diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ee881f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+.git
+**/node_modules
+**/.venv
+**/__pycache__
+dist
+web/dist
+.env
+.env.*
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index d6dca01..fcae3be 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Adopted from ToolFactory 0.1.2 to declare reusable-workflow permissions.
+# Adopted from ToolFactory 0.1.2 for workflow permissions and container inputs.
 # `gate` decides once which registries this tag can publish to (a job-level `if` cannot read
 # secrets) and every leg obeys its output, so a tag with no secrets is still green: gate,
 # package, the Release, and whatever else applies. After adding a secret, re-run with
@@ -245,6 +245,16 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
           ref: ${{ needs.gate.outputs.sha }}
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v7
+        with:
+          node-version: "24"
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+      - name: install
+        run: uv sync --frozen
+      - name: generate container build inputs
+        run: npx --yes toolfactory@0.1.2 build
       - uses: docker/login-action@v4
         with:
           registry: ghcr.io
@@ -262,6 +272,13 @@ jobs:
           push: true
           tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
           labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
+      - name: container runtime smoke
+        env:
+          IMAGE: ghcr.io/goatinahat/papervizagent:${{ steps.meta.outputs.version }}
+        run: >-
+          docker run --rm --entrypoint python "$IMAGE" -c
+          'from importlib.resources import files; from papervizagent.toolfactory.cli import main;
+          assert (files("papervizagent") / "web/index.html").is_file(); main(["status"])'
   publish-mcp-registry:
     needs:
       - gate
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 164e3b6..b576ebf 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
+# Run `make build` first to generate the web operations schema.
 FROM node:24-alpine AS web
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY web/package.json web/package-lock.json ./web/
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
index 501fd50..75d8a11 100644
--- a/RELEASING.md
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -50,3 +50,7 @@ wheel/sdist/MCPB contents and launch the MCPB staging directory with `uv run`
 from outside the repository. Live Codex tests are recorded under `evals/`; API
 provider credentials are not required for CI; provider wire tests use mocks,
 while the Codex path has live end-to-end coverage.
+
+Before a local `docker build`, run `make build` to generate the web operations
+schema. The release container job performs this step, then checks that the built
+image starts the CLI and contains the compiled web interface.