diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index b9bdff0..c27c7a7 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ FROM python:3.13-slim
 # Install uv
 COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:latest /uv /bin/uv
 
-# Install nginx and WeasyPrint system dependencies
+# Install nginx, curl (for healthcheck), and WeasyPrint system dependencies
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     nginx \
+    curl \
     libpango-1.0-0 \
     libharfbuzz0b \
     libpangoft2-1.0-0 \
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 73e77e9..29aa7e2 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ services:
       - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
       - ./kjvstudy_org/static:/app/kjvstudy_org/static:ro
     depends_on:
-      - web
+      web:
+        condition: service_healthy
     restart: unless-stopped
 
   web:
@@ -23,3 +24,9 @@ services:
       - DISABLE_ANALYTICS=true
     restart: unless-stopped
     command: uv run uvicorn kjvstudy_org.server:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8001 --reload --reload-include '*.json'
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8001/api/health"]
+      interval: 5s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 10
+      start_period: 10s