Image build is optimized.

flask_ml_api/Dockerfile

 # Build stage
-FROM python:3.10-alpine AS builder
+FROM python:3.10-slim AS builder
 
 # Install system dependencies
 RUN apk add --no-cache \
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY . /app
 
 # Install dependencies in separate steps to reduce memory usage
-RUN apk add --no-cache gcompat
-RUN /opt/myenv/bin/pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu && \
+RUN /opt/myenv/bin/pip install torch && \
     rm -rf /root/.cache/pip \
 RUN /opt/myenv/bin/pip install Flask && \
     rm -rf /root/.cache/pip
@@ -33,10 +32,11 @@ RUN /opt/myenv/bin/pip install sentence_transformers && \
 RUN /opt/myenv/bin/pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel
 
 # Final image
-FROM python:3.10-alpine
+FROM python:3.10-slim
 
 # Install system dependencies
-RUN apk add --no-cache
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Copy virtual environment and application from build stage
 COPY --from=builder /opt/myenv /opt/myenv