diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7885b4a..0000000
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-
-services:
-  db:
-    image: mariadb:latest
-    container_name: lovedb
-    restart: always
-    environment:
-      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: love
-      MARIADB_DATABASE: lovedb
-      MARIADB_USER: love
-      MARIADB_PASSWORD: love
-    ports:
-      - "3309:3306"
-    volumes:
-      - ./data:/var/lib/mysql
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9524e22..b4fccf0 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 Flask
 Flask-SQLAlchemy
 SQLAlchemy
-PyMySQL
 python-gnupg
diff --git a/src/lovedb.db b/src/lovedb.db
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56b8f63
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/lovedb.db differ
diff --git a/src/main.py b/src/main.py
index bdab837..e89a4f0 100644
--- a/src/main.py
+++ b/src/main.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ os.makedirs(UPLOAD_FOLDER, exist_ok=True) # creates the uploads directorie
 
 # configures the app
 app = Flask(__name__) # creates de app
-app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'mysql+pymysql://love:love@localhost:3309/lovedb' # database connection
+app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = f"sqlite:///{os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'lovedb.db')}" # database connection
 app.config['SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS'] = False # disable track modifications (for better performance)
 app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = 'random' # sets the secret key used to generate random numbers
 app.config['UPLOAD_FOLDER'] = UPLOAD_FOLDER # sets the upload folder
@@ -154,10 +154,8 @@ def home():
 
     if likes:
         likes_list = [x.strip().lower() for x in likes.split(",") if x.strip()]
-        for like in likes_list:
-            query = query.filter(
-                text(f"JSON_CONTAINS(likes, '\"{like}\"')")
-            )
+        users = query.all()
+        users = [u for u in users if u.likes and all(l in u.likes for l in likes_list)]
 
     if dislikes:
         dislikes_list = [x.strip().lower() for x in dislikes.split(",") if x.strip()]