diff --git a/src/cartsnitch_api/main.py b/src/cartsnitch_api/main.py
index bd5a569..265ba54 100644
--- a/src/cartsnitch_api/main.py
+++ b/src/cartsnitch_api/main.py
@@ -25,7 +25,14 @@ from cartsnitch_api.routes.user import router as user_router
 
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
+    # Lazy import: keep `dispose_engine` out of the top-level imports so a
+    # stale or partially-built database.py never breaks module load on
+    # container start. The function is required for graceful pool cleanup
+    # on shutdown; if the import fails, the cache_client.close() that
+    # follows the yield would mask it. See CAR-1135 for the original
+    # ImportError that motivated this pattern.
     from cartsnitch_api.database import dispose_engine
+
     await cache_client.initialize()
     yield
     await cache_client.close()
diff --git a/tests/test_openapi.py b/tests/test_openapi.py
index 7379f84..5cb5f77 100644
--- a/tests/test_openapi.py
+++ b/tests/test_openapi.py
@@ -3,8 +3,21 @@
 import pytest
 from httpx import ASGITransport, AsyncClient
 
+from cartsnitch_api.database import dispose_engine
 from cartsnitch_api.main import app
 
+
+def test_dispose_engine_importable_from_database():
+    """Regression for CAR-1135: api main.py used to import dispose_engine
+    at module level. A stale database.py (no dispose_engine) crashed the
+    container at import time with ImportError on line 9. The fix moved
+    the import inside the lifespan function, but `dispose_engine` must
+    still be importable from `cartsnitch_api.database` for the lifespan
+    teardown to actually close pooled connections.
+    """
+    assert callable(dispose_engine)
+    assert dispose_engine.__name__ == "dispose_engine"
+
 EXPECTED_ROUTES = [
     # Auth (7)
     ("post", "/auth/register"),