diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2318cea..40df0ea 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ RUN npx prisma generate && npm run build
 # drift from the client the application was built against. dotenv comes along
 # because prisma.config.ts imports it; in a container the environment is
 # already populated, but the file is shared with local development.
+#
+# The CLI ships Prisma Studio, which drags in React and a graph-layout engine
+# this image will never run; those are removed here. `effect` looks like part
+# of the same bundle but is not — the CLI itself requires it, and removing it
+# breaks `migrate deploy` outright. The entrypoint runs a migration on every
+# start, so an over-eager prune fails loudly at the first boot rather than
+# quietly at the worst moment.
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 FROM node:22-alpine AS migrator
 WORKDIR /cli
@@ -37,7 +44,9 @@ COPY package.json ./
 RUN PRISMA_VERSION="$(node -p "require('./package.json').dependencies.prisma")" \
  && rm package.json \
  && npm init -y > /dev/null \
- && npm install --no-audit --no-fund --omit=dev "prisma@${PRISMA_VERSION}" dotenv
+ && npm install --no-audit --no-fund --omit=dev "prisma@${PRISMA_VERSION}" dotenv \
+ && rm -rf node_modules/react node_modules/react-dom node_modules/scheduler \
+           node_modules/elkjs node_modules/@electric-sql
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # runner — standalone output plus what the migrations need