diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index ae90c8c7..ddfb2925 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -182,6 +182,22 @@ ENV SOURCEBOT_LOG_LEVEL=info
 # Sourcebot collects anonymous usage data using [PostHog](https://posthog.com/). Uncomment this line to disable.
 # ENV SOURCEBOT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1
 
+# Configure dependencies
+RUN apk add --no-cache git ca-certificates bind-tools tini jansson wget supervisor uuidgen curl perl jq redis postgresql postgresql-contrib openssl util-linux unzip
+
+ARG UID=1500
+ARG GID=1500
+
+# Always create the non-root user to support runtime user switching
+# The container can be run as root (default) or as sourcebot user using docker run --user
+RUN addgroup -g $GID sourcebot && \
+    adduser -D -u $UID -h /app -S sourcebot && \
+    adduser sourcebot postgres && \
+    adduser sourcebot redis && \
+    adduser sourcebot node && \
+    mkdir /var/log/sourcebot && \
+    chown sourcebot /var/log/sourcebot
+
 COPY package.json yarn.lock* .yarnrc.yml public.pem ./
 COPY .yarn ./.yarn
 
@@ -214,9 +230,6 @@ COPY --from=shared-libs-builder /app/packages/db ./packages/db
 COPY --from=shared-libs-builder /app/packages/schemas ./packages/schemas
 COPY --from=shared-libs-builder /app/packages/shared ./packages/shared
 
-# Configure dependencies
-RUN apk add --no-cache git ca-certificates bind-tools tini jansson wget supervisor uuidgen curl perl jq redis postgresql postgresql-contrib openssl util-linux unzip
-
 # Fixes git "dubious ownership" issues when the volume is mounted with different permissions to the container.
 RUN git config --global safe.directory "*"
 
@@ -225,12 +238,19 @@ RUN mkdir -p /run/postgresql && \
     chown -R postgres:postgres /run/postgresql && \
     chmod 775 /run/postgresql
 
+# Make app directory accessible to both root and sourcebot user
+RUN chown -R sourcebot:sourcebot /app
+
 COPY supervisord.conf /etc/supervisor/conf.d/supervisord.conf
 COPY prefix-output.sh ./prefix-output.sh
 RUN chmod +x ./prefix-output.sh
 COPY entrypoint.sh ./entrypoint.sh
 RUN chmod +x ./entrypoint.sh
 
+# Note: for back-compat cases, we do _not_ set the USER directive here.
+# Instead, the user can be overridden at runtime with --user flag.
+# USER sourcebot
+
 EXPOSE 3000
 ENV PORT=3000
 ENV HOSTNAME="0.0.0.0"
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index cf90a377..22a733e3 100644
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ set -e
 # Disable auto-exporting of variables
 set +a
 
+# Detect if running as root
+IS_ROOT=false
+if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]; then
+    IS_ROOT=true
+fi
+
+if [ "$IS_ROOT" = "true" ]; then
+    echo -e "\e[34m[Info] Running as root user.\e[0m"
+else
+    echo -e "\e[34m[Info] Running as non-root user.\e[0m"
+fi
+
 # If a CONFIG_PATH is set, resolve the environment overrides from the config file.
 # The overrides will be written into variables scopped to the current shell. This is
 # required in case one of the variables used in this entrypoint is overriden (e.g.,
@@ -83,8 +95,13 @@ fi
 # Check if DATABASE_DATA_DIR exists, if not initialize it
 if [ "$DATABASE_EMBEDDED" = "true" ] && [ ! -d "$DATABASE_DATA_DIR" ]; then
     echo -e "\e[34m[Info] Initializing database at $DATABASE_DATA_DIR...\e[0m"
-    mkdir -p $DATABASE_DATA_DIR && chown -R postgres:postgres "$DATABASE_DATA_DIR"
-    su postgres -c "initdb -D $DATABASE_DATA_DIR"
+    mkdir -p $DATABASE_DATA_DIR
+    if [ "$IS_ROOT" = "true" ]; then
+        chown -R postgres:postgres "$DATABASE_DATA_DIR"
+        su postgres -c "initdb -D $DATABASE_DATA_DIR"
+    else
+        initdb -D "$DATABASE_DATA_DIR" -U postgres
+    fi
 fi
 
 # Create the redis data directory if it doesn't exist
@@ -180,13 +197,31 @@ echo "{\"version\": \"$NEXT_PUBLIC_SOURCEBOT_VERSION\", \"install_id\": \"$SOURC
 
 # Start the database and wait for it to be ready before starting any other service
 if [ "$DATABASE_EMBEDDED" = "true" ]; then
-    su postgres -c "postgres -D $DATABASE_DATA_DIR" &
+    if [ "$IS_ROOT" = "true" ]; then
+        su postgres -c "postgres -D $DATABASE_DATA_DIR" &
+    else
+        postgres -D "$DATABASE_DATA_DIR" &
+    fi
+
     until pg_isready -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres; do
         echo -e "\e[34m[Info] Waiting for the database to be ready...\e[0m"
         sleep 1
+
+        # As postgres runs in the background, we must check if it is still
+        # running, otherwise the "until" loop will be running indefinitely.
+        if ! pgrep -x "postgres" > /dev/null; then
+            echo "postgres failed to run"
+            exit 1
+        fi
     done
+    
+    if [ "$IS_ROOT" = "false" ]; then
+        # Running as non-root we need to ensure the postgres account is created.
+        psql -U postgres -tc "SELECT 1 FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname='postgres'" | grep -q 1 \
+            || createuser postgres -s
+    fi
 
-    # Check if the database already exists, and create it if it dne
+    # Check if the database already exists, and create it if it doesn't exist
     EXISTING_DB=$(psql -U postgres -tAc "SELECT 1 FROM pg_database WHERE datname = 'sourcebot'")
 
     if [ "$EXISTING_DB" = "1" ]; then
@@ -201,7 +236,7 @@ fi
 echo -e "\e[34m[Info] Running database migration...\e[0m"
 DATABASE_URL="$DATABASE_URL" yarn workspace @sourcebot/db prisma:migrate:prod
 
-# Create the log directory
+# Create the log directory if it doesn't exist
 mkdir -p /var/log/sourcebot
 
 # Run supervisord