diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 2ca2e86e87..709faa772d 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 **/node_modules
-**/.env
+api/.env
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a2b7fe7865..ed27f808bb 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 FROM node:19-alpine AS react-client
 WORKDIR /client
 # copy package.json into the container at /client
+COPY /client/.env /client/.env
 COPY /client/package*.json /client/
 # install dependencies
 RUN npm ci