diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index acb0871..4281c3c 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -91,10 +91,15 @@ services:
       - "${OMNIROUTE_API_PORT:-20129}:${OMNIROUTE_API_PORT:-20129}"
     restart: unless-stopped
     networks: [ai-stack]
+    # ponytail: TCP-connect check, not an HTTP /healthz GET — the image has
+    # no python3/curl/wget (confirmed live, `which` found only node), and
+    # OmniRoute's own Docker guide already treats a bare TCP probe on this
+    # port as an acceptable liveness check, not just the HTTP one. Simpler
+    # and avoids depending on /healthz's exact path/response shape.
     healthcheck:
       test:
         - CMD-SHELL
-        - python3 -c "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:${OMNIROUTE_API_PORT:-20129}/healthz')"
+        - node -e "require('net').connect(${OMNIROUTE_API_PORT:-20129},'localhost').on('connect',function(){this.end();process.exit(0)}).on('error',()=>process.exit(1))"
       interval: 30s
       timeout: 10s
       retries: 3