diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8cfa199..7765628 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -49,5 +49,5 @@ USER nobody
 # Expose port
 EXPOSE 8000
 
-# Use Gunicorn config so worker lifecycle settings are explicit and env-overridable.
-CMD ["gunicorn", "app.main:app", "--config", "gunicorn_conf.py"]
+# Use environment variable for workers count and optimize for database connections
+CMD ["sh", "-c", "gunicorn app.main:app -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker --workers ${WORKERS:-5} --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --timeout 120 --max-requests 1000 --max-requests-jitter 100"]
diff --git a/gunicorn_conf.py b/gunicorn_conf.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 239a136..0000000
--- a/gunicorn_conf.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-import os
-
-
-def _int_env(name: str, default: int) -> int:
-    value = os.getenv(name)
-    if value is None or value == "":
-        return default
-    return int(value)
-
-
-bind = f"0.0.0.0:{os.getenv('PORT', '8000')}"
-worker_class = "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker"
-workers = _int_env("WORKERS", 5)
-
-# Long provider streams should not be interrupted by the default 30s graceful
-# shutdown window, and workers should not recycle while streaming requests run.
-timeout = _int_env("GUNICORN_TIMEOUT", 300)
-graceful_timeout = _int_env("GUNICORN_GRACEFUL_TIMEOUT", 300)
-keepalive = _int_env("GUNICORN_KEEPALIVE", 75)
-max_requests = _int_env("GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS", 0)
-max_requests_jitter = _int_env("GUNICORN_MAX_REQUESTS_JITTER", 0)