diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8331a65..0831ab5 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # Use Node.js 18 LTS
 FROM node:20-alpine
 
-# Install MongoDB CLI tools and curl for import operations and health checks
-RUN apk add --no-cache mongodb-tools curl
+# Install MongoDB CLI tools, curl, and jq for import operations and health checks
+RUN apk add --no-cache mongodb-tools curl jq
 
 # Set working directory
 WORKDIR /app
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ EXPOSE 3000
 
 # Health check
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=3s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
-  CMD curl -f http://localhost:3000/api/health || exit 1
+  CMD curl -f http://localhost:3000/api/health | jq -e '.status == "healthy"' || exit 1
 
 # Start the application
 CMD ["npm", "start"]
diff --git a/src/app/api/health/route.ts b/src/app/api/health/route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4506706
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/api/health/route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
+import { MongoClient } from 'mongodb';
+
+export async function GET() {
+  const mongoUri = process.env.MONGODB_URI || 'mongodb://localhost/beanstalk';
+  const healthStatus: {
+    status: 'healthy' | 'degraded';
+    timestamp: string;
+    services: {
+      app: string;
+      mongodb: string;
+    };
+    mongodb_error?: string;
+    mongodb_databases?: Array<{name: string; sizeOnDisk: number}>;
+  } = {
+    status: 'healthy',
+    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
+    services: {
+      app: 'healthy',
+      mongodb: 'unknown'
+    }
+  };
+
+  try {
+    // Test MongoDB connection
+    const client = new MongoClient(mongoUri);
+    await client.connect();
+    await client.db().admin().ping();
+    
+    // List databases for diagnostics
+    const dbList = await client.db().admin().listDatabases();
+    healthStatus.mongodb_databases = dbList.databases.map((db: any) => ({
+      name: db.name,
+      sizeOnDisk: db.sizeOnDisk
+    }));
+    
+    await client.close();
+    
+    healthStatus.services.mongodb = 'healthy';
+  } catch (error) {
+    healthStatus.status = 'degraded';
+    healthStatus.services.mongodb = 'unhealthy';
+    healthStatus.mongodb_error = error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error';
+  }
+
+  const statusCode = healthStatus.status === 'healthy' ? 200 : 503;
+  return NextResponse.json(healthStatus, { status: statusCode });
+}