diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 0360cfda6..480244127 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # ============================================================
 # Stage 1: Build the picoclaw binary
 # ============================================================
-FROM golang:1.26.0-alpine AS builder
+FROM golang:1.25-alpine AS builder
 
 RUN apk add --no-cache git make
 
diff --git a/pkg/logger/logger.go b/pkg/logger/logger.go
index 54de66bf9..c14fbd464 100644
--- a/pkg/logger/logger.go
+++ b/pkg/logger/logger.go
@@ -119,13 +119,15 @@ func logMessage(level LogLevel, component string, message string, fields map[str
 	if logger.file != nil {
 		jsonData, err := json.Marshal(entry)
 		if err == nil {
-			logger.file.WriteString(string(jsonData) + "\n")
+			logger.file.Write(append(jsonData, '\n'))
 		}
 	}
 
 	var fieldStr string
 	if len(fields) > 0 {
 		fieldStr = " " + formatFields(fields)
+	} else {
+		fieldStr = ""
 	}
 
 	logLine := fmt.Sprintf("[%s] [%s]%s %s%s",