diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 155e1366..256aa461 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 COPY requirements.txt .
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r prod-requirements.txt
 
 COPY --chown=nobody:nogroup . .
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8055640b..3bea590e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -65,7 +65,19 @@ To get started:
    pre-commit install
    ```
 
-5. Run the webapp:
+5. First-time database setup:
+
+   Before running the server for the first time, initialise the database tables as follows:
+
+   ```bash
+   python manage.py migrate
+   ```
+
+   If you run into the following error, then you've missed this step:
+
+   `django.db.utils.OperationalError: no such table: main_skilllevel`
+
+6. Run the webapp:
 
    ```bash
    python manage.py runserver
@@ -83,19 +95,19 @@ To get started:
 
    then restart it.
 
-6. Run the tests:
+7. Run the tests:
 
    ```bash
    pytest
    ```
 
-7. Create an admin account to access admin backend:
+8. Create an admin account to access admin backend:
 
    ```bash
    python manage.py createsuperuser
    ```
 
-8. Populate the database using a snapshot of v2.0 of the framework (this is not necessarily the latest live version, so this is only used for development).
+9. Populate the database using a snapshot of v2.0 of the framework (this is not necessarily the latest live version, so this is only used for development).
 
    ```bash
    python manage.py loaddata direct_webapp/fixtures/framework-2-0.json
diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 080ec9bf..7b2534ed 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.13
+# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.12
 # by the following command:
 #
 #    pip-compile --extra=dev --output-file=dev-requirements.txt
@@ -102,8 +102,6 @@ mypy==1.20.0
     #   django-stubs
 mypy-extensions==1.1.0
     # via mypy
-mysqlclient==2.2.8
-    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
 nh3==0.3.4
     # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
 nodeenv==1.10.0
diff --git a/doc-requirements.txt b/doc-requirements.txt
index 630147ab..e2fa5e0c 100644
--- a/doc-requirements.txt
+++ b/doc-requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.13
+# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.12
 # by the following command:
 #
 #    pip-compile --extra=doc --output-file=doc-requirements.txt
@@ -120,8 +120,6 @@ mkdocstrings==1.0.3
     #   mkdocstrings-python
 mkdocstrings-python==2.0.3
     # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
-mysqlclient==2.2.8
-    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
 nh3==0.3.4
     # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
 packaging==26.0
diff --git a/prod-requirements.txt b/prod-requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e0055a91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prod-requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+#
+# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.12
+# by the following command:
+#
+#    pip-compile --extra=prod --output-file=prod-requirements.txt
+#
+asgiref==3.11.1
+    # via django
+certifi==2026.4.22
+    # via requests
+charset-normalizer==3.4.7
+    # via requests
+confusable-homoglyphs==3.3.1
+    # via django-registration
+crispy-bootstrap5==2026.3
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+diff-match-patch==20241021
+    # via django-import-export
+django==6.0.3
+    # via
+    #   crispy-bootstrap5
+    #   direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+    #   django-bootstrap5
+    #   django-crispy-forms
+    #   django-import-export
+    #   django-multiselectfield
+    #   django-registration
+    #   django-stubs-ext
+    #   django-tables2
+django-bootstrap5==26.2
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+django-crispy-forms==2.6
+    # via
+    #   crispy-bootstrap5
+    #   direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+django-import-export==4.4.0
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+django-multiselectfield==1.0.1
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+django-registration==5.2.1
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+django-stubs-ext==6.0.2
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+django-tables2==3.0.0
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+gunicorn==25.3.0
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+idna==3.13
+    # via requests
+markdown==3.10.2
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+mysqlclient==2.2.8
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+nh3==0.3.4
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+packaging==26.0
+    # via gunicorn
+requests==2.33.1
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
+sqlparse==0.5.5
+    # via django
+tablib==3.9.0
+    # via django-import-export
+typing-extensions==4.15.0
+    # via django-stubs-ext
+urllib3==2.6.3
+    # via requests
+whitenoise==6.12.0
+    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 17f76c63..27795725 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "crispy-bootstrap5",
     "gunicorn",
     "whitenoise",
-    "mysqlclient",
     "django-import-export",
     "django-multiselectfield",
     "django-tables2",
@@ -41,6 +40,9 @@ dev = [
     "types-requests",
     "beautifulsoup4",
 ]
+prod = [
+    "mysqlclient",
+]
 doc = [
     "mkdocs<2",
     "mkdocstrings",
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 39dfe18a..4b553555 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.13
+# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.12
 # by the following command:
 #
 #    pip-compile
@@ -49,8 +49,6 @@ idna==3.13
     # via requests
 markdown==3.10.2
     # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
-mysqlclient==2.2.8
-    # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
 nh3==0.3.4
     # via direct_webapp (pyproject.toml)
 packaging==26.0