diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 69ac45d..54a5631 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ COPY --chown=appuser:appuser alembic/ ./alembic/
 COPY --chown=appuser:appuser scripts/ ./scripts/
 RUN chmod +x /app/scripts/*.py /app/scripts/docker-entrypoint.sh
 
-# Copy environment example (not the actual .env)
+# Copy environment files
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser .env ./.env
 COPY --chown=appuser:appuser .env.example ./.env.example
 COPY --chown=appuser:appuser pyproject.toml ./