diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d46082c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Exclude large model files from Docker build
+models/
+*.weights
+
+# Exclude build artifacts
+target/
+*.class
+*.jar
+
+# Exclude version control
+.git/
+.gitignore
+
+# Exclude IDE files
+.idea/
+*.iml
+.vscode/
+
+# Exclude data files
+images/
+*.db
+*.db-journal
+
+# Exclude docs
+README.md
+*.md