diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78ee4c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Python
+.venv/
+__pycache__/
+*.pyc
+*.egg-info/
+.pytest_cache/
+
+# Node
+node_modules/
+ui/*/node_modules/
+ui/*/dist/
+
+# Media (9.8GB — mounted via volume, never needed in image)
+media/
+
+# Git
+.git/
+
+# IDE / OS
+.idea/
+.vscode/
+*.swp
+.DS_Store
+
+# Docker
+ctrl/docker-compose.yml
+
+# Docs
+docs/
+*.md
diff --git a/ctrl/Dockerfile b/ctrl/Dockerfile
index 80e2152..389484b 100644
--- a/ctrl/Dockerfile
+++ b/ctrl/Dockerfile
@@ -5,6 +5,6 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY requirements.txt .
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 
-COPY . .
+# No COPY . . — code is volume-mounted in dev (..:/app)
 
 CMD ["python", "admin/manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
diff --git a/ctrl/Dockerfile.worker b/ctrl/Dockerfile.worker
index bbb7a49..9260014 100644
--- a/ctrl/Dockerfile.worker
+++ b/ctrl/Dockerfile.worker
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY requirements.txt requirements-worker.txt ./
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements-worker.txt
 
-COPY . .
+# No COPY . . — code is volume-mounted in dev (..:/app)
 
 CMD ["celery", "-A", "admin.mpr", "worker", "--loglevel=info"]
diff --git a/ui/timeline/.dockerignore b/ui/timeline/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b947077
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/timeline/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+node_modules/
+dist/