diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 3023269..d0080e5 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 FROM python:3.13-slim
 
 WORKDIR /app
+ENV PYTHONPATH=/app
 
 # Install dependencies first (layer caching)
 COPY requirements.txt .
diff --git a/backend/alembic/env.py b/backend/alembic/env.py
index 619aa60..e03bfe2 100644
--- a/backend/alembic/env.py
+++ b/backend/alembic/env.py
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 import asyncio
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
 from logging.config import fileConfig
 
 from alembic import context
 from sqlalchemy import pool
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import async_engine_from_config
 
+BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+if str(BASE_DIR) not in sys.path:
+    sys.path.insert(0, str(BASE_DIR))
+
 from app.config import settings
 from app.db.base import Base
 from app.db import models as _models  # noqa: F401 ensure all models registered