diff --git a/dashcaddy-api/app-templates.js b/dashcaddy-api/app-templates.js
index 4597047..288e94f 100644
--- a/dashcaddy-api/app-templates.js
+++ b/dashcaddy-api/app-templates.js
@@ -2477,6 +2477,7 @@ const APP_TEMPLATES = {
     difficulty: "Intermediate",
     isSystemdService: true,
     systemdUnit: "sami-files.service",
+    logPath: "/opt/sami-files/logs/backend.log",
     healthCheck: "http://127.0.0.1:8765/api/health",
     healthCheckExpect: "ok",
     defaultPort: 8765,
@@ -2511,6 +2512,7 @@ const APP_TEMPLATES = {
       "Enable + start: systemctl enable --now sami-files.service",
       "Edit /opt/sami-files/config/servers.yaml to add your SSH targets",
       "Add the Caddy snippet (above) to your Caddyfile and reload Caddy",
+      "Mount the log dir into DashCaddy: add `-v /opt/sami-files/logs:/opt/sami-files/logs:ro` to start.sh, then recreate the container",
       "Browse to https://files.sami — log in via DashCaddy SSO"
     ],
     troubleshooting: [
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..22333b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+CONTAINER_NAME="dashcaddy-api"
+IMAGE="dashcaddy-dashcaddy-api:latest"
+DATA_DIR="/opt/dashcaddy/dashcaddy-api/data"
+CADDYFILE="/etc/caddy/Caddyfile"
+ASSETS_DIR="/var/www/dashcaddy-status/assets"
+UPDATES_DIR="/opt/dashcaddy/updates"
+BACKUPS_DIR="/opt/dashcaddy/backups"
+HOST_IP="172.17.0.1"
+# Local Technitium (binds 0.0.0.0:53) resolves *.sami + recurses for docker subnet
+# external fallback. Without this the container only has 8.8.8.8 and every
+# *.sami health-check probe fails with ENOTFOUND (uptime bars stay empty).
+DNS_PRIMARY="100.121.150.22"   # Technitium (Tailscale IP) — resolves *.sami
+DNS_FALLBACK="8.8.8.8"
+
+# Always recreate to ensure env vars are correct (CONFIG_FILE defaults to /etc/dashcaddy/ which doesn't exist)
+if docker ps -a --format "{{.Names}}" | grep -q "^${CONTAINER_NAME}$"; then
+  echo "[start.sh] Recreating container to apply correct env vars..."
+  docker rm -f ${CONTAINER_NAME}
+fi
+
+echo "[start.sh] Creating container with full config..."
+docker run -d --restart unless-stopped --name ${CONTAINER_NAME} \
+  --dns ${DNS_PRIMARY} \
+  --dns ${DNS_FALLBACK} \
+  -p 127.0.0.1:3001:3001 \
+  -v ${DATA_DIR}:/app/data \
+  -v ${BACKUPS_DIR}:/app/backups \
+  -v ${CADDYFILE}:/caddyfile \
+  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
+  -v ${ASSETS_DIR}:/app/assets \
+  -v ${UPDATES_DIR}:/app/updates \
+  -v /opt/sami-files/logs:/opt/sami-files/logs:ro \
+  -e NODE_ENV=production \
+  -e SERVICES_FILE=/app/data/services.json \
+  -e CONFIG_FILE=/app/data/config.json \
+  -e BACKUP_DIR=/app/backups \
+  -e DNS_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/app/data/dns-credentials.json \
+  -e CREDENTIALS_FILE=/app/data/credentials.json \
+  -e ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE=/app/data/.encryption-key \
+  -e HEALTH_HISTORY_FILE=/app/data/health-history.json \
+  -e HEALTH_CONFIG_FILE=/app/data/health-config.json \
+  -e CADDYFILE_PATH=/caddyfile \
+  -e CADDY_ADMIN_URL=http://${HOST_IP}:2019 \
+  -e ASSETS_DIR=/app/assets \
+  -e DASHCADDY_API_SOURCE_DIR=/opt/dashcaddy/dashcaddy-api \
+  ${IMAGE}