Optimized by Gemini CLI... I hope.

Dockerfile

@@ -1,32 +1,35 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
 # Aether API - FastAPI + Gunicorn
-# Using tiangolo's optimized FastAPI image
 FROM tiangolo/uvicorn-gunicorn-fastapi:python3.11
 
 LABEL maintainer="Scott Idem <scott.idem@oneskyit.com>"
 
+# 1. Install OS dependencies FIRST. 
+# These are the slowest to install and change the least.
+# Doing this before WORKDIR or any COPY ensures maximum caching.
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    imagemagick ffmpeg curl poppler-utils && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# 2. Set the working directory
 WORKDIR /srv/aether_api
 
-# Install OS dependencies for image processing and utilities
-RUN apt-get update; \
-    apt-get install -y \
-    imagemagick ffmpeg curl poppler-utils \
-    ; \
-    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*;
-
-# Install Python requirements
-# This file is now located in the project root
+# 3. Install Python requirements
+# We only copy requirements.txt first to keep the pip install layer cached
+# as long as the dependencies themselves don't change.
 COPY requirements.txt /tmp/requirements.txt
-RUN pip install -r /tmp/requirements.txt
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r /tmp/requirements.txt
 
-# Create a reference of actual installed versions
-RUN pip freeze >> /tmp/aether_fastapi_requirements_current.txt
+# 4. Create a reference of actual installed versions
+RUN pip freeze > /tmp/aether_fastapi_requirements_current.txt
+
+# NOTE: The application source is mounted as a volume in docker-compose.yml
+# for real-time development. We don't COPY the source here to keep the 
+# image generic and the build near-instant when code changes.
 
 # Docker health check — verifies DB + Redis connectivity via the /health route.
-# Interval/timeout tuned for Gunicorn startup time.
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=60s --retries=3 \
     CMD curl -f http://localhost/health || exit 1
 
-# The application source is mounted as a volume in docker-compose.yml
-# for real-time development, but we set the default command here.
 CMD ["gunicorn", "--conf", "/conf/gunicorn_fastapi_conf.py"]