diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index ed27b6b..c7f3ec0 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -9,13 +9,22 @@ COPY package*.json ./
 COPY .npmrc ./
 COPY prisma ./prisma/
 
-RUN npm ci
+# npm ci can exit 0 on some Docker Desktop setups while leaving node_modules/.bin
+# empty ("Exit handler never called!") — then `prisma` / `nest` are "not found".
+RUN npm ci --no-audit --no-fund || true; \
+    if [ ! -e node_modules/.bin/prisma ] || [ ! -e node_modules/.bin/nest ]; then \
+      echo "Incomplete npm ci (missing .bin links) — falling back to npm install"; \
+      rm -rf node_modules; \
+      npm install --no-audit --no-fund; \
+    fi; \
+    test -e node_modules/.bin/prisma; \
+    test -e node_modules/.bin/nest
 
 COPY . .
 
 RUN npm run prisma:generate
 RUN npm run build
-RUN npm prune --production
+RUN npm prune --omit=dev
 
 
 # ============================================
diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
index decbf22..378b2a3 100644
--- a/frontend/Dockerfile
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,14 @@ FROM node:20-alpine AS builder
 WORKDIR /app
 
 COPY package*.json ./
-RUN npm ci
+# Same safeguard as backend: incomplete npm ci can leave node_modules/.bin empty.
+RUN npm ci --no-audit --no-fund || true; \
+    if [ ! -e node_modules/.bin/next ]; then \
+      echo "Incomplete npm ci (missing .bin links) — falling back to npm install"; \
+      rm -rf node_modules; \
+      npm install --no-audit --no-fund; \
+    fi; \
+    test -e node_modules/.bin/next
 
 COPY . .