diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a084234..075469e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@
 FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
 WORKDIR /src
 
-# expose ports
-ENV ASPNETCORE_HTTP_PORTS=8081
-EXPOSE 8081
-
 # 1. Copy the .sln and .csproj files first to restore dependencies
 # This makes builds faster by caching the 'restore' layer
 COPY ["SampleApi/SampleApi.csproj", "SampleApi/"]
@@ -26,6 +22,10 @@ RUN dotnet publish "SampleApi/SampleApi.csproj" \
 FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0
 WORKDIR /app
 
+# expose ports
+ENV ASPNETCORE_HTTP_PORTS=8081
+EXPOSE 8081
+
 # Copy the contents directly
 COPY --from=build /app/publish .