diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 3e6990e..da7528d 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,11 +1,23 @@
-node_modules
+# .dockerignore
 
-_site
-
-npm-debug.log
+# Git files
+.git
+.gitignore
 
+# Docker files should not be in the build context
 Dockerfile
 docker-compose.yml
+docker-compose.dev.yml
 
-.git
-.gitignore
\ No newline at end of file
+# Node.js dependencies are installed inside the container
+node_modules
+npm-debug.log
+
+# Build output is generated inside the container
+_site
+
+# VS Code configuration
+.vscode
+
+# Documentation / Readmes
+*.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 3516247..0bf6e04 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ RUN npm ci
 # This stage is for local development. It includes devDependencies and source code.
 # In docker-compose.dev.yml, the source is mounted for hot-reloading.
 FROM deps AS development
-COPY . .
-# The command is specified in docker-compose.dev.yml, but we can add a default.
+
+# The source code is mounted via docker-compose for development,
+# so we don't need to COPY it into the image. This keeps the dev image small.
+# We only need the WORKDIR and the installed node_modules from the 'deps' stage.
 CMD ["npm", "start"]
 
 # STAGE 3: Builder