diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
index 790e1105..b8e593f5 100644
--- a/.nvmrc
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -1 +1 @@
-v20.10.0
+20.15.1
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a2daf84b..25469e3d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,19 +1,52 @@
-# Use an official Python runtime as a parent image
-FROM python:3.11-slim
+# Build stage
+FROM python:3.12.4 as builder
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
-COPY . /app
-
 # Install system dependencies
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    curl \
+    build-essential \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Install Python dependencies
+COPY requirements /app/requirements
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements/dev.txt
-RUN pip install django
 
-RUN python manage.py migrate
-RUN python manage.py shell <<ORM
+# Install NVM and Node.js
+ENV NVM_DIR /root/.nvm
+ENV NODE_VERSION 20.15.1
+
+COPY package.json package-lock.json /app/
+
+RUN curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash \
+    && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" \
+    && nvm install ${NODE_VERSION} \
+    && nvm use v${NODE_VERSION} \
+    && nvm alias default v${NODE_VERSION} \
+    && npm install
+
+
+# Runtime stage
+FROM python:3.12.4
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy Python environment from builder
+COPY --from=builder /usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages /usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages
+COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin
+
+# Copy Node.js environment from builder
+COPY --from=builder /root/.nvm /root/.nvm
+ENV NVM_DIR /root/.nvm
+ENV PATH $NVM_DIR/versions/node/v20.11.1/bin:$PATH
+COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules /app/node_modules
+
+COPY . /app
+
+# Run migrations and create initial data
+RUN python manage.py migrate && \
+    python manage.py shell <<ORM
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 u = User.objects.filter(username='admin').first()
 if not u:
@@ -30,26 +63,16 @@ if queries == 0:
     q.save()
 ORM
 
-# Set environment variables for NVM
-ENV NVM_DIR /root/.nvm
-ENV NODE_VERSION 20
-
-# Install NVM, Node.js, and npm dependencies
-RUN curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash \
-    && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" \
-    && nvm install ${NODE_VERSION} \
-    && nvm use v${NODE_VERSION} \
-    && nvm alias default v${NODE_VERSION} \
-    && node --version \
-    && npm --version \
-    && npm install
-
-# Copy the entrypoint script
-COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
+# Copy and set permissions for the entrypoint script
+COPY --chown=myuser:myuser entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
 RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
 
 # Expose the ports the app runs on
 EXPOSE 8000 5173
 
+# Health check
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=30s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
+    CMD curl -f http://localhost:8000/ || exit 1
+
 # Set the entrypoint
 ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 93c81a92..27620959 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -100,6 +100,6 @@ Development
 
 Included is a test_project that you can use to kick the tires. You can run this via ``docker compose up``
 
-You can now navigate to 127.0.0.1:8000/explorer/ and begin exploring!
+You can now navigate to 127.0.0.1:8000/explorer/, log in with admin/admin, and begin exploring!
 
 This will also run a Vite dev server with hot reloading for front-end changes.
diff --git a/docs/development.rst b/docs/development.rst
index 90b93bc4..ff9939eb 100644
--- a/docs/development.rst
+++ b/docs/development.rst
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Run:
 
 ``docker compose up``
 
-You can now navigate to 127.0.0.1:8000/explorer/ and begin exploring!
+You can now navigate to 127.0.0.1:8000/explorer/, log in with admin/admin, and begin exploring!
 
 Installing From Source
 ----------------------