diff --git a/Dockerfile.api b/Dockerfile.api
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14271f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile.api
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Stage 1: Build
+FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
+WORKDIR /src
+
+# Copy project files and restore (layer-cached separately for faster rebuilds)
+COPY BudgetApp.Api/BudgetApp.Api.csproj BudgetApp.Api/
+COPY BudgetApp.Storage/BudgetApp.Storage.csproj BudgetApp.Storage/
+COPY BudgetApp.Services/BudgetApp.Services.csproj BudgetApp.Services/
+COPY BudgetApp.PublicModels/BudgetApp.PublicModels.csproj BudgetApp.PublicModels/
+COPY BudgetApp.Enums/BudgetApp.Enums.csproj BudgetApp.Enums/
+RUN dotnet restore BudgetApp.Api/BudgetApp.Api.csproj
+
+# Copy source and publish
+COPY BudgetApp.Api/ BudgetApp.Api/
+COPY BudgetApp.Storage/ BudgetApp.Storage/
+COPY BudgetApp.Services/ BudgetApp.Services/
+COPY BudgetApp.PublicModels/ BudgetApp.PublicModels/
+COPY BudgetApp.Enums/ BudgetApp.Enums/
+RUN dotnet publish BudgetApp.Api/BudgetApp.Api.csproj -c Release -o /app/publish --no-restore
+
+# Stage 2: Runtime
+FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0 AS runtime
+WORKDIR /app
+COPY --from=build /app/publish .
+EXPOSE 8080
+ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "BudgetApp.Api.dll"]