diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 62457018..6f05543d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM php:8.4-fpm
+FROM php:8.2-fpm
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="stephen@stephenneal.net"
 
 # Update OS && install utilities
@@ -37,4 +37,40 @@ RUN docker-php-ext-configure intl \
 
 # Copy PHP configuration files
 COPY local.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/local.ini
-COPY www.conf /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
\ No newline at end of file
+COPY www.conf /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
+
+# Set working directory
+WORKDIR /var/www/html
+
+# Install Nginx
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y nginx && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Install Composer
+RUN curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
+
+# Copy application skeleton (respects .dockerignore)
+# Ensure .dockerignore is set up to exclude vendor, node_modules, .env etc.
+COPY . .
+
+# Install PHP dependencies
+RUN composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev --no-interaction --no-progress
+
+# Set permissions for Laravel
+RUN chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache \
+    && chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache
+
+# Copy Nginx site configuration
+# This assumes nginx-site.conf is for Nginx and configured for Laravel
+COPY nginx-site.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
+RUN ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default || true \
+    && rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default.conf || true # Remove default Nginx config if it exists with this name
+
+# Copy deploy script (which handles migrations, caching)
+COPY deploy.sh /usr/local/bin/deploy.sh
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/deploy.sh
+
+# Expose port 80 for Nginx
+EXPOSE 80
+
+# CMD / ENTRYPOINT to start supervisor (which then starts nginx and php-fpm) will be added later.
+# Frontend asset compilation (Node.js multi-stage build) will also be added later.
diff --git a/local.ini b/local.ini
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c9d7a804
--- /dev/null
+++ b/local.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+; Custom PHP settings for production
+
+; Error reporting
+display_errors = Off
+log_errors = On
+error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT
+
+; Performance and Security
+expose_php = Off
+max_execution_time = 60 ; Increased for potentially longer scripts
+memory_limit = 256M ; Adjust based on your application's needs
+post_max_size = 32M ; Max size for POST requests
+upload_max_filesize = 32M ; Max upload file size
+date.timezone = "UTC" ; Set your preferred timezone
+
+; Opcache (ensure opcache extension is enabled in Dockerfile)
+opcache.enable=1
+opcache.enable_cli=1
+opcache.memory_consumption=128
+opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8
+opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
+opcache.revalidate_freq=0 ; Set to 0 for production (validate on every request if timestamp changed) or a higher value
+opcache.validate_timestamps=1 ; Check timestamps in production
+opcache.save_comments=1
+opcache.fast_shutdown=1
diff --git a/www.conf b/www.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a4e8c04a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/www.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+[www]
+user = www-data
+group = www-data
+listen = /var/run/php-fpm.sock
+;listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
+listen.owner = www-data
+listen.group = www-data
+listen.mode = 0660
+
+pm = dynamic
+pm.max_children = 5
+pm.start_servers = 2
+pm.min_spare_servers = 1
+pm.max_spare_servers = 3
+pm.max_requests = 500
+
+chdir = /var/www/html
+
+catch_workers_output = yes
+php_flag[display_errors] = off
+php_admin_value[error_log] = /var/log/fpm-php.www.log
+php_admin_flag[log_errors] = on