diff --git a/public/.gitkeep b/public/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b63633a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/.gitkeep
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Static assets for Next.js live here (favicon, robots.txt, icons, etc.).
+# This file only exists so the directory is tracked in git and the Docker
+# builder stage has something to COPY from.