diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index c43d3e5..1e794e4 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-version: "3.8"
-
 services:
   # PostgreSQL Database
   db:
@@ -9,7 +7,6 @@ services:
       POSTGRES_DB: bookhoard
       POSTGRES_USER: postgres
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DBPASS}
-      COOKIE_SECURE: false # make true in production with HTTPS
     volumes:
       - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
       - ./database/schema:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
@@ -47,7 +44,9 @@ services:
       # Local: http://localhost:8765
       # Local network: http://192.168.1.X:8765
       # Domain: https://bookhoard.example.com
-      BASE_URL: http://localhost:${SERVER_PORT}
+      BASE_URL: ${BASE_URL:-http://localhost:8765}
+      # Mark session cookies Secure; set true behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy (Caddy/nginx/traefik)
+      COOKIE_SECURE: ${COOKIE_SECURE:-false}
 
       # Rate Limiting Configuration
       TEST_MODE: ${TEST_MODE:-false}