diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 41c19bb..b4e7bd1 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,9 +1,20 @@
-FROM python:3.8.12-buster
+# much smaller image than debian based python images
+FROM python:3.12-slim
+
+LABEL maintainer="0xkatana"
 
 WORKDIR /app
-COPY ./ ./
-COPY files files
 
-RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+# Install git 
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git && apt-get clean
 
-ENTRYPOINT ["python3", "/app/start.py"]
+# copy requirements.txt for better caching 
+COPY requirements.txt .
+
+# Install py dependencies (may migrate to uv later)
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+
+# Copy all code at once  instead of copy code then files 
+COPY . .
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["python", "start.py"]