diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index a7c65ec6..237bd3b5 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -7,3 +7,9 @@ docs/.jupyter_cache
 docs/_build
 coverage.xml
 docker_build_and_run.sh
+
+# Python artifacts (prevents Docker build conflicts when .venv exists locally)
+.venv
+__pycache__
+*.pyc
+.pytest_cache