diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43795d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Rust build artifacts
+/target/
+Cargo.lock
+
+# IDE files
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+*.swp
+*.swo
+*~
+
+# OS generated files
+.DS_Store
+.DS_Store?
+._*
+.Spotlight-V100
+.Trashes
+ehthumbs.db
+Thumbs.db
+
+# Environment files
+.env
+.env.local
+.env.production
+.env.staging
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+logs/
+
+# Docker
+.dockerignore
+
+# Temporary files
+/tmp/
+*.tmp
+*.temp
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 1a08943..3bffc3d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 [workspace]
 resolver = "2"
 members = [
-    "apps/*",
     "services/*",
-    "packages/*",
-    "trainer",
 ]
 exclude = [
     "vendor/*",
@@ -27,7 +24,7 @@ tokio-util = "0.7"
 # Web framework
 axum = "0.7"
 tower = "0.5"
-tower-http = { version = "0.6", features = ["cors", "trace", "compression"] }
+tower-http = { version = "0.6", features = ["cors", "trace", "compression-br", "compression-gzip"] }
 
 # Serialization
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 23cb7e2..c59700d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-version: '3.9'
-
 services:
   api-gateway:
     build:
diff --git a/services/api/Dockerfile b/services/api/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8be0725
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/api/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Multi-stage build for optimal Docker image size
+FROM rust:1.81-slim as builder
+
+# Install system dependencies needed for building
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    pkg-config \
+    libssl-dev \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Set working directory
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Copy workspace files
+COPY Cargo.toml ./
+COPY services/api/Cargo.toml ./services/api/
+
+# Create dummy source files to build dependencies first (for better caching)
+RUN mkdir -p services/api/src && \
+    echo "fn main() {}" > services/api/src/main.rs
+
+# Build dependencies (this layer will be cached)
+RUN cargo build --bin api-gateway --release
+RUN rm services/api/src/main.rs
+
+# Copy actual source code
+COPY services/api/src ./services/api/src
+
+# Build the actual application
+RUN touch services/api/src/main.rs && \
+    cargo build --bin api-gateway --release
+
+# Runtime stage
+FROM debian:bookworm-slim
+
+# Install runtime dependencies
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    ca-certificates \
+    curl \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Create non-root user for security
+RUN groupadd -r appuser && useradd -r -g appuser appuser
+
+# Copy the binary from builder stage
+COPY --from=builder /app/target/release/api-gateway /usr/local/bin/api-gateway
+
+# Change ownership to non-root user
+RUN chown appuser:appuser /usr/local/bin/api-gateway
+
+# Switch to non-root user
+USER appuser
+
+# Expose the port that the app runs on
+EXPOSE 3000
+
+# Health check
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=3s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
+    CMD curl -f http://localhost:3000/health || exit 1
+
+# Run the binary
+CMD ["api-gateway"]
\ No newline at end of file