diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2ccc93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+node_modules
+dist
+.env
+.env.*
+*.log
+.git
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b88d6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+FROM node:20-alpine AS build
+WORKDIR /app
+COPY package*.json ./
+RUN npm ci
+COPY tsconfig.json ./
+COPY src ./src
+RUN npm run build
+
+FROM node:20-alpine
+WORKDIR /app
+ENV NODE_ENV=production
+COPY package*.json ./
+RUN npm ci --omit=dev
+COPY --from=build /app/dist ./dist
+
+EXPOSE 5001
+
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=15s --timeout=5s --start-period=20s --retries=5 \
+  CMD node -e "require('http').get('http://localhost:'+(process.env.PORT||5001)+'/api/health', r => process.exit(r.statusCode===200?0:1)).on('error', () => process.exit(1))"
+
+CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 0778093..414af0d 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ app.use(cors());
 app.use(express.json({ limit: '50mb' }));
 app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true, limit: '50mb' }));
 
+// Root-level healthcheck (some platforms/proxies probe this instead of /api/health)
+app.get('/health', (req, res) => {
+  res.json({ status: 'ok', timestamp: new Date().toISOString() });
+});
+
 // API Root Routes
 app.use('/api', routes);