diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31c0fc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+.git
+.github
+**/__pycache__
+**/*.pyc
+**/*.pyo
+**/*.pyd
+**/.pytest_cache
+**/.mypy_cache
+**/.DS_Store
+
+# Frontend and docs are not needed for backend image
+parental-control-system/frontend/node_modules
+parental-control-system/frontend/build
+skills
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07ade99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+FROM python:3.12-slim
+
+ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 \
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+COPY parental-control-system/backend/requirements.txt ./requirements.txt
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+
+COPY parental-control-system/backend/ ./
+
+RUN useradd --create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin appuser \
+    && chown -R appuser:appuser /app
+USER appuser
+
+EXPOSE 5000
+
+CMD ["sh", "-c", "gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:${PORT:-5000} main:app --workers 2 --threads 4 --timeout 60"]