diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index af5657c..aa0c415 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 COPY bot.py ./
 COPY vpn_bot ./vpn_bot
 
-RUN useradd --create-home --uid 10001 botuser \
-    && mkdir -p /app/data \
-    && chown -R botuser:botuser /app
-
-USER botuser
+RUN mkdir -p /app/data
 
 CMD ["python", "bot.py", "--config", "/app/config.toml"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cacafc3..6472dee 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ Files used by Docker:
 - `Dockerfile` builds a small Python image for the bot.
 - `docker-compose.yml` mounts `./config.toml` read-only into the container.
 - `docker-compose.yml` mounts `./data` to `/app/data` so SQLite data persists across restarts/rebuilds.
+- The container runs as root so it can write to the bind-mounted `./data` directory on normal Docker/Podman setups. If you change the container user, make sure that user can write to `./data`.
 - `.dockerignore` keeps secrets, local DB files, virtualenvs, and caches out of the image build context.
 
 ## Admin usage