diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 76a8e5fc..b2ed1768 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ RUN corepack enable && corepack prepare pnpm@10.34.3 --activate
 
 # Install build dependencies for better-sqlite3 native module
 RUN apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends python3 make g++ ffmpeg && \
+    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ffmpeg gosu && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 WORKDIR /app
@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ COPY --from=builder /app/packages/web/dist packages/web/dist
 # Create data directories
 RUN mkdir -p /app/data/uploads
 
+# Non-root hardening: copy the privilege-dropping entrypoint. It chowns the
+# data volume as root, then execs the CMD as the unprivileged `node` user.
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh
+
 # Set environment defaults
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
 ENV PORT=3000
@@ -94,4 +99,5 @@ HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --start-period=30s --retries=5 \
 
 # Run the server using tsx from the server package directory
 WORKDIR /app/packages/server
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
 CMD ["node", "--import", "tsx/esm", "src/index.ts"]
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..85c79b73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Runs as root: make the (bind-mounted, host-owned) data dir writable by the
+# non-root `node` user, then drop privileges via gosu and exec the CMD. This
+# lets the container run as uid 1000 while still owning ./data on hosts where
+# the bind mount was created by a different uid.
+#
+# - Idempotent AND cheap: only chown entries not already node-owned, so after
+#   the first boot this is near-instant. A plain `chown -R` over a large
+#   uploads/ tree on slow Pi/SD storage would delay startup on EVERY restart.
+# - Non-fatal: on a bind mount that rejects chown (some CIFS/NFS backings),
+#   warn and continue rather than crash-looping under `restart: unless-stopped`
+#   (the old root container booted fine on such mounts).
+set -e
+mkdir -p /app/data/uploads
+chown node:node /app/data /app/data/uploads 2>/dev/null || true
+find /app/data ! -user node -exec chown node:node {} + 2>/dev/null || \
+  echo "docker-entrypoint: warning: could not chown /app/data; continuing (ensure it is writable by uid 1000)"
+exec gosu node "$@"