diff --git a/backend/.dockerignore b/backend/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3ddbd536
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+target/
+.git/
+*.md
+api_tests/
diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 33fe810a..3f2c02a5 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
-FROM eclipse-temurin:21-jdk
-
+FROM eclipse-temurin:21.0.10_7-jdk-noble AS builder
 WORKDIR /app
 
-EXPOSE 8080
+# Copy wrapper and POM first — dependency layer is cached separately from source
+COPY .mvn .mvn
+COPY mvnw pom.xml ./
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.m2 ./mvnw dependency:go-offline -q
 
-# Source code and mvnw are mounted via docker-compose volume at runtime.
-# Maven dependencies are cached in a named volume (~/.m2).
-CMD ["./mvnw", "spring-boot:run"]
+COPY src ./src
+# -Dmaven.test.skip=true skips test compilation entirely (not just execution)
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.m2 ./mvnw clean package -Dmaven.test.skip=true -q
+
+FROM eclipse-temurin:21.0.10_7-jre-noble
+WORKDIR /app
+# Spring Boot repackages to *.jar; pre-repackage artifact uses .jar.original, not .jar
+COPY --from=builder /app/target/*.jar app.jar
+EXPOSE 8080
+CMD ["java", "-jar", "app.jar"]
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 0637d417..1a55f04d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -112,9 +112,7 @@ services:
     container_name: archive-backend
     restart: unless-stopped
     volumes:
-      - ./backend:/app
       - ./import:/import
-      - maven_cache:/root/.m2
     depends_on:
       db:
         condition: service_healthy
@@ -155,7 +153,7 @@ services:
       interval: 15s
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 10
-      start_period: 60s
+      start_period: 30s  # JAR starts in ~15s; was 60s when compilation happened at startup
 
   # --- Frontend: SvelteKit (Dev Server) ---
   frontend:
@@ -191,6 +189,5 @@ networks:
 
 volumes:
   frontend_node_modules:
-  maven_cache:
   ocr_models:
   ocr_cache: