diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index c4b809e..87818b1 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM wordpress:php8.2-apache
+FROM wordpress:php8.2-apache AS base
 
 # -------------------------------------------------
 # 1️⃣  Remove bundled themes (keep only core)
@@ -56,7 +56,12 @@ RUN mkdir -p /var/www/html/wp-content/uploads && \
     chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/wp-content
 
 # -------------------------------------------------
-# 9️⃣  Install plugins via Composer **after** core is present
+# 8️⃣  Ensure plugins directory exists before Composer
+# -------------------------------------------------
+RUN mkdir -p wp-content/plugins
+
+# -------------------------------------------------
+# 9️⃣  **Install plugins via Composer after core exists**
 # -------------------------------------------------
 COPY composer.json composer.lock ./
 RUN composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader && \
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 505071f..45f97c7 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 {
-  "name": "indymedia/indymedia-wordpress",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
   "require": {
+    "composer/installers": "^2.2",
     "wpackagist-plugin/activitypub": "^2.0",
     "wpackagist-plugin/antispam-bee": "^2.11",
     "wpackagist-plugin/archiveo-importer-wayback": "*",
@@ -20,21 +19,6 @@
     "wpackagist-plugin/webmention": "^5.0",
     "wpackagist-plugin/wp-super-cache": "^2.0"
   },
-  "repositories": [
-    {
-      "type": "composer",
-      "url": "https://wpackagist.org"
-    }
-  ],
-  "extra": {
-    "installer-paths": {
-      "wp-content/plugins/{$name}/": [
-        "type:wordpress-plugin"
-      ]
-    }
-  },
-  "minimum-stability": "dev",
-  "prefer-stable": true,
   "config": {
     "allow-plugins": {
       "composer/installers": true
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 086be47..f908a46 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ services:
       WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: wp_pass
       WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wp_db
     volumes:
-      - ./wp-data/plugins:/var/www/html/wp-content/plugins
+#      - ./wp-data/plugins:/var/www/html/wp-content/plugins
       - ./wp-data/uploads:/var/www/html/wp-content/uploads
       - ./config/php.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/custom.ini:ro
       - ./theme/images:/var/www/html/wp-content/uploads/theme-images:ro
@@ -42,4 +42,5 @@ services:
       WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: wp_pass
       WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wp_db
     volumes:
-      - ./wp-data:/var/www/html        # core files + composer.json
+      - ./composer.json:/var/www/html/composer.json:ro
+      - ./composer.lock:/var/www/html/composer.lock:ro