diff --git a/Dockerfile.slim b/Dockerfile.slim
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+# Slim version without GermaLemma (saves ~180MB)
+# Multi-stage Docker build for size optimization
+FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm AS builder
+
+# Install build dependencies
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    gcc \
+    g++ \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Set environment variables
+ENV PIP_CACHE_DIR="/tmp/.cache/pip" \
+    PYTHONPATH="PYTHONPATH:."
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/app/venv
+ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
+
+# Set the working directory and copy requirements
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Install Python dependencies WITHOUT germalemma
+RUN python -m venv venv
+RUN venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip wheel thinc spacy
+
+# Production stage
+FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm AS production
+
+# Install minimal runtime dependencies
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    wget \
+    coreutils \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+    && apt-get clean
+
+# Add non-root user FIRST (before copying files)
+RUN groupadd -r appuser && useradd -r -g appuser appuser
+
+# Copy virtual environment from builder and set ownership immediately
+COPY --from=builder --chown=appuser:appuser /app/venv /app/venv
+
+# Copy application code with correct ownership
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser lib /app/lib
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser systems /app/systems
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser my_utils /app/my_utils
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser download_with_progress.py /app/download_with_progress.py
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser list_spacy_models.py /app/list_spacy_models.py
+COPY --chown=appuser:appuser docker-entrypoint.sh /docker-entrypoint.sh
+
+# Set environment variables
+ENV VIRTUAL_ENV=/app/venv
+ENV PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
+ENV PYTHONPATH="PYTHONPATH:."
+
+# spaCy processing configuration - GermaLemma disabled by default
+ENV SPACY_USE_DEPENDENCIES="True"
+ENV SPACY_USE_GERMALEMMA="False"
+ENV SPACY_PARSE_TIMEOUT="30"
+ENV SPACY_MAX_SENTENCE_LENGTH="500"
+ENV SPACY_N_PROCESS="10"
+ENV SPACY_BATCH_SIZE="2000"
+ENV SPACY_CHUNK_SIZE="20000"
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+# Create directories with correct ownership
+RUN mkdir -p "/app/logs" "/app/tmp" "/local/models" && \
+    chown -R appuser:appuser "/app/logs" "/app/tmp" "/local/models" && \
+    chmod +x /docker-entrypoint.sh && \
+    chmod +x /app/download_with_progress.py && \
+    chmod +x /app/list_spacy_models.py
+
+# Set temp directories to use app directory instead of system /tmp
+ENV TMPDIR="/app/tmp"
+ENV TEMP="/app/tmp"
+ENV TMP="/app/tmp"
+
+# Switch to non-root user
+USER appuser
+
+# Define the entry point
+ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]