diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index f1e12e7..72d8320 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,21 +1,81 @@
-# repo and project folders
-.devcontainer
-.docs
+# Version control
 .git
-.github
 .gitignore
-.gitmodules
-.idea
-.vscode
-
-# docker
-Dockerfile
-.dockerignore
-docker-compose.yaml
-
-# python related
-.pyright_cache
-.pytest_cache
+.gitattributes
+
+# Development containers
+.devcontainer/
+.vscode/
+
+# Documentation
+docs/
+*.txt
+
+# Python cache and temporary files
+__pycache__/
 *.pyc
 *.pyo
 *.pyd
+.Python
+.pytest_cache/
+.coverage
+.coverage.*
+.cache
+.mypy_cache/
+.ruff_cache/
+.dmypy.json
+dmypy.json
+
+# Virtual environments
+.env
+.venv
+env/
+venv/
+ENV/
+env.bak/
+venv.bak/
+
+# Build artifacts
+build/
+dist/
+*.egg-info/
+.eggs/
+
+# IDE files
+.idea/
+.vscode/
+*.swp
+*.swo
+*~
+
+# OS files
+.DS_Store
+.DS_Store?
+._*
+.Spotlight-V100
+.Trashes
+ehthumbs.db
+Thumbs.db
+
+# Scripts (if not needed in container)
+scripts/
+
+# Log files
+*.log
+logs/
+
+# Temporary files
+tmp/
+temp/
+.tmp/
+.temp/
+
+# Test artifacts
+.tox/
+.nox/
+htmlcov/
+.coverage
+coverage.xml
+*.cover
+*.py,cover
+.hypothesis/
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9474b39..937f763 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@ ARG USER=appuser
 
 ENV RUNTIME_PACKAGES=libpq-dev
 # These packages will be deleted from the final image, after the application is packaged
-ENV BUILD_PACKAGES=gcc
+ENV BUILD_PACKAGES="gcc build-essential python3-dev"
 
 RUN apt-get update \
-    && apt-get install -y ${BUILD_PACKAGES} ${RUNTIME_PACKAGES} \
-    && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+    && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ${BUILD_PACKAGES} ${RUNTIME_PACKAGES} \
+    && apt-get clean \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+    && rm -rf /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
 
 RUN mkdir -p /opt/app/${PROJECT_NAME}
 
@@ -32,15 +34,20 @@ RUN pip install --upgrade pip \
     && pip install --user uv==${UV_VERSION}
 
 WORKDIR /opt/app/${PROJECT_NAME}
-COPY --chown=${USER}:${USER} . .
 
+# Only copy files needed to install dependencies so it can be cached 
+# (changes to source files won't invalidate cache at this point)
+COPY --chown=${USER}:${USER} pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
 RUN uv sync --frozen --no-cache --no-install-project --no-default-groups
 
+# Then copy the rest of the application
+COPY --chown=${USER}:${USER} . .
 
 # ----
 # Devcontainer adds extra tools for development
 FROM base AS devcontainer
 
+ARG USER=appuser
 USER root
 
 # Add any other tool usefull during development to the following list, this won't be included
@@ -80,6 +87,8 @@ RUN uv build --wheel
 # Deployment stage to run in cloud environments. This must be the last stage, which is used to run the application by default
 FROM base AS deployment
 
+ARG PROJECT_NAME=python-template
+
 # root is needed to remove build dependencies
 USER root
 RUN apt-get purge -y ${BUILD_PACKAGES} \