diff --git a/api/.dockerignore b/api/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c0d77c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Allowlist: the Dockerfile only copies these three things, so nothing
+# else (training code, datasets, saved models, caches) is sent to the daemon.
+*
+!requirements.txt
+!src/production
+!build_models
+
+# Re-exclude junk inside the allowed paths
+**/__pycache__
+**/*.pyc
+**/*.bat
+**/.env
+**/*.env
diff --git a/caddy/.dockerignore b/caddy/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b696118
--- /dev/null
+++ b/caddy/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Allowlist: only the Caddyfile is copied into the image.
+# data/ and config/ hold TLS certificates and private keys at runtime
+# (mounted as volumes) and must never end up in the build context.
+*
+!Caddyfile