diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 61a7393..5d2adff 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 erl_crash.dump
 
 # Static artifacts - These should be fetched and built inside the Docker image
+# https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/Mix.Tasks.Phx.Gen.Release.html#module-docker
 /assets/node_modules/
 /priv/static/assets/
 /priv/static/cache_manifest.json
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8af7b08..14f7ea0 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,35 +1,36 @@
 # Find eligible builder and runner images on Docker Hub. We use Ubuntu/Debian
 # instead of Alpine to avoid DNS resolution issues in production.
 #
-# https://hub.docker.com/r/hexpm/elixir/tags?page=1&name=ubuntu
-# https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu?tab=tags
+# https://hub.docker.com/r/hexpm/elixir/tags?name=ubuntu
+# https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu/tags
 #
 # This file is based on these images:
 #
 #   - https://hub.docker.com/r/hexpm/elixir/tags - for the build image
-#   - https://hub.docker.com/_/debian?tab=tags&page=1&name=bullseye-20250721-slim - for the release image
+#   - https://hub.docker.com/_/debian/tags?name=bookworm-20251117-slim - for the release image
 #   - https://pkgs.org/ - resource for finding needed packages
-#   - Ex: hexpm/elixir:1.18.4-erlang-28.0.2-debian-bullseye-20250721-slim
+#   - Ex: docker.io/hexpm/elixir:1.18.4-erlang-28.0.2-debian-bookworm-20251117-slim
 #
 ARG ELIXIR_VERSION=1.18.4
 ARG OTP_VERSION=28.0.2
-ARG DEBIAN_VERSION=bullseye-20250721-slim
+ARG DEBIAN_VERSION=bookworm-20251117-slim
 
-ARG BUILDER_IMAGE="hexpm/elixir:${ELIXIR_VERSION}-erlang-${OTP_VERSION}-debian-${DEBIAN_VERSION}"
-ARG RUNNER_IMAGE="debian:${DEBIAN_VERSION}"
+ARG BUILDER_IMAGE="docker.io/hexpm/elixir:${ELIXIR_VERSION}-erlang-${OTP_VERSION}-debian-${DEBIAN_VERSION}"
+ARG RUNNER_IMAGE="docker.io/debian:${DEBIAN_VERSION}"
 
-FROM ${BUILDER_IMAGE} as builder
+FROM ${BUILDER_IMAGE} AS builder
 
 # install build dependencies
-RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y build-essential git \
-    && apt-get clean && rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/*_*
+RUN apt-get update \
+  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends build-essential git \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # prepare build dir
 WORKDIR /app
 
 # install hex + rebar
-RUN mix local.hex --force && \
-    mix local.rebar --force
+RUN mix local.hex --force \
+  && mix local.rebar --force
 
 # set build ENV
 ENV MIX_ENV="prod"
@@ -45,18 +46,20 @@ RUN mkdir config
 COPY config/config.exs config/${MIX_ENV}.exs config/
 RUN mix deps.compile
 
+RUN mix assets.setup
+
 COPY priv priv
 
 COPY lib lib
 
+# Compile the release
+RUN mix compile
+
 COPY assets assets
 
 # compile assets
 RUN mix assets.deploy
 
-# Compile the release
-RUN mix compile
-
 # Changes to config/runtime.exs don't require recompiling the code
 COPY config/runtime.exs config/
 
@@ -65,18 +68,19 @@ RUN mix release
 
 # start a new build stage so that the final image will only contain
 # the compiled release and other runtime necessities
-FROM ${RUNNER_IMAGE}
+FROM ${RUNNER_IMAGE} AS final
 
-RUN apt-get update -y && \
-  apt-get install -y libstdc++6 openssl libncurses5 locales ca-certificates \
-  && apt-get clean && rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/*_*
+RUN apt-get update \
+  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends libstdc++6 openssl libncurses5 locales ca-certificates \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Set the locale
-RUN sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen
+RUN sed -i '/en_US.UTF-8/s/^# //g' /etc/locale.gen \
+  && locale-gen
 
-ENV LANG en_US.UTF-8
-ENV LANGUAGE en_US:en
-ENV LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8
+ENV LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+ENV LANGUAGE=en_US:en
+ENV LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
 
 WORKDIR "/app"
 RUN chown nobody /app
diff --git a/lib/bodhi/release.ex b/lib/bodhi/release.ex
index a3d010c..a1582f7 100644
--- a/lib/bodhi/release.ex
+++ b/lib/bodhi/release.ex
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ defmodule Bodhi.Release do
   end
 
   defp load_app do
-    Application.load(@app)
+    # Many platforms require SSL when connecting to the database
+    Application.ensure_all_started(:ssl)
+    Application.ensure_loaded(@app)
   end
 end