diff --git a/frontend/nginx.conf b/frontend/nginx.conf
index 5e86569..2297cff 100644
--- a/frontend/nginx.conf
+++ b/frontend/nginx.conf
@@ -7,7 +7,12 @@ server {
   }
 
   location /api/ {
-    proxy_pass http://backend:8080/;
+    # Resolve the Docker service at request time. This prevents Nginx from
+    # exiting when the Docker DNS entry is not ready during container startup.
+    resolver 127.0.0.11 ipv6=off valid=10s;
+    set $backend_upstream http://backend:8080;
+    rewrite ^/api/(.*)$ /$1 break;
+    proxy_pass $backend_upstream;
     proxy_http_version 1.1;
 
     proxy_set_header Host $host;