diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
index 201f0d21b..b1ad21b6e 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ ARG APP_HOME=/app
 WORKDIR ${APP_HOME}
 
 # we need to move the virtualenv outside of the $APP_HOME directory because it will be overriden by the docker compose mount
-ENV UV_COMPILE_BYTECODE=1 UV_LINK_MODE=copy
+ENV UV_COMPILE_BYTECODE=1 UV_LINK_MODE=copy UV_PYTHON_DOWNLOADS=0
 
 # Install apt packages
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ RUN groupadd --gid 1000 dev-user \
 {% endif %}
 
 ENV PATH="/${APP_HOME}/.venv/bin:$PATH"
+ENV PYTHONPATH="${APP_HOME}/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH"
 
 COPY ./compose/production/django/entrypoint /entrypoint
 RUN sed -i 's/\r$//g' /entrypoint