diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..2d44bf58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+host.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b1d9a017..680adbc5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .vercel
-.env
+host.env
 node_modules
 *.lock
 .idea/
diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index 90c47a92..5ce4e9ee 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-# `docker network create public --ipv6`
 networks:
   public:
     external: true
@@ -7,16 +6,10 @@ services:
   readme_stats:
     build: .
     container_name: readme_stats
-    labels:
-      - "com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable=false"
-    restart: always
     env_file:
       - .env
-    networks:
-      - public
     expose:
-      - $port
-    init: true
+      - ${port}
     healthcheck:
       test: wget --no-verbose -O - --tries=1 http://localhost:$$port/?username=digitaladapt | grep 'GitHub Stats' || exit 1
       interval: 60m # hourly
@@ -24,11 +17,17 @@ services:
       start_interval: 1s
       start_period: 10s
       timeout: 5s
+    init: true
+    labels:
+      - "com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable=false" # built, disable watchtower
+    networks:
+      - public
+    restart: always
 
-  # special container, just for watchtower, to monitor underlying image
+  # allow watchtower to monitor for update to base image, since our container is built
   readme_stats_monitor:
-    image: node:lts-alpine
     container_name: readme_stats_monitor
-    restart: no
     entrypoint: "/bin/true"
+    image: node:lts-alpine
+    restart: no