diff --git a/api/app.py b/api/app.py
index e3af730..1ae248d 100644
--- a/api/app.py
+++ b/api/app.py
@@ -61,5 +61,7 @@ def create_app(config_name="default"):
 
 # Server start only if we run app directly
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    from waitress import serve
     app = create_app()
-    app.run(host="0.0.0.0")
+    port = os.getenv("API_PORT", "80")
+    serve(app, host="0.0.0.0", port=port)
diff --git a/api/requirements.txt b/api/requirements.txt
index 4f817c0..20df243 100644
--- a/api/requirements.txt
+++ b/api/requirements.txt
@@ -11,4 +11,5 @@ mysql-connector-python==9.2.0
 python-dotenv==1.0.0
 SQLAlchemy==2.0.23
 typing_extensions==4.8.0
+waitress==3.0.2
 Werkzeug==3.0.1