diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16d069e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+.git
+.gitea
+db/*.db
+downloads/*
+!downloads/.gitkeep
+worker/__pycache__
+*.pyc
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 3aed4c4..11fa524 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ COPY backend ./backend
 RUN go build -o /out/ai-media-hub ./backend
 
 FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm
-ENV APP_ROOT=/app
+ENV APP_ROOT=/app \
+    PIP_DISABLE_PIP_VERSION_CHECK=1 \
+    PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
 WORKDIR /app
 
 RUN apt-get update \
@@ -14,14 +16,13 @@ RUN apt-get update \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 COPY worker/requirements.txt /app/worker/requirements.txt
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r /app/worker/requirements.txt
+RUN python -m pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade pip \
+    && python -m pip install --no-cache-dir -r /app/worker/requirements.txt
 
 COPY --from=go-builder /out/ai-media-hub /app/ai-media-hub
-COPY backend /app/backend
 COPY worker /app/worker
 COPY frontend /app/frontend
-COPY db /app/db
-COPY downloads /app/downloads
+RUN mkdir -p /app/db /app/downloads
 
 EXPOSE 8080
 
diff --git a/worker/requirements.txt b/worker/requirements.txt
index bc5f9fa..1702bbd 100644
--- a/worker/requirements.txt
+++ b/worker/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-yt-dlp==2026.2.15
+yt-dlp==2026.3.3