diff --git a/Dockerfile.claude b/Dockerfile.claude
index c7346d1..a003a5f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.claude
+++ b/Dockerfile.claude
@@ -16,14 +16,20 @@ FROM node:22-slim
 # features (status checks, commits, PR creation) — without git in the
 # image, those features fail in surprising ways once the user does any
 # real work. ca-certificates is already in the slim base; listed for
-# clarity in case the base ever drops it. socat is the privileged
-# forwarder for the in-container ssh-agent (see bot_bottle/ssh.py): the agent
-# runs as root and rejects non-root connections, so socat sits between
-# node and the agent socket. curl is here so any HTTPS_PROXY-aware
-# tool (curl itself, plus anything that shells out to it) works
-# against egress's bumped TLS without the agent needing local DNS.
+# clarity in case the base ever drops it. curl is here so any
+# HTTPS_PROXY-aware tool (curl itself, plus anything that shells out
+# to it) works against egress's bumped TLS without the agent needing
+# local DNS.
 RUN apt-get update \
-  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git ca-certificates openssh-client socat curl dnsutils python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
+  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git ca-certificates curl \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# App-specific deps. Python isn't required by claude-code itself
+# (claude-code is a Node CLI), but is convenient for the agent to
+# shell out to for ad-hoc scripts. Kept on its own layer so it can
+# be moved to a downstream image if the base ever needs to shrink.
+RUN apt-get update \
+  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Install claude-code globally. Pinned to the version verified in the v1
diff --git a/Dockerfile.codex b/Dockerfile.codex
index 1d3715b..a2a246f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.codex
+++ b/Dockerfile.codex
@@ -6,7 +6,15 @@
 FROM node:22-slim
 
 RUN apt-get update \
-  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git ca-certificates openssh-client socat curl dnsutils python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
+  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends git ca-certificates curl \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# App-specific deps. Python isn't required by codex itself
+# (codex is a Node CLI), but is convenient for the agent to shell
+# out to for ad-hoc scripts. Kept on its own layer so it can be
+# moved to a downstream image if the base ever needs to shrink.
+RUN apt-get update \
+  && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 RUN npm install -g --no-fund --no-audit @openai/codex@0.136.0 \