diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 01ebb37..7d31ce8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -36,12 +36,14 @@ COPY --from=composer:latest /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer
 # Copy pre-built application (vendor + node_modules/public built on host)
 COPY --chown=www-data:www-data --chmod=755 . .
 
-# Clear stale caches and fix permissions
+# Clear stale caches, create SQLite DB, fix permissions
 RUN rm -rf bootstrap/cache/*.php \
     storage/framework/cache/data/* \
     storage/framework/sessions/* \
     storage/framework/views/* \
-    && chmod -R 777 storage bootstrap/cache
+    && mkdir -p database \
+    && touch database/database.sqlite \
+    && chmod -R 777 storage bootstrap/cache database
 
 # Optimise autoloader + discover packages
 RUN composer dump-autoload --optimize \
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 4186383..851723e 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ services:
       OCTANE_SERVER: frankenphp
       CACHE_STORE: file
       SESSION_DRIVER: file
+      DB_CONNECTION: sqlite
+      DB_DATABASE: /app/database/database.sqlite
     extra_hosts:
       - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
     volumes: