diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index d1f8293..b2a8323 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 FROM almalinux:9.5-minimal
 
-ARG DEV_DEPENDENCIES="gcc python3-devel postgresql-devel mariadb-devel"
+ARG DEV_DEPENDENCIES="gcc python3-devel postgresql-devel mariadb-connector-c-devel"
 
 # Install only the runtime packages we need, including cronie for cron support
 # tini is used as PID 1 to reap zombie processes spawned by crond and forward
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ RUN microdnf install -y ${DEV_DEPENDENCIES} \
     && microdnf clean all
 
 COPY docker/entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
+COPY docker/json_logger.py /json_logger.py
 RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
 
 # Core
 ENV ARA_BASE_DIR=/opt/ara
+ENV PYTHONPATH=/
 # ENV ARA_SECRET_KEY=changeme        # set a stable secret in production
 # ENV ARA_ALLOWED_HOSTS="['*']"      # restrict to your hostname(s)
 # ENV ARA_TIME_ZONE=UTC              # ARA display/storage timezone
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index 39ed5cc..ea78f7a 100644
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -47,6 +47,6 @@ crond -n &
 exec python3 -m gunicorn \
   --workers="${ARA_GUNICORN_WORKERS:-4}" \
   --access-logfile - \
+  --logger-class json_logger.JsonLogger \
   --bind "[::]:${ARA_PORT:-8000}" \
-  --access-logformat '%({x-forwarded-for}i)s %l %u %t "%r" %s %b "%f" "%a"' \
   ara.server.wsgi
diff --git a/docker/json_logger.py b/docker/json_logger.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7512a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/json_logger.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+"""
+Minimal JSON logger for gunicorn.
+
+Replaces gunicorn's default text logger with structured JSON output,
+one JSON object per line. Both access and error logs are covered.
+
+Usage:
+  gunicorn --logger-class json_logger.JsonLogger ...
+"""
+
+import json
+import logging
+import time
+
+from gunicorn.glogging import Logger
+
+
+class JsonLogger(Logger):
+    """Gunicorn logger that emits one JSON object per log line."""
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    # Error / application log records                                      #
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    def setup(self, cfg):
+        super().setup(cfg)
+        # Replace every handler's formatter on both error and access loggers
+        for logger_name in ("error_log", "access_log"):
+            lgr = getattr(self, logger_name)
+            for handler in lgr.handlers:
+                handler.setFormatter(_JsonFormatter())
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    # Access log records                                                   #
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------ #
+    def access(self, resp, req, environ, request_time):
+        """Emit a structured JSON access log record."""
+        if not self.access_log.handlers or not self.cfg.accesslog:
+            return
+
+        status = resp.status
+        if isinstance(status, str):
+            status_code = int(status.split(None, 1)[0])
+        else:
+            status_code = status
+
+        record = {
+            "timestamp": time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"),
+            "level": "INFO",
+            "logger": "gunicorn.access",
+            "method": environ.get("REQUEST_METHOD", "-"),
+            "path": environ.get("PATH_INFO", "-"),
+            "query": environ.get("QUERY_STRING", "") or None,
+            "status": status_code,
+            "response_bytes": getattr(resp, "sent", None),
+            "duration_ms": round(request_time.seconds * 1000
+                                 + request_time.microseconds / 1000, 2),
+            "remote_addr": environ.get("REMOTE_ADDR", "-"),
+            "x_forwarded_for": environ.get("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR") or None,
+            "user_agent": environ.get("HTTP_USER_AGENT", "-"),
+            "referer": environ.get("HTTP_REFERER") or None,
+            "http_version": environ.get("SERVER_PROTOCOL", "-"),
+        }
+        # Drop None values for cleaner output
+        record = {k: v for k, v in record.items() if v is not None}
+
+        # Write directly to handler stream to avoid double-formatting
+        line = json.dumps(record)
+        for handler in self.access_log.handlers:
+            stream = getattr(handler, "stream", None)
+            if stream:
+                stream.write(line + "\n")
+                stream.flush()
+
+
+class _JsonFormatter(logging.Formatter):
+    """Formatter that converts a LogRecord to a single JSON line."""
+
+    def format(self, record: logging.LogRecord) -> str:
+        obj = {
+            "timestamp": self.formatTime(record, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"),
+            "level": record.levelname,
+            "logger": record.name,
+            "message": record.getMessage(),
+        }
+        if record.exc_info:
+            obj["exception"] = self.formatException(record.exc_info)
+        return json.dumps(obj)