diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f4c475
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Git
+.git/
+.gitignore
+
+# IDE
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+.DS_Store
+
+# Frontend (not needed for backend image)
+admin-panel/node_modules/
+
+# Python cache
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*.so
+.venv/
+venv/
+
+# Docs
+docs/
+*.md
+!backend/requirements.txt
+
+# Testing
+.pytest_cache/
+.coverage
+htmlcov/
+
+# Logs and temp
+*.log
+tmp/
+temp/
+
+# Reports (use volume)
+reports/
+
+# NOTE: categories/ is NOT excluded — it's bundled into the backend image
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 7b36846..a6a0767 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -118,7 +118,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build Backend Docker image
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
         with:
-          context: ./backend
+          context: .
+          file: backend/Dockerfile
           push: false
           tags: trendyol-backend:test
           cache-from: type=gha
@@ -164,7 +165,8 @@ jobs:
 
             backend:
               build:
-                context: ./backend
+                context: .
+                dockerfile: backend/Dockerfile
               environment:
                 PYTHONUNBUFFERED: 1
                 DATABASE_URL: postgresql://postgres:testpassword@postgres:5432/trendyol_db
diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 7af08c5..6c30316 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -15,17 +15,20 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Copy requirements first (Docker layer caching)
-COPY requirements.txt .
+# Build context is repo root, so path is backend/
+COPY backend/requirements.txt .
 
 # Install Python dependencies
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade pip && \
     pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 
-# Copy application code
-COPY . .
+# Copy application code from backend/
+COPY backend/ .
+
+# Copy categories data (bundled into image for Coolify deployment)
+COPY categories/ /data/initial-categories/
 
 # Create data directories with proper permissions
-# These will be mounted as volumes in production
 RUN mkdir -p /data/categories /data/reports && \
     chmod -R 755 /data
 
@@ -41,10 +44,6 @@ USER appuser
 EXPOSE 8001
 
 # Health check configuration
-# - interval: Check every 30 seconds
-# - timeout: Wait 10 seconds for response
-# - start-period: Give 60 seconds for initialization (PostgreSQL + migrations)
-# - retries: Retry 5 times before marking unhealthy
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=60s --retries=5 \
     CMD curl -f http://localhost:8001/health || exit 1
 
@@ -54,5 +53,5 @@ ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
     CATEGORIES_DIR=/data/categories \
     REPORTS_DIR=/data/reports
 
-# Start with migration script (runs alembic migrations then starts uvicorn)
+# Start with migration script
 CMD ["./startup.sh"]
diff --git a/backend/startup.sh b/backend/startup.sh
index 6905f96..56f67e0 100644
--- a/backend/startup.sh
+++ b/backend/startup.sh
@@ -30,6 +30,17 @@ if [ $RETRY_COUNT -eq $MAX_RETRIES ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+# Seed categories data from bundled initial-categories if /data/categories is empty
+if [ -d "/data/initial-categories" ] && [ "$(ls -A /data/initial-categories 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
+    if [ -z "$(ls -A /data/categories 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
+        echo "📂 Seeding categories from bundled data..."
+        cp -r /data/initial-categories/* /data/categories/
+        echo "✅ $(ls /data/categories | wc -l) category files copied!"
+    else
+        echo "📂 Categories directory already has data, skipping seed."
+    fi
+fi
+
 # Run migrations
 echo "🔄 Running database migrations..."
 alembic upgrade head
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index fb4220b..b8a0d30 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ services:
   # ============================================
   backend:
     build:
-      context: ./backend
-      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: backend/Dockerfile
     restart: unless-stopped
 
     ports:
@@ -52,8 +52,7 @@ services:
       FRONTEND_URL: http://trendyol.194.187.253.230.sslip.io
 
     volumes:
-      # Persistent data volumes
-      - ./categories:/data/categories
+      # Persistent data volumes (reports persist across deploys)
       - ./reports:/data/reports
 
     depends_on: