diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 92a67e4..71bcace 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 .env
 node_modules/
 .direnv/
-.pre-commit-config.yaml
\ No newline at end of file
+.pre-commit-config.yaml
+data/
+src/database/db.sqlite3
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 6bf691e..5f2e887 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ COPY --from=builder /app/tsconfig.json ./
 # Set environment variables
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
 ENV LOG_LEVEL=info
+ENV DATABASE_PATH=/data/db.sqlite3
+
+# Persist runtime data (SQLite)
+VOLUME ["/data"]
 
 # Run the bot
 CMD ["bun", "run", "src/index.ts"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 522652f..9fe7bce 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,10 +47,31 @@ src/
 | `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY`    | ElevenLabs API key for voiceover        |
 | `ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID`   | Default ElevenLabs voice ID (optional)  |
 | `ELEVENLABS_MODEL`      | ElevenLabs model ID (default: `eleven_multilingual_v2`) |
+| `DATABASE_PATH`         | SQLite file path (default: `./data/db.sqlite3`) |
 | `WEB_PORT`              | Port for web dashboard (default: 3000)  |
 | `WEB_BASE_URL`          | Base URL for web dashboard              |
 | `SESSION_SECRET`        | Secret for session encryption           |
 
+## Data Persistence
+
+- Bot options and other runtime state are stored in SQLite.
+- Keep `DATABASE_PATH` on persistent storage so updates/redeploys do not reset settings.
+- Backward compatibility: if `DATABASE_PATH` is unset and `src/database/db.sqlite3` exists, it is used automatically.
+- Recommended one-time migration:
+
+```bash
+mkdir -p data && cp src/database/db.sqlite3 data/db.sqlite3
+```
+- Docker example:
+
+```bash
+docker run -d \
+	--name joel-discord \
+	-v joel_data:/data \
+	--env-file .env \
+	your-image:latest
+```
+
 ## Scripts
 
 | Script                | Description                 |
diff --git a/drizzle.config.ts b/drizzle.config.ts
index fc29e0d..9926057 100644
--- a/drizzle.config.ts
+++ b/drizzle.config.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export default {
   out: "./src/database/drizzle",
   dialect: "turso",
   dbCredentials: {
-    url: "./src/database/db.sqlite3",
+    url: process.env.DATABASE_PATH ?? "./data/db.sqlite3",
   },
   verbose: true,
   strict: true,
diff --git a/src/database/connection.ts b/src/database/connection.ts
index 09cfb62..1419eed 100644
--- a/src/database/connection.ts
+++ b/src/database/connection.ts
@@ -4,9 +4,22 @@
 
 import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/bun-sqlite";
 import { Database } from "bun:sqlite";
+import { dirname } from "node:path";
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync } from "node:fs";
 import * as schema from "./schema";
 
-const DATABASE_PATH = `${import.meta.dir}/db.sqlite3`;
+const DEFAULT_DATABASE_PATH = "./data/db.sqlite3";
+const LEGACY_DATABASE_PATH = `${import.meta.dir}/db.sqlite3`;
+
+const DATABASE_PATH =
+	Bun.env.DATABASE_PATH ??
+	(existsSync(DEFAULT_DATABASE_PATH)
+		? DEFAULT_DATABASE_PATH
+		: existsSync(LEGACY_DATABASE_PATH)
+			? LEGACY_DATABASE_PATH
+			: DEFAULT_DATABASE_PATH);
+
+mkdirSync(dirname(DATABASE_PATH), { recursive: true });
 
 const sqlite = new Database(DATABASE_PATH);
 
diff --git a/src/database/db.sqlite3 b/src/database/db.sqlite3
deleted file mode 100644
index 6c15ade..0000000
Binary files a/src/database/db.sqlite3 and /dev/null differ