diff --git a/apps/api-service/src/db.ts b/apps/api-service/src/db.ts
index a94d211..9e05247 100644
--- a/apps/api-service/src/db.ts
+++ b/apps/api-service/src/db.ts
@@ -2,16 +2,14 @@ import { createDbClient } from '@banatie/database';
 import { config } from 'dotenv';
 import path from 'path';
 
-// Load .env from api-service directory BEFORE reading env vars
-// __dirname in tsx points to src directory, so ../.env goes to api-service/.env
-config({ path: path.join(__dirname, '../.env'), debug: true });
+// Load .env from api-service directory and OVERRIDE shell env vars
+// This is needed because docker-compose sets DATABASE_URL for Docker network
+config({ path: path.join(__dirname, '../.env'), override: true });
 
 const DATABASE_URL =
   process.env['DATABASE_URL'] ||
   'postgresql://banatie_user:banatie_secure_password@localhost:5434/banatie_db';
 
-console.log('[DB] Using DATABASE_URL:', DATABASE_URL);
-
 export const db = createDbClient(DATABASE_URL);
 
 console.log(
diff --git a/apps/api-service/src/services/StorageFactory.ts b/apps/api-service/src/services/StorageFactory.ts
index 813f496..dd56dac 100644
--- a/apps/api-service/src/services/StorageFactory.ts
+++ b/apps/api-service/src/services/StorageFactory.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ export class StorageFactory {
           const bucketName = process.env['MINIO_BUCKET_NAME'] || 'banatie';
           const publicUrl = process.env['MINIO_PUBLIC_URL'];
 
+          console.log(`[StorageFactory] Creating MinIO client with endpoint: ${endpoint}`);
+
           if (!endpoint || !accessKey || !secretKey) {
             throw new Error(
               'MinIO configuration missing. Required: MINIO_ENDPOINT, MINIO_ACCESS_KEY, MINIO_SECRET_KEY',