diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3194e75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Keep the build context to what the image actually needs: pyproject.toml,
+# README.md (referenced by pyproject), src/, alembic.ini, docker-entrypoint.sh.
+.git
+.github
+.venv
+.omc
+.pytest_cache
+.ruff_cache
+**/__pycache__
+*.py[cod]
+tests
+docs
+.env
+.env.*
+!.env.example
+*.db
+Dockerfile
+docker-compose.yml
+.dockerignore
+.mise.toml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker.yml b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f934659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+name: docker
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+    tags: ["v*"]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [main]
+
+env:
+  IMAGE: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      packages: write
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up QEMU
+        uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3
+
+      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+
+      - name: Log in to GHCR
+        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
+        uses: docker/login-action@v3
+        with:
+          registry: ghcr.io
+          username: ${{ github.actor }}
+          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      # Tags: branch name on branch pushes, semver on v* tags, short SHA always,
+      # `latest` only on the default branch. metadata-action lowercases the repo
+      # name (GHCR requires lowercase).
+      - name: Docker metadata
+        id: meta
+        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
+        with:
+          images: ${{ env.IMAGE }}
+          tags: |
+            type=ref,event=branch
+            type=ref,event=pr
+            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
+            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
+            type=sha
+            type=raw,value=latest,enable={{is_default_branch}}
+
+      - name: Build and push
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
+        with:
+          context: .
+          platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
+          # PRs build (to catch Dockerfile breakage) but never push.
+          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
+          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
+          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
+          cache-from: type=gha
+          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd59914
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
+
+# ---- build stage: install the package + deps into an isolated venv ----
+FROM python:3.11-slim AS builder
+
+ENV PIP_DISABLE_PIP_VERSION_CHECK=1 \
+    PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=1
+
+RUN python -m venv /opt/venv
+ENV PATH="/opt/venv/bin:$PATH"
+
+WORKDIR /build
+COPY pyproject.toml README.md ./
+COPY src ./src
+RUN pip install .
+
+# ---- runtime stage ----
+FROM python:3.11-slim
+
+ENV PATH="/opt/venv/bin:$PATH" \
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+    # SQLite fallback lives on the /var/lib/handler volume; point DATABASE_URL at
+    # Postgres for real deploys (see .env.example / docker-compose.yml).
+    DATABASE_URL="sqlite:////var/lib/handler/handler.db" \
+    PROJECTS_ROOT="/var/lib/handler/projects"
+
+COPY --from=builder /opt/venv /opt/venv
+
+# Alembic runs from /app: alembic.ini resolves script_location=src/handler/migrations
+# relative to the cwd, so the migration tree is shipped alongside the installed package.
+WORKDIR /app
+COPY alembic.ini ./
+COPY src/handler/migrations ./src/handler/migrations
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh
+
+RUN useradd --system --home-dir /var/lib/handler --create-home handler \
+    && mkdir -p /var/lib/handler/projects \
+    && chown -R handler:handler /var/lib/handler \
+    && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh
+
+USER handler
+VOLUME /var/lib/handler
+EXPOSE 8000
+
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --start-period=10s --retries=3 \
+    CMD python -c "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://127.0.0.1:8000/health', timeout=4)"
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+CMD ["uvicorn", "handler.api.app:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000"]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8af71b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Local/dev deployment: API + Postgres. For a single-node SQLite deploy, drop the
+# `db` service and DATABASE_URL override — the image defaults to SQLite on the
+# handler-data volume.
+services:
+  api:
+    image: ghcr.io/0xwheatyz/handler:latest
+    build: .
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    environment:
+      DATABASE_URL: postgresql+psycopg://handler:handler@db:5432/handler
+      # Required — the API refuses to start without it. Set in .env or the shell.
+      AUTH_TOKEN: ${AUTH_TOKEN:?set AUTH_TOKEN in .env or the environment}
+      SHARED_CONTEXT_WRITE_TOKEN: ${SHARED_CONTEXT_WRITE_TOKEN:-}
+      WEBHOOK_URL: ${WEBHOOK_URL:-}
+      UI_ENABLED: ${UI_ENABLED:-true}
+      CORS_ORIGINS: ${CORS_ORIGINS:-}
+    volumes:
+      - handler-data:/var/lib/handler
+    depends_on:
+      db:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    restart: unless-stopped
+
+  db:
+    image: postgres:16-alpine
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: handler
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: handler
+      POSTGRES_DB: handler
+    volumes:
+      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U handler -d handler"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 3s
+      retries: 10
+    restart: unless-stopped
+
+volumes:
+  handler-data:
+  postgres-data:
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..eb1040f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Apply migrations before starting the API. Set RUN_MIGRATIONS=false when running
+# multiple replicas and migrating out-of-band (`alembic upgrade head`) instead.
+set -e
+
+if [ "${RUN_MIGRATIONS:-true}" = "true" ]; then
+    alembic upgrade head
+fi
+
+exec "$@"