diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index dd1554c..22b1a5d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -1,32 +1,40 @@
 # =============================================================================
 # Mnemosyne — production deployment
 # =============================================================================
-# Four services, all from the same image:
+# Five services:
+#   init     — one-shot sidecar: migrate + collectstatic + load_library_types
 #   app      — Django REST API + admin (gunicorn, port 8000)
-#   mcp      — FastMCP server (uvicorn, port 22091)
+#   mcp      — FastMCP server (uvicorn, port 8001)
 #   worker   — Celery worker (embedding/ingest/batch queues)
-#   web      — reverse proxy, public port 23090 (nginx)
+#   web      — reverse proxy, public port 23081 (nginx)
 #
-# External services (NOT spun up here): Postgres on Portia, Neo4j on Umbriel,
-# RabbitMQ on Oberon, S3/MinIO on Nyx, Memcached on its own host, embedder
-# and reranker on Nyx, smtp4dev on Oberon. All reached over the internal
-# 10.10.0.0/24 network.
+# External services (NOT spun up here): Postgres on Despina, Neo4j on Naiad,
+# RabbitMQ on Thalassa, S3/MinIO on Perseus, Memcached on host. All reached
+# over the internal network.
 #
 # Environment scoping
 # -------------------
 # Every service lists ONLY the environment variables it actually needs, with
-# values interpolated from the shell (typically `.env` at the project root,
-# which an Ansible role generates from a j2 template + vault secrets). No
-# `env_file:` sharing — a compromised MCP container should not see the Celery
-# broker creds or the LLM API encryption key, and the Celery worker has no
-# business knowing `ALLOWED_HOSTS`. If you add a new Django setting, decide
-# which services need it and add it only to those `environment:` blocks.
+# values interpolated from the shell (the .env at the project root is
+# generated by Ansible from a j2 template + vault secrets). No `env_file:`
+# sharing — a compromised MCP container should not see the Celery broker
+# creds or the LLM API encryption key, and the Celery worker has no business
+# knowing `ALLOWED_HOSTS`. If you add a new Django setting, decide which
+# services need it and add it only to those `environment:` blocks.
+#
+# Static files
+# ------------
+# collectstatic is run by the `init` sidecar on every `up`. Static files are
+# baked into the image at build time (/app/staticfiles by collectstatic in
+# the Dockerfile builder stage), then copied to STATIC_ROOT (/mnt/static) by
+# the init sidecar. nginx serves them directly from that bind-mounted path.
+# --clear removes stale files from the previous deploy on each run.
 #
 # Run:
 #   docker compose up -d
 #
-# The `init` sidecar (below) runs Postgres migrations and library-type
-# seeding on every `up`. Long-running services wait for it via
+# The `init` sidecar runs migrate + collectstatic + load_library_types on
+# every `up`. Long-running services wait for it via
 # `depends_on: init: service_completed_successfully` — so a failure there
 # (unreachable DB, broken migration) blocks the stack.
 #
@@ -36,7 +44,7 @@
 # in /admin/, pick an embedding API + model, and set its vector_dimensions
 # value. Bootstrap order is therefore:
 #
-#   1. docker compose up                                          # init sidecar: migrate + load_library_types
+#   1. docker compose up                                          # init sidecar: migrate + collectstatic + load_library_types
 #   2. browse to /admin/ → llm_manager → configure system embedding model
 #   3. docker compose exec app python manage.py setup_neo4j_indexes
 #
@@ -63,31 +71,22 @@ x-logging: &default-logging
 
 
 services:
-  # ── Static-file seeder: copies /app/staticfiles into the shared volume on
-  # every `up`. Runs once and exits. Without this, the named volume is only
-  # seeded the first time it's empty, so static updates between deploys
-  # would not propagate to nginx.
-  static-init:
-    image: git.helu.ca/r/mnemosyne:latest
-    command: ["sh", "-c", "cp -a /app/staticfiles/. /shared-static/"]
-    user: "0:0"
-    volumes:
-      - mnemosyne-static:/shared-static
-    restart: "no"
-    logging: *default-logging
-
-  # ── Init sidecar: one-shot Postgres migrate + library-type seed. Runs on
+  # ── Init sidecar: one-shot Postgres migrate + collectstatic + library-type seed. Runs on
   # every `up` and exits. Long-running services below depend on
   # `service_completed_successfully`, so a failure here (unreachable DB,
-  # broken migration) blocks `app`/`mcp`/`worker` from starting. Both
+  # broken migration) blocks `app`/`mcp`/`worker` from starting. All
   # commands are idempotent.
   #
+  # collectstatic copies static files baked into the image (/app/staticfiles)
+  # into STATIC_ROOT (/mnt/static) so nginx can serve them. --clear removes
+  # stale files from the previous deploy on each run.
+  #
   # Neo4j vector-index setup is NOT run here — see the header comment for
   # the operator bootstrap flow. Only library_type seeding touches Neo4j
   # from this sidecar, and it does not depend on any embedding model.
   #
-  # This sidecar only needs Postgres, Neo4j, and logging env — no S3, no
-  # Celery, no LLM encryption key. Keep it that way.
+  # This sidecar only needs Postgres, Neo4j, static files, and logging env —
+  # no S3, no Celery, no LLM encryption key. Keep it that way.
   init:
     image: git.helu.ca/r/mnemosyne:latest
     pull_policy: always
@@ -107,15 +106,16 @@ services:
       - DB_PORT=${DB_PORT}
       # Neo4j (load_library_types writes Library defaults into the graph)
       - NEOMODEL_NEO4J_BOLT_URL=${NEOMODEL_NEO4J_BOLT_URL}
-      # Logging (MNEMOSYNE_COMPONENT is injected by settings.py into every
-      # log line as a static JSON field; Alloy on puck reads the compose
-      # service name directly off the Docker label and uses that as the
-      # Loki `component` label, but we still set it here so operators
-      # tail-ing ``docker logs`` see the same attribution)
+      # Static files (collectstatic destination)
+      - STATIC_ROOT=/mnt/static
+      - USE_LOCAL_STORAGE=True
+      # Logging
       - MNEMOSYNE_COMPONENT=init
       - LOGGING_LEVEL=${LOGGING_LEVEL}
       - DJANGO_LOGGING_LEVEL=${DJANGO_LOGGING_LEVEL}
     restart: "no"
+    volumes:
+      - static:/mnt/static
     logging: *default-logging
 
 
@@ -136,6 +136,8 @@ services:
       - CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=${CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS}
       - TIME_ZONE=${TIME_ZONE}
       - LANGUAGE_CODE=${LANGUAGE_CODE}
+      - STATIC_ROOT=/mnt/static
+      - MEDIA_ROOT=/mnt/media
       # Postgres (Django ORM)
       - APP_DB_NAME=${APP_DB_NAME}
       - APP_DB_USER=${APP_DB_USER}
@@ -191,12 +193,11 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     logging: *default-logging
     depends_on:
-      static-init:
-        condition: service_completed_successfully
       init:
         condition: service_completed_successfully
     volumes:
-      - mnemosyne-media:/app/media
+      - static:/mnt/static
+      - media:/mnt/media
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8000/ready/"]
       interval: 30s
@@ -230,6 +231,8 @@ services:
       - ALLOWED_HOSTS=${ALLOWED_HOSTS}
       - TIME_ZONE=${TIME_ZONE}
       - LANGUAGE_CODE=${LANGUAGE_CODE}
+      - STATIC_ROOT=/mnt/static
+      - MEDIA_ROOT=/mnt/media
       # Postgres (McpToken lookup lives in Django ORM)
       - APP_DB_NAME=${APP_DB_NAME}
       - APP_DB_USER=${APP_DB_USER}
@@ -270,7 +273,7 @@ services:
       init:
         condition: service_completed_successfully
     volumes:
-      - mnemosyne-media:/app/media
+      - media:/mnt/media
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8001/mcp/health"]
       interval: 30s
@@ -296,6 +299,8 @@ services:
       - DEBUG=${DEBUG}
       - TIME_ZONE=${TIME_ZONE}
       - LANGUAGE_CODE=${LANGUAGE_CODE}
+      - STATIC_ROOT=/mnt/static
+      - MEDIA_ROOT=/mnt/media
       # Postgres
       - APP_DB_NAME=${APP_DB_NAME}
       - APP_DB_USER=${APP_DB_USER}
@@ -347,7 +352,7 @@ services:
       app:
         condition: service_healthy
     volumes:
-      - mnemosyne-media:/app/media
+      - media:/mnt/media
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "celery", "-A", "mnemosyne", "inspect", "ping", "-d", "celery@$$HOSTNAME"]
       interval: 60s
@@ -371,8 +376,8 @@ services:
       - "23181:80"
     volumes:
       - ./nginx/mnemosyne.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro
-      - mnemosyne-static:/var/www/static:ro
-      - mnemosyne-media:/var/www/media:ro
+      - static:/var/www/static:ro
+      - media:/var/www/media:ro
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost/live/"]
       interval: 30s
@@ -380,11 +385,20 @@ services:
       retries: 3
 
 volumes:
-  # Static files baked into the image at /app/staticfiles. The static-init
-  # service seeds this volume on every `up`, so nginx always serves the
-  # current image's static bundle.
-  mnemosyne-static:
-  # Local FileSystemStorage fallback. Production uses USE_LOCAL_STORAGE=False
-  # so this is mostly empty — kept for parity with dev and for any path
-  # that writes to MEDIA_ROOT directly.
-  mnemosyne-media:
+  # Static files written by collectstatic (run by the init sidecar on every
+  # `up`). Bind-mounted from the host so nginx can serve them directly.
+  # The host path is created by Ansible before `docker compose up`.
+  static:
+    driver: local
+    driver_opts:
+      type: none
+      device: ${STATIC_ROOT}
+      o: bind
+  # Media files. Production uses USE_LOCAL_STORAGE=False so this is mostly
+  # empty — kept for any path that writes to MEDIA_ROOT directly.
+  media:
+    driver: local
+    driver_opts:
+      type: none
+      device: ${MEDIA_ROOT}
+      o: bind
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index e3ea590..bdbd589 100644
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ case "$1" in
     # or library_type defaults need to change. A non-zero exit here blocks
     # `app`, `mcp`, and `worker` from starting.
     #
+    # collectstatic copies the static files baked into the image at build
+    # time (/app/staticfiles) into STATIC_ROOT (/mnt/static), which nginx
+    # serves directly. --clear removes any stale files from the previous
+    # deploy before copying, so deleted assets don't linger.
+    #
     # Neo4j vector-index creation is *deliberately not* bundled here. That
     # command (``setup_neo4j_indexes``) requires a system embedding model
     # with a configured ``vector_dimensions`` value, and that model is
@@ -71,7 +76,7 @@ case "$1" in
     # whole stack on it would make the admin unreachable — a chicken-and-
     # egg. Operator bootstrap flow:
     #
-    #   1. docker compose up           # init sidecar: migrate + load_library_types
+    #   1. docker compose up           # init sidecar: migrate + collectstatic + load_library_types
     #   2. browse to admin, configure system embedding model
     #   3. docker compose exec app python manage.py setup_neo4j_indexes
     #
@@ -80,6 +85,7 @@ case "$1" in
     # missing so this is visible, not silent.
     set -e
     python manage.py migrate --noinput
+    python manage.py collectstatic --noinput --clear
     python manage.py load_library_types
     ;;