diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index ee3947b2533..f6fbbc9f137 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -63,3 +63,45 @@ data/
 # Compose/profile runtime state (bind-mounted; avoid ownership/secret issues)
 hermes-config/
 runtime/
+
+# ---------- Not needed inside the Docker image ----------
+
+# Desktop app source (Tauri/Electron); never installed in the container
+apps/
+
+# Test suite — not shipped in production images
+tests/
+
+# Documentation site (Docusaurus) and supplementary docs
+website/
+docs/
+
+# Assets only used by the GitHub README
+assets/
+infographic/
+
+# Plugin-level docs (hermes-achievements ships docs/ but the runtime doesn't read them)
+plugins/hermes-achievements/docs/
+
+# Nix / Homebrew / AUR packaging metadata — irrelevant to Docker
+nix/
+flake.nix
+flake.lock
+packaging/
+
+# Design and planning documents
+plans/
+.plans/
+
+# ACP registry manifest (icon + agent.json) — not consumed at runtime
+acp_registry/
+
+# Repo-level dotfiles that are git-only or dev-tooling config
+.env.example
+.envrc
+.gitattributes
+.hadolint.yaml
+.mailmap
+
+# Top-level LICENSE (not matched by *.md); not needed inside the container
+LICENSE
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index deaba1174f7..be358ac5343 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -146,9 +146,9 @@ RUN npm install --prefer-offline --no-audit && \
 #
 # `uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --extra all --extra messaging`
 # installs the deps reachable through the composite `[all]` extra
-# (handpicked set intended for the production image), plus gateway
-# messaging adapters that should work in the published image without a
-# first-boot lazy install.  We do NOT use `--all-extras`:
+# (handpicked set intended for the production image — excludes `[dev]`),
+# plus gateway messaging adapters that should work in the published image
+# without a first-boot lazy install.  We do NOT use `--all-extras`:
 # that would pull in `[rl]` (atroposlib + tinker + torch + wandb from
 # git), `[yc-bench]` (another git dep), and `[termux-all]` (Android
 # redundancy), none of which belong in the published container.
@@ -176,14 +176,18 @@ COPY pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
 RUN touch ./README.md
 RUN uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --extra all --extra messaging --extra anthropic --extra bedrock --extra azure-identity --extra hindsight --extra matrix
 
+# ---------- Frontend build (cached independently from Python source) ----------
+# Copy only the frontend source trees first so that Python-only changes don't
+# invalidate the (relatively slow) web + ui-tui build layer.
+COPY web/ web/
+COPY ui-tui/ ui-tui/
+RUN cd web && npm run build && \
+    cd ../ui-tui && npm run build
+
 # ---------- Source code ----------
 # .dockerignore excludes node_modules, so the installs above survive.
 COPY --chown=hermes:hermes . .
 
-# Build browser dashboard and terminal UI assets.
-RUN cd web && npm run build && \
-    cd ../ui-tui && npm run build
-
 # ---------- Permissions ----------
 # Make install dir world-readable so any HERMES_UID can read it at runtime.
 # The venv needs to be traversable too.