diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4361056..3e65f59 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -49,9 +49,13 @@ RP_COOKIE_DOMAIN=.playchoo.com
 POST_LOGIN_PATH=/dashboard
 ```
 
-> When running the service directly on your host (outside Docker), override
-> `REDIS_URL` to `redis://localhost:6379`. The Docker Compose files remap it to
-> `redis://redis:6379` so the container can reach the shared Redis service.
+	> When running the service directly on your host (outside Docker), override
+	> `REDIS_URL` to `redis://localhost:6379`. The Docker Compose files remap it to
+	> `redis://redis:6379` so the container can reach the shared Redis service.
+
+For production deploys copy `.env.prod` to the target host as `.env` (the compose
+file loads `./.env`) and populate it with environment-specific secrets from
+Vault before running the stack.
 
 ## Local Development
 
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 12cae6c..4f02365 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ services:
   playchoo-auth:
     build: .
     env_file:
-      - .env.prod
+      - .env
     environment:
       NODE_ENV: ${NODE_ENV:-production}
       APP_PORT: ${APP_PORT:-3700}