diff --git a/backend/app/core/config.py b/backend/app/core/config.py
index fbd89fd1..6364394b 100644
--- a/backend/app/core/config.py
+++ b/backend/app/core/config.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     HYPERCODE_REDIS_URL: str = "redis://redis:6379/0"
 
     # DB connection pool — read by app.db.session for both sync and async engines
-    DB_POOL_SIZE: int = 25
+    DB_POOL_SIZE: int = 5
     DB_POOL_MAX_OVERFLOW: int = 10
     DB_POOL_TIMEOUT: int = 30
     DB_POOL_RECYCLE_TIMEOUT: int = 3600
@@ -95,8 +95,6 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     GUARDIAN_DOWNGRADE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: int = 604800  # 7 days, reversible
 
     # Brain / memory (privacy defaults)
-    # If enabled, Brain.recall_context may read recent files from object storage when RAG is unavailable.
-    # Default is False to avoid pulling arbitrary bucket contents into prompts.
     BRAIN_ALLOW_FILE_FALLBACK: bool = False
 
     HUNTER_ALPHA_ENABLED: bool = False
@@ -127,16 +125,16 @@ def ollama_generate_options(self) -> dict:
         return options
 
     # Storage (MinIO/S3)
-    MINIO_ENDPOINT: str = "http://minio:9000" # Internal Docker Hostname
+    MINIO_ENDPOINT: str = "http://minio:9000"
     MINIO_ACCESS_KEY: str = "minioadmin"
     MINIO_SECRET_KEY: str = "minioadmin"
     MINIO_BUCKET_REPORTS: str = "agent-reports"
-    MINIO_SECURE: bool = False # False for local MinIO (http)
+    MINIO_SECURE: bool = False
     
     # RAG (ChromaDB)
     CHROMA_HOST: str = "chroma"
     CHROMA_PORT: int = 8000
-    EMBEDDING_MODEL: str = "all-MiniLM-L6-v2" # Fast, local model
+    EMBEDDING_MODEL: str = "all-MiniLM-L6-v2"
 
     # Telemetry (OpenTelemetry)
     OTLP_ENDPOINT: str = "http://tempo:4317"
@@ -207,7 +205,7 @@ def _file_env_settings() -> dict[str, Any]:
         env_file_encoding="utf-8",
         case_sensitive=True,
         env_ignore_empty=True,
-        extra="ignore"  # Allow extra fields in env
+        extra="ignore"
     )
 _settings_boot_error: str | None = None
 try: