diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 85c2883..19dfbc8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,21 +4,21 @@ FROM golang:1.25.1-bookworm AS build-env
 ADD . /dockerbuild
 WORKDIR /dockerbuild
 
-RUN GIT_VERSION=$(git describe --tags --long --always) && \
+RUN GIT_VERSION=$(git describe --tags --long --always || echo "dev-local") && \
     go mod tidy && \
-    go build -o cocoon ./cmd/cocoon
+    go build -ldflags "-X main.Version=$GIT_VERSION" -o cocoon ./cmd/cocoon
 
 ### Run stage
 FROM debian:bookworm-slim AS run
 
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y dumb-init runit
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y dumb-init runit ca-certificates && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 ENTRYPOINT ["dumb-init", "--"]
 
 WORKDIR /
 RUN mkdir -p data/cocoon
 COPY --from=build-env /dockerbuild/cocoon /
 
-CMD ["/cocoon"]
+CMD ["/cocoon", "run"]
 
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/haileyok/cocoon
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.description="Cocoon ATProto PDS"
diff --git a/server/handle_actor_get_preferences.go b/server/handle_actor_get_preferences.go
index f23e26a..0407e8a 100644
--- a/server/handle_actor_get_preferences.go
+++ b/server/handle_actor_get_preferences.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ func (s *Server) handleActorGetPreferences(e echo.Context) error {
 	err := json.Unmarshal(repo.Preferences, &prefs)
 	if err != nil || prefs["preferences"] == nil {
 		prefs = map[string]any{
-			"preferences": map[string]any{},
+			"preferences": []any{},
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/server/server.go b/server/server.go
index d2d8a92..07f3ae7 100644
--- a/server/server.go
+++ b/server/server.go
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ func New(args *Args) (*Server, error) {
 		IdleTimeout:  5 * time.Minute,
 	}
 
-	gdb, err := gorm.Open(sqlite.Open("cocoon.db"), &gorm.Config{})
+	gdb, err := gorm.Open(sqlite.Open(args.DbName), &gorm.Config{})
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ func New(args *Args) (*Server, error) {
 
 	// TODO: should validate these args
 	if args.SmtpUser == "" || args.SmtpPass == "" || args.SmtpHost == "" || args.SmtpPort == "" || args.SmtpEmail == "" || args.SmtpName == "" {
-		args.Logger.Warn("not enough smpt args were provided. mailing will not work for your server.")
+		args.Logger.Warn("not enough smtp args were provided. mailing will not work for your server.")
 	} else {
 		mail := mailyak.New(args.SmtpHost+":"+args.SmtpPort, smtp.PlainAuth("", args.SmtpUser, args.SmtpPass, args.SmtpHost))
 		mail.From(s.config.SmtpEmail)