diff --git a/application/Dockerfile b/application/Dockerfile
index a8e778b..a37a3be 100644
--- a/application/Dockerfile
+++ b/application/Dockerfile
@@ -1,10 +1,19 @@
-FROM python:3.9
+FROM python:3.11-slim-bullseye as builder
 
+# Tiktoken requires Rust toolchain, so build it in a separate stage
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y gcc curl
+RUN curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- -y && apt-get install --reinstall libc6-dev -y
+ENV PATH="/root/.cargo/bin:${PATH}"
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip && pip install tiktoken==0.1.2
+
+FROM python:3.11-slim-bullseye
+# Copy pre-built packages from builder stage
+COPY --from=builder /usr/local/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ /usr/local/lib/python3.11/site-packages/
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY . /app
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 ENV FLASK_APP=app.py
 ENV FLASK_ENV=development
+RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
 
 EXPOSE 5000