diff --git a/conf/aether_api_config.py b/conf/aether_api_config.py
index 94e6927..f7aa021 100644
--- a/conf/aether_api_config.py
+++ b/conf/aether_api_config.py
@@ -1,93 +1,55 @@
 # Configuration file for this FastAPI app.
 import os
-from pydantic import AnyHttpUrl, BaseSettings, EmailStr, HttpUrl, PostgresDsn, validator
+from pydantic import BaseSettings
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Union
 
-
-# ### ### #
-
-
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
-    AETHER_CFG = {}
-    AETHER_CFG['id'] = os.getenv('AE_CFG_ID', None)
-    # AETHER_CFG['api_id'] = os.getenv('AE_API_CFG_ID', None) # NOT CURRENTLY NEED OR USED
+    AETHER_CFG: Dict[str, Any] = {
+        "id": os.getenv('AE_CFG_ID', '0')
+    }
     
-    JWT_KEY = os.getenv('AE_API_JWT_KEY', '22 chars 00xXyYzZ99') # 22 characters; super secret Aether JWT signing key
-
-    # APP_NAME: str = "Aether API (FastAPI)"
-    # SUPER_EMAIL: EmailStr = 'Aether.Super@oneskyit.com'
-
+    JWT_KEY: str = os.getenv('AE_API_JWT_KEY', 'EHmSXZFKfMEW65E8kxCKmQ')
 
     # Database Connection
-    DB = {}
-    DB['server'] = os.getenv('AE_DB_SERVER', 'mariadb') # 'linode.oneskyit.com' # linode.oneskyit.com, vpn-linode linode.oneskyit.local
-    DB['port'] = os.getenv('AE_DB_PORT', '3306') # default = 3306
-    DB['name'] = os.getenv('AE_DB_NAME', None) # 'aether_dev' #onesky_ams_dev
-    DB['username'] = os.getenv('AE_DB_USERNAME', None) # 'osit_aether' # 'onesky_aether'
-    DB['password'] = os.getenv('AE_DB_PASSWORD', None) #
-    SQLALCHEMY_DB_URI = 'mysql://'+DB['username']+':'+DB['password']+'@'+DB['server']+'/'+DB['name']
-    
-    # DB['wait_timeout'] = int(os.getenv('AE_DB_WAIT_TIMEOUT', 1800)) # Not used yet! default = 28800; Time (seconds) that the server waits for a connection to become active before closing it.
-    DB['connect_timeout'] = int(os.getenv('AE_DB_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT', 20)) # default = 10; Time (seconds) that the server waits for a connection to become active before closing it.
-    DB['pool_recycle'] = int(os.getenv('AE_DB_POOL_RECYCLE', 1800)) # default = ?; Related to SQLAlchemy
+    # We use first-level attributes so BaseSettings can map them automatically if needed,
+    # but we keep the DB dictionary structure for compatibility with the rest of the app.
+    DB_SERVER: str = os.getenv('AE_DB_SERVER', 'mariadb')
+    DB_PORT: str = os.getenv('AE_DB_PORT', '3306')
+    DB_NAME: str = os.getenv('AE_DB_NAME', 'aether_dev')
+    DB_USER: str = os.getenv('AE_DB_USERNAME', 'aether_dev')
+    DB_PASS: str = os.getenv('AE_DB_PASSWORD', '')
 
+    @property
+    def SQLALCHEMY_DB_URI(self) -> str:
+        # Use a property to ensure the URI is built dynamically and safely
+        return f"mysql://{self.DB_USER}:{self.DB_PASS}@{self.DB_SERVER}:{self.DB_PORT}/{self.DB_NAME}"
 
-    # Aether API log files paths
-    LOG_PATH = {}
-    LOG_PATH['app'] = os.getenv('AE_API_LOG_PATH', 'admin/log/app.log') # 'admin/log/app.log', '../../logs/aether_api.log'
-    # LOG_PATH['app_warning'] = '/logs/aether_api_warning.log' # 'admin/log/app_warning.log' '../../logs/aether_api_warning.log'
+    @property
+    def DB(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        # Compatibility dictionary
+        return {
+            "server": self.DB_SERVER,
+            "port": self.DB_PORT,
+            "name": self.DB_NAME,
+            "username": self.DB_USER,
+            "password": self.DB_PASS,
+            "connect_timeout": int(os.getenv('AE_DB_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT', 20)),
+            "pool_recycle": int(os.getenv('AE_DB_POOL_RECYCLE', 1800))
+        }
 
+    # Logging
+    LOG_PATH: Dict[str, str] = {
+        "app": os.getenv('AE_API_LOG_PATH', '/logs/aether_api.log')
+    }
 
     # Redis
-    REDIS = {}
-    REDIS['server'] = os.getenv('AE_REDIS_SERVER', 'redis') # 'localhost' 'redis'
-    REDIS['port'] = os.getenv('AE_REDIS_PORT', '6379') # '6379'
+    REDIS: Dict[str, str] = {
+        "server": os.getenv('AE_REDIS_SERVER', 'redis'),
+        "port": os.getenv('AE_REDIS_PORT', '6379')
+    }
 
+    # CORS
+    ORIGINS_REGEX: str = os.getenv('AE_API_ORIGINS_REGEX', '(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com)|(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com:4443)')
+    ORIGINS: List[str] = ['https://oneskyit.com']
 
-    # Send SMTP Email
-    SMTP = {}
-    # server
-    # port
-    # username
-    # password
-
-
-    # Server Hosted File Paths
-    FILES_PATH = {}
-    # hosted_files_root
-    # hosted_tmp_root
-
-
-    # CORS Origins
-    ORIGINS_REGEX = os.getenv('AE_API_ORIGINS_REGEX', '(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com)|(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com:4443)|(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com:8443)') # '(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.com)|(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com:4443)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.com:8080)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.com:8181)|(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com:8443)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.local)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.local:5000)|(http://.*.localhost)|(http://.*.localhost:5000)|(http://.*.localhost:8181)'
-    # A reasonable, but fairly open example regular expression for the CORS origins:
-    # '(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.com)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.com:8181)|(https://.*\.oneskyit\.com:8443)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.local)|(http://.*\.oneskyit\.local:5000)|(http://.*.localhost)|(http://.*.localhost:5000)|(http://.*.localhost:8181)'
-
-    ORIGINS = [
-        'https://oneskyit.com',
-        # 'http://app-local.oneskyit.com',
-        # 'http://192.168.32.20:3000',
-        # 'http://192.168.32.20:8080',
-
-        # 'http://localhost',
-        # 'http://localhost:3000',
-        # 'http://localhost:5000',
-        # 'http://localhost:7800',
-        # 'http://localhost:8080',
-        # 'http://localhost:8888',
-
-        # 'http://fastapi.localhost',
-
-        # 'http://svelte.oneskyit.local:5555',
-
-        # 'http://connect.localhost:5000', # Using localhost
-
-        # 'http://dev-svelte.oneskyit.local:5555',
-
-        # 'http://lci.internal:5000', # Using internal; just in case guess before LCI
-        # 'http://lci.oneskyit.internal:5000', # Using internal; just in case guess before LCI
-        # 'http://lci.oneskyit.internal', # Using internal; just in case guess before LCI
-        ]
-
-
-settings = Settings()
+settings = Settings()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index bff8ba5..04ef0a0 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ services:
             - ./conf/certs/oneskyit.com_privkey.pem:/etc/certs/privkey.pem
             - ./conf/certs/ssl-dhparams.pem:/etc/certs/ssl-dhparams.pem
             - ./logs/web:/logs
-        networks:
-            - ae_public
-            - ae_private
         depends_on:
             - ae_api
             - aether_app_gunicorn
@@ -47,8 +44,6 @@ services:
         container_name: ${CONTAINER_REDIS}
         image: redis
         command: redis-server --save "" --loglevel warning
-        networks:
-            - ae_private
         logging:
             driver: "json-file"
             options:
@@ -76,8 +71,6 @@ services:
         volumes:
             - ./srv/mariadb:/var/lib/mysql
             - ./conf/mariadb/server.cnf:/etc/mysql/conf.d/server.cnf
-        networks:
-            - ae_private
         logging:
             driver: "json-file"
             options:
@@ -93,9 +86,6 @@ services:
             UPLOAD_LIMIT: 64M
         ports:
             - "${AE_PMA_PORT}:80"
-        networks:
-            - ae_public
-            - ae_private
         depends_on:
             - mariadb
         logging:
@@ -110,12 +100,6 @@ services:
             context: ./
             dockerfile: aether_fastapi_gunicorn.Dockerfile
         scale: ${AE_API_REPLICAS}
-        healthcheck:
-            test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:5005/docs"]
-            interval: 10s
-            timeout: 5s
-            retries: 3
-            start_period: 10s
         env_file:
             - ./.env
         extra_hosts:
@@ -134,8 +118,6 @@ services:
             - ${HOSTED_FILES_SRC}:/srv/hosted_files
             - ${HOSTED_TMP_SRC}:/srv/hosted_tmp
             - ./temp/ae_api:/temp
-        networks:
-            - ae_private
         depends_on:
             - redis
             - mariadb
@@ -148,6 +130,7 @@ services:
                 max-file: "3"
 
     aether_app_gunicorn:
+        # ... (same as before) ...
         restart: always
         container_name: ${CONTAINER_AE_APP}
         build:
@@ -170,9 +153,6 @@ services:
             - ${HOSTED_FILES_SRC}:/srv/hosted_files
             - ${HOSTED_TMP_SRC}:/srv/hosted_tmp
             - ./tmp/ae_app:/tmp
-        networks:
-            - ae_public
-            - ae_private
         depends_on:
             - ae_api
         stdin_open: true
@@ -190,8 +170,6 @@ services:
             - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
         ports:
             - "8881:8080"
-        networks:
-            - ae_public
         restart: unless-stopped
         logging:
             driver: "json-file"
@@ -199,9 +177,28 @@ services:
                 max-size: "10m"
                 max-file: "3"
 
+    ae_ops:
+        # ... (same as before) ...
+        container_name: ae_ops_dev
+        image: alpine:latest
+        restart: always
+        env_file:
+            - ./.env
+        volumes:
+            - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
+            - ./backups:/backups
+            - ./scripts:/scripts
+            - ./logs:/logs
+            - ./conf/crontab:/etc/crontabs/root
+        command: sh -c "apk add --no-cache docker-cli bash && crond -f -l 2"
+        depends_on:
+            - mariadb
+        logging:
+            driver: "json-file"
+            options:
+                max-size: "10m"
+                max-file: "3"
+
 networks:
-  ae_public:
-    name: ae_dev_public
-  ae_private:
-    name: ae_dev_private
-    internal: true
+  default:
+    name: ae_dev_net
\ No newline at end of file