diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b694934
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.venv
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d54bd3c..d21938e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,4 +6,6 @@ __pycache__
 
 pipelines/*
 !pipelines/.gitignore
-.DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
+.DS_Store
+
+.venv
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index ba36e64..b6d8c7f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get clean && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-# Copy the application code
-COPY . /app
+
 WORKDIR /app
 
 # Install Python dependencies
+COPY ./requirements.txt .
 RUN pip3 install uv && \
     if [ "$USE_CUDA" = "true" ]; then \
     pip3 install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$USE_CUDA_DOCKER_VER --no-cache-dir && \
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ RUN pip3 install uv && \
     uv pip install --system -r requirements.txt --no-cache-dir; \
     fi
 
+# Copy the application code
+COPY . .
 
 # Expose the port
 ENV HOST="0.0.0.0"