diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 05be1d8..1fb7c77 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 FROM python:3.10
+ARG GIT_COMMIT_SHA=unknown
+ENV GIT_COMMIT_SHA=${GIT_COMMIT_SHA}
 ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 
diff --git a/api/views/health.py b/api/views/health.py
index 12d527d..41491a3 100644
--- a/api/views/health.py
+++ b/api/views/health.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import os
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
 import requests
@@ -141,6 +142,7 @@ def health_check(request: HttpRequest) -> JsonResponse:
     data = {
         "status": "healthy" if overall_status else "unhealthy",
         "services": status,
+        "git_sha": os.environ.get("GIT_COMMIT_SHA", "unknown"),
     }
 
-    return JsonResponse(data)
+    return JsonResponse(data, status=200 if overall_status else 503)
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
index 10d7bf4..96033e9 100644
--- a/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -45,10 +45,6 @@ mkdir -p /code/api/migrations
 chmod -R 777 /code/api/migrations
 touch /code/api/migrations/__init__.py
 
-# Run makemigrations first to ensure migration files are created
-echo "Running makemigrations..."
-python manage.py makemigrations --noinput
-
 # Run migrations
 echo "Running migrations..."
 python manage.py migrate --noinput
diff --git a/tests/test_health.py b/tests/test_health.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93a6b28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_health.py
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+"""Tests for the /health/ endpoint's status-code and git_sha behavior."""
+
+import os
+import unittest
+from contextlib import ExitStack
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+from django.test import Client, override_settings
+
+
+class TestHealthCheck(unittest.TestCase):
+    """The endpoint must reflect actual dependency health in its status code."""
+
+    def setUp(self) -> None:
+        self.client = Client()
+
+    def _mock_healthy_dependencies(self, stack: ExitStack) -> None:
+        """Patch ES/Redis/telemetry so the happy path doesn't need real services."""
+        # tests/test_settings.py's ELASTICSEARCH_DSL omits http_auth (the real
+        # DataSpace/settings.py value always sets it) — health_check reads it
+        # unconditionally, so supply it here rather than touching test settings.
+        stack.enter_context(
+            override_settings(
+                ELASTICSEARCH_DSL={
+                    "default": {"hosts": "localhost:9200", "http_auth": ("user", "pass")}
+                }
+            )
+        )
+        mock_es_instance = MagicMock()
+        mock_es_instance.ping.return_value = True
+        stack.enter_context(
+            patch("api.views.health.Elasticsearch", return_value=mock_es_instance)
+        )
+        # `cache` is Django's lazy DefaultConnectionProxy — patching .set/.get
+        # as attributes on it gets forwarded to the real backend instead of
+        # being intercepted, so replace the name binding in the health module
+        # wholesale instead.
+        cache_store: dict = {}
+        mock_cache = MagicMock()
+        mock_cache.set.side_effect = lambda k, v, timeout=None: cache_store.__setitem__(k, v)
+        mock_cache.get.side_effect = lambda k: cache_store.get(k)
+        stack.enter_context(patch("api.views.health.cache", mock_cache))
+        mock_get = stack.enter_context(patch("api.views.health.requests.get"))
+        mock_get.return_value.status_code = 200
+
+    def test_returns_200_when_all_dependencies_healthy(self) -> None:
+        with ExitStack() as stack:
+            self._mock_healthy_dependencies(stack)
+            response = self.client.get("/health/")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(response.json()["status"], "healthy")
+
+    def test_returns_503_when_elasticsearch_unhealthy(self) -> None:
+        with ExitStack() as stack:
+            self._mock_healthy_dependencies(stack)
+            mock_es_instance = MagicMock()
+            mock_es_instance.ping.return_value = False
+            stack.enter_context(
+                patch("api.views.health.Elasticsearch", return_value=mock_es_instance)
+            )
+            response = self.client.get("/health/")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 503)
+        body = response.json()
+        self.assertEqual(body["status"], "unhealthy")
+        self.assertEqual(body["services"]["elasticsearch"]["status"], "unhealthy")
+
+    def test_returns_503_when_redis_unhealthy(self) -> None:
+        with ExitStack() as stack:
+            self._mock_healthy_dependencies(stack)
+            mock_cache = MagicMock()
+            mock_cache.set.side_effect = Exception("down")
+            stack.enter_context(patch("api.views.health.cache", mock_cache))
+            response = self.client.get("/health/")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 503)
+        self.assertEqual(response.json()["services"]["redis"]["status"], "unhealthy")
+
+    def test_git_sha_defaults_to_unknown(self) -> None:
+        with ExitStack() as stack:
+            self._mock_healthy_dependencies(stack)
+            stack.enter_context(patch.dict(os.environ, {}, clear=False))
+            os.environ.pop("GIT_COMMIT_SHA", None)
+            response = self.client.get("/health/")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.json()["git_sha"], "unknown")
+
+    def test_git_sha_reflects_env_var(self) -> None:
+        with ExitStack() as stack:
+            self._mock_healthy_dependencies(stack)
+            stack.enter_context(patch.dict(os.environ, {"GIT_COMMIT_SHA": "abc1234"}))
+            response = self.client.get("/health/")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.json()["git_sha"], "abc1234")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()