diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 4e4ea8f..f31fbcd 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -10,12 +10,13 @@ node_modules
 vendor
 public/build
 public/hot
-storage/app/private/**
-storage/app/public/**
-storage/logs/**
-storage/framework/cache/**
-storage/framework/sessions/**
-storage/framework/views/**
+# Exclude whole trees (not only /**) so Docker never tries to stat root-owned tmp dirs
+storage/app/private
+storage/app/public
+storage/logs
+storage/framework/cache
+storage/framework/sessions
+storage/framework/views
 database/*.sqlite*
 .env
 .env.*
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 5fcf5a8..75136ab 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ WORKDIR /app
 
 COPY composer.json composer.lock ./
 
-RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/tmp/cache \
-    composer install \
+RUN composer install \
         --no-dev \
         --no-scripts \
         --no-autoloader \
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/tmp/cache \
         --no-interaction
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# npm ci only (parallel with vendor — does not wait on Composer)
+# npm ci only (parallel with vendor when BuildKit is available)
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 FROM node:22-bookworm AS npm
 
@@ -26,8 +25,7 @@ WORKDIR /app
 
 COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
 
-RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.npm \
-    npm ci
+RUN npm ci
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Vite production build (needs Flux/Livewire + Laravel pagination views)
@@ -85,14 +83,14 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY --from=vendor /app/vendor ./vendor
 COPY composer.json composer.lock ./
 
-# Application source (.dockerignore excludes vendor, node_modules, public/build)
+# Application source (.dockerignore excludes vendor, node_modules, public/build, storage uploads)
 COPY . .
 
 # Built frontend assets
 COPY --from=assets /app/public/build ./public/build
 
-RUN composer dump-autoload --optimize --no-dev \
-    && mkdir -p \
+# Framework/view cache paths must exist before package:discover runs during dump-autoload
+RUN mkdir -p \
         storage/app/private \
         storage/app/public \
         storage/framework/cache \
@@ -101,6 +99,7 @@ RUN composer dump-autoload --optimize --no-dev \
         storage/logs \
         database \
         bootstrap/cache \
+    && composer dump-autoload --optimize --no-dev \
     && chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache database
 
 EXPOSE 80
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bc0017f..64a6010 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -125,6 +125,14 @@ docker compose up -d
 
 Data under `./database`, `./storage/app`, and `./storage/logs` is kept on the host.
 
+If `docker compose build` fails with `can't stat .../storage/app/private/livewire-tmp`, a container created that directory as root. Fix ownership (or remove it), then rebuild:
+
+```bash
+sudo chown -R "$USER:$USER" storage
+# or: sudo rm -rf storage/app/private/livewire-tmp
+docker compose up --build -d
+```
+
 ### Live reload while developing
 
 Default Compose uses the built image, so PHP/Blade/CSS/JS changes need a rebuild. For day-to-day work, use the dev overlay (bind-mounts the repo and runs Vite HMR):