diff --git a/docker/.dockerignore b/docker/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..591bfe816
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Ignore common build artifacts and large nix store paths
+result
+result.tar.gz
+result-*.tar.gz
+dist
+dist-newstyle
+dist/*
+*.o
+*.hi
+.stack-work
+.ghc.environment.*
+.cabal-sandbox
+.cabal-sandbox/*
+node_modules
+.git
+*.lock
+**/.DS_Store
+
+# Ignore Nix store references and temporary files
+/nix
+*.drv
+*.nar
+
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cbad41a25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Lightweight Dockerfile for a static cardano-db-sync binary
+#
+# Usage (example):
+# 1. Build a static executable with Nix:
+#      nix build .#cardano-db-sync-linux
+# 2. Build the image from the project root:
+#      docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t cardano-db-sync:lightweight .
+#
+# Note: Since result/ is a Nix symlink, Docker may have issues following it.
+# If this fails, you can dereference the symlink first:
+#      mkdir -p docker/build && cp -L result/*.tar.gz docker/build/
+#      docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t cardano-db-sync:lightweight .
+#
+# Important: this Dockerfile assumes the binary is a fully static executable
+# (statically linked). If it's not static, use a small base image (see docs).
+
+# Stage 1: Extract the binary from the tarball
+FROM busybox:latest AS extractor
+ARG TARBALL
+# ADD automatically extracts tarballs
+ADD ${TARBALL} /tmp/extract/
+RUN find /tmp/extract -name cardano-db-sync -type f -exec mv {} /cardano-db-sync \; && \
+    chmod +x /cardano-db-sync
+
+# Stage 2: Minimal runtime image
+FROM ubuntu:24.04
+ARG SCHEMA_HASH
+
+# copy binary from extractor
+COPY --from=extractor /cardano-db-sync /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync
+
+# copy schema directory (must be present in build context)
+COPY schema /schema
+RUN chmod -R 755 /schema
+
+# copy entrypoint template then substitute the baked SCHEMA_HASH into it
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh.template /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh.template
+
+# Use sed to bake the SCHEMA_HASH into the entrypoint script, then cleanup template
+RUN sed "s|@SCHEMA_HASH@|${SCHEMA_HASH}|g" /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh.template \
+    > /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh && \
+    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh && \
+    rm -f /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh.template
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+CMD ["--help"]
diff --git a/docker/README.md b/docker/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d06b34099
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Lightweight Docker image for cardano-db-sync
+==========================================
+
+This folder contains a minimal Docker context and `Dockerfile` intended for use with
+a statically-built `cardano-db-sync` executable produced by Nix.
+
+## testing
+
+docker run --rm cardano-db-sync:lightweight version
diff --git a/docker/build.sh b/docker/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..69c7dd6ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Dereference the Nix result symlink and get the tarball basename
+TARBALL=$(basename "$(readlink -f result/*.tar.gz)")
+
+# copy tarball into docker build context
+cp -L result/*.tar.gz docker/
+
+# copy runtime schema into build context so it gets baked into the image
+cp -a schema docker/
+
+# compute a deterministic schema checksum (sorted file list -> combined sha)
+SCHEMA_HASH=$(cd schema && find . -type f -print0 | LC_ALL=C sort -z | xargs -0 sha256sum | sha256sum | awk '{print $1}')
+
+# Build with the exact tarball name and schema hash as build args
+docker build --build-arg TARBALL="$TARBALL" --build-arg SCHEMA_HASH="$SCHEMA_HASH" -t cardano-db-sync:lightweight docker/
+
+# Cleanup
+rm -f docker/*.tar.gz
+rm -rf docker/schema
diff --git a/docker/docker-entrypoint.sh.template b/docker/docker-entrypoint.sh.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c9ca2bda9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/docker-entrypoint.sh.template
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -eu
+
+# compute runtime checksum deterministically (sorted file list)
+runtime_hash=$(cd /schema && find . -type f -print0 | LC_ALL=C sort -z | xargs -0 sha256sum | sha256sum | awk '{print $1}')
+
+# baked checksum will be substituted at build time
+if [ "$runtime_hash" != "@SCHEMA_HASH@" ]; then
+  echo "schema checksum mismatch: runtime=$runtime_hash baked=@SCHEMA_HASH@" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+exec /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync --schema-dir /schema "$@"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker/test-image.sh b/docker/test-image.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..cdf0eaa70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/test-image.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Test the cardano-db-sync Docker image:
+# - basic invocation (defaults to --help)
+# - running with the original schema directory (should succeed)
+# - running with a modified schema (should fail and report checksum mismatch)
+# - check that the binary exists by bypassing the ENTRYPOINT
+#
+# Usage: ./test-image.sh [IMAGE] [SCHEMA_DIR]
+# Defaults:
+#   IMAGE=cardano-db-sync:lightweight
+#   SCHEMA_DIR=./schema
+
+set -uo pipefail
+
+IMAGE="${1:-cardano-db-sync:lightweight}"
+SCHEMA_DIR="${2:-./schema}"
+
+TMPDIR=""
+FAILED=0
+
+cleanup() {
+  rc=$?
+  if [[ -n "$TMPDIR" && -d "$TMPDIR" ]]; then
+    rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
+  fi
+  exit $rc
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+require_cmd() {
+  command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "required command '$1' not found" >&2; exit 2; }
+}
+
+require_cmd docker
+require_cmd mktemp
+require_cmd cp
+require_cmd sed
+require_cmd realpath
+
+echo "Image: $IMAGE"
+echo "Schema dir: $SCHEMA_DIR"
+
+if ! docker image inspect "$IMAGE" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "ERROR: Docker image '$IMAGE' not found locally." >&2
+  echo "Either build it or pull it before running this test script." >&2
+  exit 3
+fi
+
+run_container_capture() {
+  # args: container args...
+  docker run --rm "$@" 2>&1
+  return ${PIPESTATUS[0]:-0}
+}
+
+echo
+echo "1) Basic invocation (no extra mounts) - should exit 0 (show help)"
+out=$(run_container_capture "$IMAGE")
+rc=$?
+if [[ $rc -eq 0 ]]; then
+  echo "PASS: container exited 0"
+else
+  echo "FAIL: container exited with $rc"
+  echo "Output:"
+  echo "-----"
+  echo "$out"
+  echo "-----"
+  FAILED=$((FAILED+1))
+fi
+
+if [[ ! -d "$SCHEMA_DIR" ]]; then
+  echo
+  echo "WARNING: schema directory '$SCHEMA_DIR' not found; skipping schema-related tests."
+else
+  echo
+  echo "2) Run with host schema mounted to /schema (expected: success)"
+  out=$(run_container_capture -v "$(realpath "$SCHEMA_DIR")":/schema:ro "$IMAGE")
+  rc=$?
+  if [[ $rc -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo "PASS: container exited 0 with host schema"
+  else
+    echo "FAIL: container exited $rc with host schema"
+    echo "Output:"
+    echo "-----"
+    echo "$out"
+    echo "-----"
+    FAILED=$((FAILED+1))
+  fi
+
+  echo
+  echo "3) Run with a modified schema (expected: schema checksum mismatch -> non-zero and error text)"
+  TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
+  cp -a "$SCHEMA_DIR"/. "$TMPDIR"/
+  # Modify the schema to change checksum (add a small file)
+  echo "injected-change-$(date +%s)" > "$TMPDIR"/.injected-change
+
+  out=$(run_container_capture -v "$TMPDIR":/schema:ro "$IMAGE")
+  rc=$?
+  if [[ $rc -ne 0 && "$out" == *"schema checksum mismatch"* ]]; then
+    echo "PASS: schema mismatch detected as expected (exit $rc)"
+  else
+    echo "FAIL: expected schema mismatch (non-zero exit and 'schema checksum mismatch' message)."
+    echo "Exit code: $rc"
+    echo "Output:"
+    echo "-----"
+    echo "$out"
+    echo "-----"
+    FAILED=$((FAILED+1))
+  fi
+fi
+
+echo
+echo "4) Binary presence check inside image (override ENTRYPOINT so we can inspect fs)"
+# IMPORTANT: override the image ENTRYPOINT so our test runs directly in the container
+if docker run --rm --entrypoint /bin/sh "$IMAGE" -c 'test -x /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "PASS: /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync exists and is executable (entrypoint bypassed)"
+  echo "  File info:"
+  docker run --rm --entrypoint /bin/sh "$IMAGE" -c 'ls -la /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync || true; file /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync || true'
+else
+  echo "FAIL: /usr/local/bin/cardano-db-sync missing or not executable (even with entrypoint bypassed)"
+  FAILED=$((FAILED+1))
+fi
+
+echo
+if [[ $FAILED -eq 0 ]]; then
+  echo "ALL TESTS PASSED"
+else
+  echo "SOME TESTS FAILED: $FAILED failure(s)"
+  exit 4
+fi
+
+# cleanup happens via trap