diff --git a/charactergarden/.env.example b/charactergarden/.env.example
index e6318b6..75cb52a 100644
--- a/charactergarden/.env.example
+++ b/charactergarden/.env.example
@@ -1,11 +1,26 @@
 # Copy this file to .env and adjust values as needed.
 # Never commit .env — it is gitignored.
 
-NODE_ENV=development
+# Host port the app is exposed on. Must match the container-internal port (right side of ports mapping).
 APP_PORT=3023
-FRONTEND_PORT=5173
-DB_PATH=/data/sqlite/app.db
 
-# Optional — only required when running with: docker compose --profile llm up
-OLLAMA_URL=http://ollama:11434
-OLLAMA_MODEL=llama3
+# Host port the frontend dev server is exposed on.
+FRONTEND_PORT=5173
+
+NODE_ENV=development
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# LLM resolver — only active when running: docker compose --profile llm up
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# URL of the Ollama-compatible backend (default points to the compose ollama service).
+LLM_RESOLVER_URL=http://ollama:11434
+
+# Model to pull and use. Must be available on the Ollama instance.
+LLM_RESOLVER_MODEL=llama3.2:3b
+
+# Request timeout in milliseconds. Increase for larger/slower models.
+LLM_RESOLVER_TIMEOUT_MS=15000
+
+# Resolver mode: hybrid (llm with deterministic fallback) | llm | deterministic
+INTENT_RESOLVER_MODE=hybrid
diff --git a/charactergarden/docker-compose.yml b/charactergarden/docker-compose.yml
index 88d384f..c035675 100644
--- a/charactergarden/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/charactergarden/docker-compose.yml
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ services:
     build: ./app
     working_dir: /app
     ports:
-      - "${APP_PORT:-3000}:3000"
+      - "${APP_PORT:-3023}:3023"
     environment:
-      - APP_PORT=3000
+      - APP_PORT=3023
       - NODE_ENV=${NODE_ENV:-development}
       - DB_PATH=/var/lib/charactergarden/app.db
       - OLLAMA_URL=${OLLAMA_URL:-http://ollama:11434}