diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 00d7907..7335448 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,5 +4,7 @@ COPY server/requirements.txt ./server/
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r server/requirements.txt
 COPY server/ ./server/
 EXPOSE 8000
-CMD ["gunicorn", "-k", "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker", \
+# --preload imports the app once in the master (so create_all runs a single time)
+# before forking workers, preventing a table-creation race on first startup.
+CMD ["gunicorn", "-k", "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker", "--preload", \
      "-b", "0.0.0.0:8000", "--workers", "2", "server.app:app"]
\ No newline at end of file