diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9095be1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Docker ignore rules for flowfi
+# Exclude files that inflate image context size but aren't needed at build time.
+
+# Version control
+.git
+.gitignore
+.gitattributes
+
+# Dependency directories (re-installed inside the container)
+node_modules
+**/node_modules
+
+# Build outputs (rebuilt inside the container)
+dist
+build
+.next
+out
+
+# Test artifacts
+coverage
+*.test.*
+*.spec.*
+__tests__
+__mocks__
+test
+tests
+e2e
+
+# Documentation
+*.md
+docs
+
+# Environment / secrets
+.env
+.env.*
+!.env.example
+
+# Editor / IDE config
+.vscode
+.idea
+*.swp
+*.swo
+.DS_Store
+
+# CI
+.github
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+logs
+npm-debug.log*
+
+# Misc
+*.tmp
+*.bak
diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index f8f8a1cf..dc8bb97c 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# ============================================================
+# Stage 1: builder — full Node toolchain to compile TypeScript
+# ============================================================
 FROM node:20-alpine@sha256:fb4cd12c85ee03686f6af5362a0b0d56d50c58a04632e6c0fb8363f609372293 AS builder
 
 WORKDIR /app
@@ -11,7 +14,8 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY package*.json ./
 COPY prisma ./prisma
 
-RUN npm install
+# Install all deps (incl. devDependencies needed for tsc / prisma generate)
+RUN if [ -f package-lock.json ]; then npm ci; else npm install; fi
 
 COPY tsconfig.json ./
 COPY prisma.config.ts ./
@@ -19,8 +23,15 @@ COPY src ./src
 
 RUN npm run build
 
+# ============================================================
+# Stage 2: production runner — minimal Alpine image, non-root
+# ============================================================
 FROM node:20-alpine@sha256:fb4cd12c85ee03686f6af5362a0b0d56d50c58a04632e6c0fb8363f609372293 AS runner
 
+# Security: drop to non-root user for the running process
+RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs \
+ && adduser  --system --uid 1001 --ingroup nodejs nodeapp
+
 WORKDIR /app
 
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
@@ -34,7 +45,7 @@ ENV NODE_ENV=production
 # `npx prisma db push` step the workflow runs against this container,
 # while keeping the install layer cached whenever prisma/ is unchanged.
 COPY package*.json ./
-RUN npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts
+RUN if [ -f package-lock.json ]; then npm ci --omit=dev --ignore-scripts; else npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts; fi
 
 # Copy the prisma schema into the runner. The boot-and-check-health step
 # in .github/workflows/ci.yml runs `npx prisma db push` against this
@@ -47,6 +58,16 @@ COPY --from=builder /app/src/generated ./dist/generated
 COPY --from=builder /app/prisma ./prisma
 COPY prisma.config.ts ./
 
+# Ownership hand-off — ensure the non-root user owns all app files
+RUN chown -R nodeapp:nodejs /app
+
+USER nodeapp
+
 EXPOSE 3001
 
+# Health check so orchestrators (Docker Compose / Kubernetes) can detect
+# when the API is ready to serve traffic.
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=5s --start-period=15s --retries=5 \
+  CMD wget --no-verbose --tries=1 --spider http://localhost:3001/health || exit 1
+
 CMD ["npm", "start"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..67e2e679
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# ============================================================
+# Stage 1: deps — install production-only dependencies
+# ============================================================
+FROM node:20-alpine@sha256:fb4cd12c85ee03686f6af5362a0b0d56d50c58a04632e6c0fb8363f609372293 AS deps
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy lockfile first for optimal Docker layer caching:
+# rebuilds only when package files change, not source files.
+COPY package*.json ./
+RUN if [ -f package-lock.json ]; then npm ci --omit=dev; else npm install --omit=dev; fi
+
+# ============================================================
+# Stage 2: builder — compile Next.js application
+# ============================================================
+FROM node:20-alpine@sha256:fb4cd12c85ee03686f6af5362a0b0d56d50c58a04632e6c0fb8363f609372293 AS builder
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+COPY package*.json ./
+RUN if [ -f package-lock.json ]; then npm ci; else npm install; fi
+
+# Copy source files
+COPY . .
+
+# Build the Next.js application (output: .next directory)
+RUN npm run build
+
+# ============================================================
+# Stage 3: production runner — minimal Alpine image, non-root
+# ============================================================
+FROM node:20-alpine@sha256:fb4cd12c85ee03686f6af5362a0b0d56d50c58a04632e6c0fb8363f609372293 AS runner
+
+# Security: run as non-root user
+RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs \
+ && adduser  --system --uid 1001 --ingroup nodejs nextapp
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+ENV NODE_ENV=production \
+    NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1
+
+# Copy only what is needed to run the app
+COPY --from=deps    /app/node_modules ./node_modules
+COPY --from=builder /app/.next        ./.next
+COPY --from=builder /app/public       ./public
+COPY --from=builder /app/package*.json ./
+COPY --from=builder /app/next.config.ts ./
+
+# Ownership hand-off — ensure the non-root user owns all app files
+RUN chown -R nextapp:nodejs /app
+
+USER nextapp
+
+EXPOSE 3000
+
+# Health check so orchestrators know when Next.js is ready to serve
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=15s --timeout=5s --start-period=30s --retries=5 \
+  CMD wget --no-verbose --tries=1 --spider http://localhost:3000/ || exit 1
+
+CMD ["npm", "start"]