diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 05ac7c6..6d80788 100644
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,18 @@ set -e
 # Set default values if not provided
 TARGET_HOST=${TARGET_HOST}
 TARGET_PORT=${TARGET_PORT}
-UNIX_SOCKET_PATH=${UNIX_SOCKET_PATH}
+UNIX_SOCKET_PATH=${UNIX_SOCKET_PATH:-/socket/docker.sock}
+
+# Validate required environment variables
+if [ -z "$TARGET_HOST" ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: TARGET_HOST environment variable is required"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$TARGET_PORT" ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: TARGET_PORT environment variable is required"
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 echo "Starting socat proxy..."
 echo "UNIX socket: $UNIX_SOCKET_PATH"
@@ -24,6 +35,40 @@ echo "Creating socket with netcat..."
 # Create socket with nc -lU in background and then kill it to create the socket file
 timeout 1 nc -lU "$UNIX_SOCKET_PATH" || true
 
-# Execute socat to proxy UNIX socket to TCP
-exec socat UNIX-LISTEN:$UNIX_SOCKET_PATH,fork,unlink-early TCP:$TARGET_HOST:$TARGET_PORT
+echo "Testing connection to target..."
+# Test if we can reach the target before starting socat
+if ! nc -z "$TARGET_HOST" "$TARGET_PORT" 2>/dev/null; then
+    echo "WARNING: Cannot connect to $TARGET_HOST:$TARGET_PORT - socat will retry automatically"
+fi
+
+# Signal handler for graceful shutdown
+cleanup() {
+    echo "Received SIGTERM, shutting down gracefully..."
+    if [ ! -z "$SOCAT_PID" ]; then
+        echo "Stopping socat process (PID: $SOCAT_PID)..."
+        kill "$SOCAT_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+        wait "$SOCAT_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+    fi
+    echo "Cleanup completed, exiting..."
+    exit 0
+}
+
+# Set up signal trap
+trap cleanup SIGTERM SIGINT
+
+echo "Starting socat proxy..."
+# Start socat with verbose logging and redirect to stdout/stderr
+socat -d -d UNIX-LISTEN:$UNIX_SOCKET_PATH,fork,unlink-early TCP:$TARGET_HOST:$TARGET_PORT &
+SOCAT_PID=$!
+
+echo "Socat started with PID: $SOCAT_PID"
+echo "Container is ready and running..."
+
+# Keep the script alive and wait for socat process
+while kill -0 "$SOCAT_PID" 2>/dev/null; do
+    sleep 1
+done
+
+echo "Socat process has stopped"
+exit 1