diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index df5a5870..6e0a28e5 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -33,9 +33,13 @@ COPY --from=deps /app/.venv /app/.venv
 ENV PATH="/app/.venv/bin:${PATH}"
 
 # Copy app source
-COPY alembic ./alembic
-COPY alembic.ini ./alembic.ini
-COPY app ./app
+COPY backend/alembic ./alembic
+COPY backend/alembic.ini ./alembic.ini
+COPY backend/app ./app
+
+# Copy repo-level templates used by agent provisioning, etc.
+# (backend code resolves these from repo root)
+COPY templates ./templates
 
 # Default API port
 EXPOSE 8000
diff --git a/compose.yml b/compose.yml
index 14ab19dd..a07af7f9 100644
--- a/compose.yml
+++ b/compose.yml
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ services:
 
   backend:
     build:
-      context: ./backend
+      # Build from repo root so the backend image can include repo-level assets
+      # like `templates/`.
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: backend/Dockerfile
     env_file:
       - ./backend/.env.example
     environment:
@@ -53,8 +56,12 @@ services:
       context: ./frontend
       args:
         NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL: ${NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL:-http://localhost:8000}
+    # Optional, user-managed env file.
+    # IMPORTANT: do NOT load `.env.example` here because it contains non-empty
+    # placeholder Clerk keys, which can accidentally flip Clerk "on".
     env_file:
-      - ./frontend/.env.example
+      - path: ./frontend/.env
+        required: false
     environment:
       NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL: ${NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL:-http://localhost:8000}
     depends_on: