Dockerizing the Model API
Dockerfile for FastAPI + model, multi-stage builds, health check endpoint, docker-compose.
Why Docker?
Docker packages your API, its Python version, and all dependencies into one portable image that runs identically on any machine. It ends "works on my laptop" problems and is the standard way to ship ML services.
The Dockerfile
A Dockerfile is a recipe of build steps. Each instruction creates a cached layer, so ordering steps well speeds up rebuilds.