From f51f12755c433b70adc399e7af22c783234a9bea Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Scott Idem <stidem@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 15:29:54 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] docs: Simplified setup instructions by removing redundant
 symlink steps.

---
 README.md | 17 +++++++----------
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6d689ae..06b528e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,18 +21,15 @@ cp env.default .env
 vim .env 
 ```
 
-### 3. Setup Persistent Data & Symlinks
-The containers expect data and some source code to be available via absolute paths defined in `.env`:
-- **FastAPI Source (`AE_API_SRC`):** Mounted directly for real-time development.
-- **SvelteKit Source (`AE_APP_SRC`):** Used as the build context for the SvelteKit container.
-- **Hosted Files:** Link physical file storage for the API:
-```bash
-ln -s /mnt/data/aether/hosted_files srv/hosted_files
-ln -s /mnt/data/aether/hosted_tmp srv/hosted_tmp
-```
+### 3. Configure Data & Source Paths
+The containers locate data and source code using absolute paths defined in your `.env` file. Ensure these variables point to the correct locations on your host system:
+- **`AE_API_SRC`**: Path to your `aether_api_fastapi` repository.
+- **`AE_APP_SRC`**: Path to your `aether_app_sveltekit` repository.
+- **`HOSTED_FILES_SRC`**: Path to the physical storage for images/documents.
+- **`HOSTED_TMP_SRC`**: Path for temporary file processing.
 
 ### 4. Certificates & Database
-*   **SSL:** Place your Let's Encrypt certificates in `conf/certs/`.
+*   **SSL:** Place your wild-card certificates in `conf/certs/` (matching the filenames in `docker-compose.yml`).
 *   **Database:** Use the restoration scripts (see below) to import a MariaDB snapshot.
 
 ---