diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..233373482f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+exclude *
+exclude __pycache__
+exclude node_modules
+
+include README.md
+include MANIFEST.in
+include AUTHORS
+include CHANGES.md
+include LICENSE.md
+include pyproject.toml
+include *.py
+include uv.lock
+
+
+recursive-include src/hct_mis_api *
+recursive-include src/hct_mis_api *.html
+recursive-include src/hct_mis_api *.json
+
+recursive-exclude src/**/node_modules *.*
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index e2fb56466f..bb9c92266d 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 FROM alpine:3.19.1 as curl
 RUN apk add curl && mkdir /data
-
 FROM curl as waitforit
 RUN curl -o /data/waitforit -sSL https://github.com/maxcnunes/waitforit/releases/download/v2.4.1/waitforit-linux_amd64 \
     && chmod +x /data/waitforit
@@ -10,7 +9,7 @@ RUN curl -o /data/psql-cert.crt -L https://dl.cacerts.digicert.com/DigiCertGloba
 
 # Base image
 FROM python:3.12.7-slim-bookworm as base
-
+ENV APP_PATH=/app
 ARG UID=82
 
 RUN apt-get update \
@@ -35,20 +34,14 @@ RUN apt-get update \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
   && addgroup --system --gid "${UID}" hope \
   && adduser --system --uid "${UID}" --disabled-password --home /home/hope --shell /sbin.nologin --group hope --gecos hope \
-  && mkdir -p /code /tmp /data \
+  && mkdir -p $APP_PATH /tmp /data \
   && mkdir -p -m 0700 /run/user/"${UID}" \
-  && chown -R hope:hope /code /tmp /data /run/user/"${UID}"
-
-ENV PDM_PACKAGES=/packages
-ENV CODE=/code
-ENV PDM_PROJECT=$PDM_PACKAGES
-ENV PYPACKAGES=$PDM_PACKAGES/__pypackages__/3.12
-ENV PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX=/tmp/pycache \
-    PYTHONPATH=$PYPACKAGES/lib:$PYTHONPATH \
-    PATH=$PYPACKAGES/bin:$PATH \
-    XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/"${UID}"
+  && chown -R hope:hope $APP_PATH /tmp /data /run/user/"${UID}"
+
+
+ENV XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/"${UID}"
 ENV DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=hct_mis_api.config.settings
-WORKDIR $CODE
+WORKDIR $APP_PATH
 
 COPY --from=waitforit /data/waitforit /usr/local/bin/waitforit
 
@@ -57,8 +50,7 @@ FROM base as uv
 RUN pip install --upgrade pip &&\
     pip install uv &&\
     pip install setuptools==71.1.0
-WORKDIR $PDM_PACKAGES
-COPY README.md LICENSE pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
+COPY README.md LICENSE pyproject.toml uv.lock MANIFEST.in ./
 
 
 
@@ -77,19 +69,17 @@ RUN apt-get update \
     dbus \
   && apt-get clean \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-ENV PYTHONPATH=$CODE/src:$CODE/test/:$PYTHONPATH
+WORKDIR $APP_PATH
+COPY ./src/ ./src/
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.uv-cache \
     uv sync --cache-dir=/root/.uv-cache \
         --python=/usr/local/bin/python \
         --python-preference=system \
         --no-editable --frozen --extra distribution
-
-WORKDIR $CODE
-COPY ./src/ ./src/
 COPY ./tests ./tests
+COPY ./src/data /app/data
 COPY ./manage.py ./manage.py
-COPY .flake8 pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
+COPY .flake8 pyproject.toml uv.lock MANIFEST.in ./
 COPY ./docker/entrypoint.sh /bin/
 ENTRYPOINT ["entrypoint.sh"]
 
@@ -106,11 +96,10 @@ RUN NODE_ENV="production" NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096" yarn build
 
 # Dist builder image
 FROM uv as dist-builder
+WORKDIR $APP_PATH
 COPY ./src/ ./src/
-COPY --chown=hope:hope --from=frontend-builder /fe-build/build $PDM_PACKAGES/src/hct_mis_api/apps/web/static/web
-RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.uv-cache \
-    uv sync --cache-dir=/root/.uv-cache \
-        --python=/usr/local/bin/python \
+COPY --chown=hope:hope --from=frontend-builder /fe-build/build $APP_PATH/src/hct_mis_api/apps/web/static/web
+RUN uv sync --python=/usr/local/bin/python \
         --python-preference=system \
         --no-dev --no-editable --frozen --extra distribution
 
@@ -120,9 +109,9 @@ FROM base AS dist
 
 
 COPY ./src/gunicorn_config.py /conf/gunicorn_config.py
-COPY --chown=hope:hope --from=dist-builder $PDM_PACKAGES $PDM_PACKAGES
+COPY --chown=hope:hope --from=dist-builder $APP_PATH/.venv $APP_PATH/.venv
 COPY --chown=hope:hope --from=certs /data/psql-cert.crt /certs/psql-cert.crt
-
+COPY ./src/data /app/data
 USER hope
 
 COPY ./docker/entrypoint.sh /bin/
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index 8764f5d8fa..07cb0d5d49 100755
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
-
+source .venv/bin/activate
 wait_for_db() {
   until pg_isready -h $1 -p 5432;
   do echo "waiting for database ${1}"; sleep 2; done;
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index baecfa24ca..7d8cd40af1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ exclude = [
     "venv",
     "snapshots",
     "__pypackages__",
+    "build"
 ]
 
 strict = true
@@ -126,13 +127,6 @@ dev-dependencies = [
     "coverage<8.0.0,>=7.3.2",
 ]
 
-[build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools>=42"]
-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
-
-[tool.pdm.build]
-includes = ['src/hct_mis_api', 'src/data']
-
 [tool.pdm]
 distribution = true
 
@@ -244,5 +238,12 @@ requires-python = "==3.12.*"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = { text = "None" }
 
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools", "wheel"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
 [tool.setuptools]
-py-modules = ["hct_mis_api"]
+package-dir = { "" = "src" }
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+where = ["src"]
diff --git a/src/hct_mis_api/apps/core/es_analyzers.py b/src/hct_mis_api/apps/core/es_analyzers.py
index 023900059e..302d9c152e 100644
--- a/src/hct_mis_api/apps/core/es_analyzers.py
+++ b/src/hct_mis_api/apps/core/es_analyzers.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     filter=["lowercase", phonetic_filter],
 )
 
-with open(os.path.join(settings.PROJECT_ROOT, "../data/synonyms.txt")) as synonyms_file:
+with open(os.path.join(settings.PROJECT_ROOT, "/app/data/synonyms.txt")) as synonyms_file:
     synonyms = synonyms_file.readlines()
 
 name_synonym_analyzer_token_filter = token_filter(