diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 6538aaa..a2f204d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ services:
     # MySQL 8 defaults to caching_sha2_password; keep native auth for broad client compat
     command: --default-authentication-plugin=mysql_native_password
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost", "-u", "videodb", "-pvideodb_secret"]
+      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost", "--silent"]
       interval: 10s
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 12
diff --git a/videodb/Dockerfile b/videodb/Dockerfile
index b458b72..ac97eb4 100644
--- a/videodb/Dockerfile
+++ b/videodb/Dockerfile
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
     libjpeg-dev \
     libfreetype6-dev \
     libonig-dev \
-    default-mysql-client \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Install PHP extensions needed by videoDB
diff --git a/videodb/docker-entrypoint.sh b/videodb/docker-entrypoint.sh
index 9939062..55cd4b5 100644
--- a/videodb/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/videodb/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ PHP
 chown www-data:www-data "$CONFIG_FILE"
 echo "[entrypoint] config.inc.php written."
 
-# ── Wait for MySQL ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# ── Wait for MySQL (use PHP mysqlnd — same driver the app uses) ────────────────
 echo "[entrypoint] Waiting for MySQL at ${DB_HOST}..."
-until mysqladmin ping -h "$DB_HOST" -u "$DB_USER" -p"$DB_PASSWORD" --silent 2>/dev/null; do
+until php -r "exit(@mysqli_connect('${DB_HOST}','${DB_USER}','${DB_PASSWORD}','${DB_NAME}') ? 0 : 1);" 2>/dev/null; do
     printf "."
     sleep 2
 done