diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 3325280d..80da067e 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
 node_modules
 npm-debug.log
-images
\ No newline at end of file
+images
+.git
+.github
+coverage
+packages/**/coverage
+packages/frontend
+packages/jobs
+**/*.log
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/backend/Dockerfile b/packages/backend/Dockerfile
index c624fb26..0373ca45 100644
--- a/packages/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/packages/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -2,37 +2,31 @@
 FROM node:20-alpine AS build
 WORKDIR /usr/src/app
 
-# Copy root package files for workspaces
+# Copy workspace and backend files required for compilation and minification.
 COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
 COPY tsconfig.base.json ./
+COPY packages/backend/package.json ./packages/backend/
+COPY packages/backend/tsconfig.json ./packages/backend/
+COPY packages/backend/tsconfig.prod.json ./packages/backend/
+COPY packages/backend/src ./packages/backend/src
+
+# Build and minify backend artifact inside Docker.
+RUN npm ci \
+	&& npm run build:prod -w @mocker/backend \
+	&& npm run minify -w @mocker/backend \
+	&& npx esbuild /usr/src/app/packages/backend/dist/index.js --bundle --minify --platform=node --target=node20 --format=cjs --outfile=/usr/src/app/packages/backend/dist/runtime.cjs \
+	&& mkdir -p /usr/src/app/images
+
+FROM gcr.io/distroless/nodejs20-debian12:nonroot AS release
+ENV NODE_ENV=production \
+	PORT=80
 
-# Copy backend package
-COPY packages/backend/package.json packages/backend/
-COPY packages/backend/tsconfig.json packages/backend/
-COPY packages/backend/tsconfig.prod.json packages/backend/
-COPY packages/backend/src packages/backend/src
-
-# Install dependencies and build
-RUN npm ci
-RUN npm run build:prod -w @mocker/backend
-
-FROM node:20-alpine AS release
-ENV NODE_ENV=production PORT=80
 WORKDIR /usr/src/app
 
-# Copy built output
-COPY --from=build /usr/src/app/packages/backend/dist ./
-
-# Copy package files for production install
-COPY --from=build /usr/src/app/package.json ./
-COPY --from=build /usr/src/app/package-lock.json ./
-COPY --from=build /usr/src/app/packages/backend/package.json ./packages/backend/
-
-RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app/images
-
-# Install production dependencies only for the backend workspace
-RUN npm pkg delete scripts.prepare && npm ci --omit=dev -w @mocker/backend --ignore-scripts
+# Copy bundled runtime artifact and writable path from build stage.
+COPY --from=build --chown=65532:65532 /usr/src/app/packages/backend/dist/runtime.cjs ./runtime.cjs
+COPY --from=build --chown=65532:65532 /usr/src/app/images ./images
 
 EXPOSE 80
 
-CMD ["node", "/usr/src/app/index.js"]
+CMD ["/usr/src/app/runtime.cjs"]