diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index bd0a4ab..5cca530 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -27,5 +27,6 @@ RUN mkdir -p /tmp/log/celery && \
     chown celery:celery celerybeat-schedule
 RUN find . -name "*.sh" -exec chmod +x {} \;
 RUN echo $WORKDIR
+RUN /bin/bash -c 'source $WORKDIR/docker/pygentic_ai/build.sh'
 RUN /bin/bash -c 'source $WORKDIR/docker/pygentic_ai/python_build.sh'
 CMD /bin/bash -c 'source $WORKDIR/docker/pygentic_ai/python_start.sh'
diff --git a/docker/pygentic_ai/build.sh b/docker/pygentic_ai/build.sh
index c238eae..bc8d1c6 100755
--- a/docker/pygentic_ai/build.sh
+++ b/docker/pygentic_ai/build.sh
@@ -3,15 +3,28 @@
 export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 export TZ='America/New York'
 
+# Install software-properties-common for add-apt-repository
 apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
-apt-get install openssh-client \
-    python3-dev \
-    python3-full \
-    python3-venv \
-    python3-pip \
+apt-get install -y software-properties-common
+
+# Add deadsnakes PPA for Python 3.13
+add-apt-repository -y ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
+apt-get update
+
+# Install Python 3.13 and other dependencies
+apt-get install -y \
+    openssh-client \
+    python3.13 \
+    python3.13-dev \
+    python3.13-venv \
+    python3.13-distutils \
     git \
     postgresql \
     supervisor \
     g++ \
     gcc \
-    locales -y
+    locales
+
+# Set Python 3.13 as the default python3
+update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.13 1
+update-alternatives --set python3 /usr/bin/python3.13
diff --git a/docker/pygentic_ai/python_build.sh b/docker/pygentic_ai/python_build.sh
index a03584f..907ffa7 100755
--- a/docker/pygentic_ai/python_build.sh
+++ b/docker/pygentic_ai/python_build.sh
@@ -3,8 +3,17 @@
 curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
 PATH="/root/.local/bin/:$PATH"
 cd /opt/pygentic_ai || exit
-uv venv .venv
+
+# Verify Python version
+python3 --version
+
+# Create venv with Python 3.13
+uv venv .venv --python python3.13
 source .venv/bin/activate
+
+# Verify venv Python version
+python --version
+
 for FILE in core_requirements dev_requirements
 do
 	uv pip compile --upgrade $FILE.in -o $FILE.txt
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index c3382f3..5e164c6 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ classifiers = [
     "Operating System :: OS Independent",
 ]
 version = "1.0.0b0"
-requires-python = ">=3.12"
+requires-python = ">=3.13"
 dependencies = [
     "aiofiles>=24.1.0",
     "aiomysql>=0.2.0",