diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d7f88cd..690c761 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,3 +9,7 @@
 
 # Personal cloud-init overrides (not shared)
 deploy/my-cloud-init.yml
+
+# MemPalace per-project files (issue #185)
+mempalace.yaml
+entities.json
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ac1a441..fcc122e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ Tags follow `v{opencode_version}[letter]` — bare tag for the first build on a
 
 ---
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- **Cleanup:** Remove dead `INSTALL_PYTHON` build arg. Python 3 + pip + venv have been unconditionally installed in the base layer since mempalace was added; the flag was a no-op. Users should use `uv` (pre-installed) or `uvx` for Python tooling.
+
 ## v1.14.28b — 2026-04-27
 
 - **Feature:** Add MemPalace local-first AI memory system to base image. Provides 29 MCP tools for semantic search over conversation history, knowledge graph queries, and agent diaries. Palace data persists via optional `devbox-palace` named volume, ChromaDB embedding model cache via `devbox-chroma-cache`. No API keys required.
diff --git a/DOCKER_HUB.md b/DOCKER_HUB.md
index 045eae3..7921cd4 100644
--- a/DOCKER_HUB.md
+++ b/DOCKER_HUB.md
@@ -520,7 +520,6 @@ Everything in the base image, plus:
 
 When [building from source](https://gitea.jordbo.se/joakimp/opencode-devbox), additional runtimes are available via build args:
 
-- **Python 3** (`INSTALL_PYTHON=true`) — Python 3 + pip + venv
 - **Go** (`INSTALL_GO=true`) — Go toolchain
 
 ## oh-my-opencode-slim (OMOS variant)
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index bae2607..f8faeb6 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -160,15 +160,7 @@ RUN ARCH=$(case "${TARGETARCH}" in \
     unzip -q /tmp/awscli.zip -d /tmp && \
     /tmp/aws/install && \
     rm -rf /tmp/aws /tmp/awscli.zip && \
-    aws --version
-
-# ── Optional: Python ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
-ARG INSTALL_PYTHON=false
-RUN if [ "${INSTALL_PYTHON}" = "true" ]; then \
-      apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-        python3 python3-pip python3-venv && \
-      rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*; \
-    fi
+     aws --version
 
 # ── Optional: Go ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 ARG INSTALL_GO=false
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6eec796..65c07c5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -330,13 +330,12 @@ docker compose run --rm --build devbox
 Enable optional language runtimes or pin a specific opencode version:
 
 ```bash
-docker compose build --build-arg INSTALL_PYTHON=true --build-arg INSTALL_GO=true
+docker compose build --build-arg INSTALL_GO=true
 docker compose build --build-arg OPENCODE_VERSION=1.5.0
 ```
 
 | Arg | Default | Description |
 |---|---|---|
-| `INSTALL_PYTHON` | `false` | Python 3 + pip + venv |
 | `INSTALL_GO` | `false` | Go toolchain |
 | `INSTALL_OMOS` | `false` | [oh-my-opencode-slim](https://github.com/alvinunreal/oh-my-opencode-slim) multi-agent orchestration (installs Bun and plugin) |
 | `OMOS_VERSION` | `latest` | Pin a specific oh-my-opencode-slim version |
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 29b4e5f..e8ec1a1 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ services:
     # build:
     #   context: .
     #   args:
-    #     INSTALL_PYTHON: "false"
     #     INSTALL_GO: "false"
     #     INSTALL_OMOS: "false"
     container_name: opencode-devbox