diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 4a710ce..1296abf 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,17 +1,31 @@
 FROM node:22-alpine
 
+# Set working directory
 WORKDIR /usr/src/app
 
-COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
+# install curl for reliable health checks and set proper ownership
+USER root
+RUN apk add --no-cache curl \
+  && chown -R node:node /usr/src/app
 
-RUN npm install --only=production --no-cache
+# Switch to non-root user
+USER node
 
-COPY . .
+# Copy package files
+COPY --chown=node:node package.json package-lock.json ./
 
-RUN chmod -R 755 /usr/src/app
+# Install dependencies
+RUN npm install --only=production --no-cache
 
-USER node
+# Copy application code
+COPY --chown=node:node . .
 
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
 
-ENTRYPOINT ["node", "./visionboard.js"]
\ No newline at end of file
+EXPOSE 3000
+
+# Add health check using the API health endpoint
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=30s --retries=3 \
+  CMD curl --fail http://localhost:3000/api/v1/__health || exit 1
+
+CMD ["npm", "run", "start"]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 981ee97..b9476ab 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -10,14 +10,27 @@ services:
       - 5432:5432
     volumes:
       - visionBoard_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "visionBoard", "-d", "dashboard", "-h", "127.0.0.1"]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 10s
 
   adminer:
     image: adminer
     restart: always
     depends_on:
-      - db
+      db:
+        condition: service_healthy
     ports:
       - 8080:8080
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "pgrep", "-f", "php"]
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 5s
 
   schema-dump:
     image: postgres:17.2