diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 81a4ac6..61a7393 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,22 +1,45 @@
-# Ignore version control files
+# This file excludes paths from the Docker build context.
+#
+# By default, Docker's build context includes all files (and folders) in the
+# current directory. Even if a file isn't copied into the container it is still sent to
+# the Docker daemon.
+#
+# There are multiple reasons to exclude files from the build context:
+#
+# 1. Prevent nested folders from being copied into the container (ex: exclude
+#    /assets/node_modules when copying /assets)
+# 2. Reduce the size of the build context and improve build time (ex. /build, /deps, /doc)
+# 3. Avoid sending files containing sensitive information
+#
+# More information on using .dockerignore is available here:
+# https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/builder/#dockerignore-file
+
+.dockerignore
+
+# Ignore git, but keep git HEAD and refs to access current commit hash if needed:
+#
+# $ cat .git/HEAD | awk '{print ".git/"$2}' | xargs cat
+# d0b8727759e1e0e7aa3d41707d12376e373d5ecc
 .git
-.gitignore
+!.git/HEAD
+!.git/refs
+
+# Common development/test artifacts
+/cover/
+/doc/
+/test/
+/tmp/
+.elixir_ls
+
+# Mix artifacts
+/_build/
+/deps/
+*.ez
 
-# Ignore build artifacts
-_build
-deps
+# Generated on crash by the VM
+erl_crash.dump
 
-# Ignore editor files
-*.swp
-*.swo
-*.swn
-*.swm
-*.swl
-*.swk
-*.swc
-*.swo
-*.beam
-*.iml
-.idea
-.vscode
-.editorconfig
+# Static artifacts - These should be fetched and built inside the Docker image
+/assets/node_modules/
+/priv/static/assets/
+/priv/static/cache_manifest.json
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 56a076a..ee7b412 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,38 +1,74 @@
+# Find eligible builder and runner images on Docker Hub. We use Ubuntu/Debian
+# instead of Alpine to avoid DNS resolution issues in production.
+#
+# https://hub.docker.com/r/hexpm/elixir/tags?page=1&name=ubuntu
+# https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu?tab=tags
+#
+# This file is based on these images:
+#
+#   - https://hub.docker.com/r/hexpm/elixir/tags - for the build image
+#   - https://hub.docker.com/_/debian?tab=tags&page=1&name=bullseye-20240904-slim - for the release image
+#   - https://pkgs.org/ - resource for finding needed packages
+#   - Ex: hexpm/elixir:1.17.3-erlang-27.0.1-debian-bullseye-20240904-slim
+#
 ARG ELIXIR_VERSION=1.17.3
-ARG OTP_VERSION=27.1
-ARG ALPINE_VERSION=3.19.3
+ARG OTP_VERSION=27.0.1
+ARG DEBIAN_VERSION=bullseye-20240904-slim
 
-ARG BUILDER_IMAGE="hexpm/elixir:${ELIXIR_VERSION}-erlang-${OTP_VERSION}-alpine-${ALPINE_VERSION}"
-ARG RUNNER_IMAGE="alpine:${ALPINE_VERSION}"
+ARG BUILDER_IMAGE="hexpm/elixir:${ELIXIR_VERSION}-erlang-${OTP_VERSION}-debian-${DEBIAN_VERSION}"
+ARG RUNNER_IMAGE="debian:${DEBIAN_VERSION}"
 
 FROM ${BUILDER_IMAGE} as builder
-ENV MIX_ENV="prod"
 
+# install build dependencies
+RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y build-essential git \
+    && apt-get clean && rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/*_*
+
+# prepare build dir
 WORKDIR /app
 
-# install build tools
+# install hex + rebar
 RUN mix local.hex --force && \
     mix local.rebar --force
 
+# set build ENV
+ENV MIX_ENV="prod"
+
 # install mix dependencies
 COPY mix.exs mix.lock ./
 RUN mix deps.get --only $MIX_ENV
 RUN mkdir config
 
-# Copy files
+# copy compile-time config files before we compile dependencies
+# to ensure any relevant config change will trigger the dependencies
+# to be re-compiled.
 COPY config/config.exs config/${MIX_ENV}.exs config/
+RUN mix deps.compile
+
 COPY priv priv
+
 COPY lib lib
 
-# Compile then create binary
+# Compile the release
 RUN mix compile
-RUN mix release
 
+# Changes to config/runtime.exs don't require recompiling the code
 COPY config/runtime.exs config/
 
+COPY rel rel
+RUN mix release
+
+# start a new build stage so that the final image will only contain
+# the compiled release and other runtime necessities
 FROM ${RUNNER_IMAGE}
 
+RUN apt-get update -y && \
+  apt-get install -y libstdc++6 openssl libncurses5 locales ca-certificates \
+  && apt-get clean && rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/*_*
+
 # Set the locale
+RUN sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen
+
 ENV LANG en_US.UTF-8
 ENV LANGUAGE en_US:en
 ENV LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8
@@ -48,4 +84,9 @@ COPY --from=builder --chown=nobody:root /app/_build/${MIX_ENV}/rel/timecopsync_p
 
 USER nobody
 
-CMD ["/app/bin/server"]
\ No newline at end of file
+# If using an environment that doesn't automatically reap zombie processes, it is
+# advised to add an init process such as tini via `apt-get install`
+# above and adding an entrypoint. See https://github.com/krallin/tini for details
+# ENTRYPOINT ["/tini", "--"]
+
+CMD ["/app/bin/server"]
diff --git a/lib/timecopsync_projects_api/release.ex b/lib/timecopsync_projects_api/release.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6619352
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/timecopsync_projects_api/release.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+defmodule TimecopsyncProjectsApi.Release do
+  @moduledoc """
+  Used for executing DB release tasks when run in production without Mix
+  installed.
+  """
+  @app :timecopsync_projects_api
+
+  def migrate do
+    load_app()
+
+    for repo <- repos() do
+      {:ok, _, _} = Ecto.Migrator.with_repo(repo, &Ecto.Migrator.run(&1, :up, all: true))
+    end
+  end
+
+  def rollback(repo, version) do
+    load_app()
+    {:ok, _, _} = Ecto.Migrator.with_repo(repo, &Ecto.Migrator.run(&1, :down, to: version))
+  end
+
+  defp repos do
+    Application.fetch_env!(@app, :ecto_repos)
+  end
+
+  defp load_app do
+    Application.load(@app)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index d03c34c..026c457 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ defmodule TimecopsyncProjectsApi.MixProject do
   def project do
     [
       app: :timecopsync_projects_api,
-      version: "1.0.0",
+      version: "1.0.1",
       elixir: "~> 1.14",
       elixirc_paths: elixirc_paths(Mix.env()),
       start_permanent: Mix.env() == :prod,
diff --git a/rel/overlays/bin/migrate b/rel/overlays/bin/migrate
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6149576
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rel/overlays/bin/migrate
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+
+cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "$0")"
+exec ./timecopsync_projects_api eval TimecopsyncProjectsApi.Release.migrate
diff --git a/rel/overlays/bin/migrate.bat b/rel/overlays/bin/migrate.bat
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ce7c3a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rel/overlays/bin/migrate.bat
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+call "%~dp0\timecopsync_projects_api" eval TimecopsyncProjectsApi.Release.migrate
diff --git a/rel/overlays/bin/server b/rel/overlays/bin/server
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c8a1890
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rel/overlays/bin/server
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+
+cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "$0")"
+PHX_SERVER=true exec ./timecopsync_projects_api start
diff --git a/rel/overlays/bin/server.bat b/rel/overlays/bin/server.bat
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..639d0d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rel/overlays/bin/server.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+set PHX_SERVER=true
+call "%~dp0\timecopsync_projects_api" start