
 
         artifact = models.Artifact(
             job_id=str(job.id), data=result, type=schemas.ArtifactType.raw_transcript
@@ -66,7 +86,7 @@ def transcribe(self: Task, job_id: UUID) -> None:
         logger.info(f"[{job.id}]: set task to status success.")
     except Exception as e:
         if job and db:
-            job.meta = {**job.meta.__dict__, "error": str(e)}
+            job.meta = {**job.meta, "error": str(e)}  # type: ignore
             job.status = schemas.JobStatus.error
             db.commit()
             raise (e)
diff --git a/app/worker/strategies/local.py b/app/worker/strategies/local.py
index 42cfbf1..09fa0fc 100644
--- a/app/worker/strategies/local.py
+++ b/app/worker/strategies/local.py
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@ from typing import Any, List, Literal, Optional
 from uuid import UUID
 
 import requests
-from pydantic import BaseModel
-from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 import torch
+from pydantic import BaseModel
 from whisper import load_model
 
 import app.shared.db.schemas as schemas
@@ -20,43 +19,49 @@ class DecodeOptions(BaseModel):
 
 
 class LocalStrategy:
-    def __init__(
-        self, db: Session, job_id: UUID, url: str, config: Optional[schemas.JobConfig]
-    ):
-        self.db = db
-        self.job_id = job_id
-        self.url = url
-        self.config = config
-
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
         if torch.cuda.is_available():
+            logger.info("initializing GPU model.")
             self.model = load_model(
-                os.environ["WHISPER_MODEL"],
-                download_root="/models"
+                os.environ["WHISPER_MODEL"], download_root="/models"
             ).cuda()
         else:
+            logger.info("initializing CPU model.")
             self.model = load_model(
-                os.environ["WHISPER_MODEL"],
-                download_root="/models"
+                os.environ["WHISPER_MODEL"], download_root="/models"
             )
 
-        logger.info(f"[{self.job_id}]: initialized local strategy.")
+        logger.info("initialized local strategy.")
 
-    def transcribe(self) -> List[Any]:
-        return self.run_whisper(self._download(), "transcribe")
+    def transcribe(
+        self, url: str, job_id: UUID, config: Optional[schemas.JobConfig]
+    ) -> List[Any]:
+        return self.run_whisper(
+            self._download(url, job_id), "transcribe", config, job_id
+        )
 
-    def translate(self) -> List[Any]:
-        return self.run_whisper(self._download(), "translate")
+    def translate(
+        self, url: str, job_id: UUID, config: Optional[schemas.JobConfig]
+    ) -> List[Any]:
+        return self.run_whisper(
+            self._download(url, job_id),
+            "translate",
+            config,
+            job_id,
+        )
 
-    def detect_language(self) -> List[Any]:
+    def detect_language(
+        self, url: str, config: Optional[schemas.JobConfig]
+    ) -> List[Any]:
         raise NotImplementedError("detect_language has not been implemented yet.")
 
-    def _download(self) -> str:
+    def _download(self, url: str, job_id: UUID) -> str:
         # re-create folder.
-        filename = self._get_tmp_file()
-        self._cleanup()
+        filename = self._get_tmp_file(job_id)
+        self._cleanup(job_id)
 
         # stream media to disk.
-        with requests.get(self.url, stream=True) as r:
+        with requests.get(url, stream=True) as r:
             r.raise_for_status()
             with open(filename, "wb") as f:
                 for chunk in r.iter_content(chunk_size=8192):
@@ -64,11 +69,17 @@ class LocalStrategy:
 
         return filename
 
-    def run_whisper(self, filepath: str, task: str) -> List[Any]:
+    def run_whisper(
+        self,
+        filepath: str,
+        task: str,
+        config: Optional[schemas.JobConfig],
+        job_id: UUID,
+    ) -> List[Any]:
         try:
-            language = self.config.language if self.config else None
+            language = config.language if config else None
 
-            result = model.transcribe(
+            result = self.model.transcribe(
                 filepath,
                 condition_on_previous_text=False,
                 **DecodeOptions(task=task, language=language).dict(),
@@ -76,20 +87,14 @@ class LocalStrategy:
 
             return result["segments"]
         finally:
-            self._cleanup()
+            self._cleanup(job_id)
 
-    def _get_tmp_file(self) -> str:
+    def _get_tmp_file(self, job_id: UUID) -> str:
         tmp = tempfile.gettempdir()
-        return path.join(tmp, str(self.job_id))
+        return path.join(tmp, str(job_id))
 
-    def _cleanup(self) -> None:
+    def _cleanup(self, job_id: UUID) -> None:
         try:
-            os.remove(self._get_tmp_file())
+            os.remove(self._get_tmp_file(job_id))
         except OSError:
             pass
-
-    def _convert(self) -> None:
-        pass
-
-    def _transcribe(self) -> None:
-        pass
diff --git a/docker-compose.base.yml b/docker-compose.base.yml
index b9a15ff..ee43414 100644
--- a/docker-compose.base.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.base.yml
@@ -64,6 +64,3 @@ networks:
     driver: bridge
   traefik:
     driver: bridge
-
-volumes:
-  whisperbox-data:
diff --git a/docker-compose.prod.yml b/docker-compose.prod.yml
index 35c6e41..2b6e793 100644
--- a/docker-compose.prod.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.prod.yml
@@ -7,9 +7,12 @@ services:
   worker:
     container_name: whisperbox_worker
     env_file: .env
+    # <GPU SUPPORT>
+    # build:
+    #   dockerfile: worker.gpu.Dockerfile
     volumes:
       - whisperbox-data:/etc/whisperbox/data
-    # <ENABLE GPU SUPPORT>
+    # <GPU SUPPORT>
     # deploy:
     #   resources:
     #     reservations:
@@ -23,3 +26,8 @@ services:
     env_file: .env
     volumes:
       - whisperbox-data:/etc/whisperbox/data
+    labels:
+      - "traefik.http.routers.web.entrypoints=web"
+
+volumes:
+  whisperbox-data:
diff --git a/worker.gpu.Dockerfile b/worker.gpu.Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddf4764
--- /dev/null
+++ b/worker.gpu.Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# TODO: clean up lol
+FROM nvidia/cuda:11.8.0-base-ubuntu22.04 AS python-deploy
+
+ENV PYTHON_VERSION=3.10
+
+ARG WHISPER_MODEL
+
+WORKDIR /etc/whisperbox
+
+RUN export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+    && apt-get -qq update \
+    && apt-get -qq install --no-install-recommends \
+    python${PYTHON_VERSION} \
+    python${PYTHON_VERSION}-venv \
+    python3-pip \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+RUN ln -s -f /usr/bin/python${PYTHON_VERSION} /usr/bin/python3 && \
+    ln -s -f /usr/bin/python${PYTHON_VERSION} /usr/bin/python && \
+    ln -s -f /usr/bin/pip3 /usr/bin/pip
+
+COPY pyproject.toml .
+
+RUN python -m venv /opt/venv && \
+    /opt/venv/bin/pip install -U pip wheel && \
+    /opt/venv/bin/pip install -U .[worker]
+
+COPY --from=mwader/static-ffmpeg:latest /ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/
+COPY --from=mwader/static-ffmpeg:latest /ffprobe /usr/local/bin/
+
+COPY app ./app
+
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV /opt/venv
+ENV PATH /opt/venv/bin:$PATH
+
+COPY scripts/download_models.py .
+RUN python download_models.py ${WHISPER_MODEL}
+
+CMD celery --app=app.worker.main.celery worker --loglevel=info --concurrency=1 --pool=solo