diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index f350faa77..0fbda481b 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
-/target
-/book
-/assets
-/.github
-/data
-*.tar.gz
\ No newline at end of file
+# exclude everything
+*
+
+# include source files
+!/bin
+!/crates
+!/testing
+!book.toml
+!Cargo.lock
+!Cargo.toml
+!Cross.toml
+!deny.toml
+!Makefile
+
+# include dist directory, where the reth binary is located after compilation
+!/dist
+
+# include licenses
+!LICENSE-*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9289d0056..47dd30adb 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -33,5 +33,8 @@ WORKDIR app
 # Copy reth over from the build stage
 COPY --from=builder /app/target/release/reth /usr/local/bin
 
+# Copy licenses
+COPY LICENSE-* .
+
 EXPOSE 30303 30303/udp 9001 8545 8546
 ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/reth"]