diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index cfb6496..b3095ff 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ COPY --from=builder /app/prisma/template.db ./template.db
 COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/standalone ./
 COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/static ./.next/static
 
+# Prisma CLI + schema engine for automatic schema migration on startup
+COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules/prisma ./node_modules/prisma
+COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules/@prisma/engines ./node_modules/@prisma/engines
+
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh ./
+RUN chmod +x docker-entrypoint.sh
+
 RUN mkdir -p /app/data && chown nextjs:nodejs /app/data
 
 USER nextjs
@@ -43,4 +50,4 @@ ENV PORT=3000
 ENV HOSTNAME="0.0.0.0"
 ENV DATABASE_URL="file:/app/data/prod.db"
 
-CMD ["sh", "-c", "cp -n template.db /app/data/prod.db 2>/dev/null; node server.js"]
+CMD ["./docker-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2a73e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+DB_PATH="/app/data/prod.db"
+
+if [ ! -f "$DB_PATH" ]; then
+  echo "[db] First run — creating database from template"
+  cp /app/template.db "$DB_PATH"
+fi
+
+echo "[db] Syncing schema..."
+node ./node_modules/prisma/build/index.js db push --skip-generate --accept-data-loss 2>&1 || \
+  echo "[db] ⚠ Schema sync failed, starting with existing schema"
+
+exec node server.js