diff --git a/deployment/docker-compose-local.yaml b/deployment/docker-compose-local.yaml
index b21637f1..89ee631f 100644
--- a/deployment/docker-compose-local.yaml
+++ b/deployment/docker-compose-local.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ services:
       - VITE_API_HOST=http://localhost:7091
       - VITE_API_STREAMING=$VITE_API_STREAMING
       - VITE_EMBEDDINGS_NAME=$EMBEDDINGS_NAME
+      - DOCKER=true
     ports:
       - "5173:5173"
 
diff --git a/frontend/vite.config.ts b/frontend/vite.config.ts
index ae507f82..a46077e5 100644
--- a/frontend/vite.config.ts
+++ b/frontend/vite.config.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ export default defineConfig(({ mode }) => {
             .map((h) => h.trim())
             .filter(Boolean)
         : [],
+      // Use polling for file watching when running inside Docker.
+      // Native fs events do not propagate from Windows hosts into Linux
+      // containers, so Chokidar falls back to polling which works reliably.
+      watch: env.DOCKER
+        ? { usePolling: true, interval: 300 }
+        : undefined,
     },
     test: {
       environment: 'happy-dom',