diff --git a/server/Dockerfile b/server/Dockerfile
index 9f49cc8..7c0093a 100644
--- a/server/Dockerfile
+++ b/server/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 FROM python:3.13-slim-bookworm
+
+# Install system dependencies and build tools first
+# Clean up apt cache in the same layer to keep image size down
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    build-essential \
+    gcc \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:latest /uv /bin/uv
 
 WORKDIR /app
@@ -9,11 +17,11 @@ COPY . /app/
 
 RUN uv sync --frozen
 
-ENV PATH="/app/.venv/bin:$PATH"
-ENV DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=chatgptserver.settings
-ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
-ENV DEBUG=True
-ENV ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1
+ENV PATH="/app/.venv/bin:$PATH" \
+    DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=chatgptserver.settings \
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+    DEBUG=True \
+    ALLOWED_HOSTS="localhost,127.0.0.1"
 
 EXPOSE 8000