diff --git a/Dockerfile.standalone b/Dockerfile.standalone
index b942aff8..e33a2cc3 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.standalone
+++ b/Dockerfile.standalone
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     ninja-build \
     libusb-1.0-0 \
     git \
+    ccache \
     && apt-get clean \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
     && pip install --no-cache-dir packaging
@@ -171,6 +172,24 @@ ENV IDF_PATH=/opt/esp-idf
 ENV IDF_TOOLS_PATH=/root/.espressif
 ENV ARDUINO_ESP32_PATH=/opt/arduino-esp32
 
+# ── ccache for ESP-IDF compiles ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+# ESP-IDF's build system honours IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE=1 and routes every C/C++
+# compile through ccache. Cold first compile per container is unchanged
+# (cache is empty), but the second and subsequent compiles drop from
+# ~5-7 minutes to ~30-60 seconds because every ESP-IDF base object
+# (FreeRTOS, lwIP, esp_wifi, libsodium, …) hits the cache.
+#
+# Cache lives at /var/cache/ccache. Mount as a docker volume in
+# docker-compose.yml so the cache survives `docker compose up -d --build`.
+# Without the volume, the cache rebuilds itself on first compile after each
+# image rebuild — still better than no cache.
+ENV CCACHE_DIR=/var/cache/ccache
+ENV IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE=1
+RUN mkdir -p /var/cache/ccache \
+    && ccache --max-size=2G \
+    && ccache --set-config=compression=true \
+    && ccache --set-config=compression_level=6
+
 # Install ESP-IDF Python dependencies using the final image's Python
 # The requirements.txt has version constraints required by ESP-IDF 4.4.x
 RUN grep -v 'esp-windows-curses' /opt/esp-idf/requirements.txt \
diff --git a/backend/app/services/espidf_compiler.py b/backend/app/services/espidf_compiler.py
index 12b592f7..be992b9d 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/espidf_compiler.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/espidf_compiler.py
@@ -951,6 +951,14 @@ class ESPIDFCompiler:
                 str(project_dir),
             ]
 
+            # ccache: ESP-IDF's tools/cmake/project.cmake enables ccache iff
+            # the CMake variable `CCACHE_ENABLE` is truthy. We don't go through
+            # `idf.py` (which would translate the env var for us), so wire it
+            # in here. Default ON; set IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE=0 in the env to
+            # bypass without rebuilding the image.
+            if os.environ.get('IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE', '1') not in ('0', 'false', 'False', ''):
+                cmake_cmd.append('-DCCACHE_ENABLE=1')
+
             logger.info(f'[espidf] cmake: {" ".join(cmake_cmd)}')
 
             def _run_cmake():
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 77f4d5cf..38673a6a 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -23,9 +23,15 @@ services:
       - IDF_PATH=/opt/esp-idf
       - IDF_TOOLS_PATH=/root/.espressif
       - ARDUINO_ESP32_PATH=/opt/arduino-esp32
+      # ccache for ESP-IDF compiles — the named volume below persists hits
+      # across container restarts and image rebuilds. Set IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE=0
+      # to disable without changing the Dockerfile.
+      - IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE=1
+      - CCACHE_DIR=/var/cache/ccache
     volumes:
       - ./data:/app/data
       - arduino-libs:/root/.arduino15
+      - ccache:/var/cache/ccache
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost/health"]
       interval: 30s
@@ -35,3 +41,4 @@ services:
 
 volumes:
   arduino-libs:
+  ccache: