diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index e710a5e..db7e82b 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -25,11 +25,11 @@ LOG_DEPRECATIONS_CHANNEL=null
 LOG_LEVEL=debug
 
 DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
-DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
+DB_HOST=postgres
 DB_PORT=5432
 DB_DATABASE=boboko
 DB_USERNAME=root
-DB_PASSWORD=
+DB_PASSWORD=dev
 
 SESSION_DRIVER=database
 SESSION_LIFETIME=120
@@ -47,14 +47,14 @@ CACHE_STORE=database
 MEMCACHED_HOST=127.0.0.1
 
 REDIS_CLIENT=phpredis
-REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
+REDIS_HOST=valkey
 REDIS_PASSWORD=null
 REDIS_PORT=6379
 
-MAIL_MAILER=log
+MAIL_MAILER=smtp
 MAIL_SCHEME=null
-MAIL_HOST=127.0.0.1
-MAIL_PORT=2525
+MAIL_HOST=mailpit
+MAIL_PORT=1025
 MAIL_USERNAME=null
 MAIL_PASSWORD=null
 MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="hello@example.com"
@@ -68,17 +68,18 @@ AWS_USE_PATH_STYLE_ENDPOINT=false
 
 VITE_APP_NAME="${APP_NAME}"
 
-OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=
+OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=boboko-starter
 OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
 OTEL_PROPAGATORS=baggage,tracecontext
 OTEL_PHP_AUTOLOAD_ENABLED=true
 OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=
 
-STOIC_SECRET=
-STOIC_SSO_SECRET=
+# Stoic is the headless CMS, proxied at /stoic/ behind the app in prod (see docker/nginx/prod.conf)
+STOIC_SECRET=dev-secret-change-me
+STOIC_SSO_SECRET=dev-sso-secret-change-me
 STOIC_HOST=http://localhost:2727
 
-# Host-side ports (change per app if multiple apps share this VPS, or per dev checkout)
+# Host-side ports — change these if another project on this machine already uses the defaults
 APP_PORT=8090
 STOIC_PORT=2727
 VALKEY_PORT=6339
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 1a190e0..0587d66 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     "license": "MIT",
     "require": {
         "artesaos/seotools": "^1.4",
-        "boboko/core": "^0.0.2",
+        "boboko/core": "0.*",
         "open-telemetry/exporter-otlp": "^1.4",
         "open-telemetry/opentelemetry-auto-laravel": "^1.7",
         "open-telemetry/sdk": "^1.14",
diff --git a/composer.lock b/composer.lock
index 8d5910a..6eb997a 100644
--- a/composer.lock
+++ b/composer.lock
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
         "Read more about it at https://getcomposer.org/doc/01-basic-usage.md#installing-dependencies",
         "This file is @generated automatically"
     ],
-    "content-hash": "d159988b8e0edece23fcf2e7b59d1cfa",
+    "content-hash": "497fd57dba085798efccc5819904020f",
     "packages": [
         {
             "name": "anourvalar/eloquent-serialize",
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@
             "source": {
                 "type": "git",
                 "url": "https://code.radical-elements.com/boboko/core.git",
-                "reference": "ebe905acfa4915a62b409f91480db46f01a5462c"
+                "reference": "ab213f69ecedc845a0ee3b4bf8bff88b83d2f2d5"
             },
             "require": {
                 "laravel/framework": "^12.0",
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@
                 }
             },
             "description": "Core module — authentication and shared panel behaviour",
-            "time": "2026-07-03T12:09:28+00:00"
+            "time": "2026-07-03T14:16:30+00:00"
         },
         {
             "name": "brick/math",
@@ -5088,20 +5088,19 @@
         },
         {
             "name": "nikic/php-parser",
-            "version": "v5.7.0",
+            "version": "v5.8.0",
             "source": {
                 "type": "git",
                 "url": "https://github.com/nikic/PHP-Parser.git",
-                "reference": "dca41cd15c2ac9d055ad70dbfd011130757d1f82"
+                "reference": "044a6a392ff8ad0d61f14370a5fbbd0a0107152f"
             },
             "dist": {
                 "type": "zip",
-                "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/nikic/PHP-Parser/zipball/dca41cd15c2ac9d055ad70dbfd011130757d1f82",
-                "reference": "dca41cd15c2ac9d055ad70dbfd011130757d1f82",
+                "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/nikic/PHP-Parser/zipball/044a6a392ff8ad0d61f14370a5fbbd0a0107152f",
+                "reference": "044a6a392ff8ad0d61f14370a5fbbd0a0107152f",
                 "shasum": ""
             },
             "require": {
-                "ext-ctype": "*",
                 "ext-json": "*",
                 "ext-tokenizer": "*",
                 "php": ">=7.4"
@@ -5140,9 +5139,9 @@
             ],
             "support": {
                 "issues": "https://github.com/nikic/PHP-Parser/issues",
-                "source": "https://github.com/nikic/PHP-Parser/tree/v5.7.0"
+                "source": "https://github.com/nikic/PHP-Parser/tree/v5.8.0"
             },
-            "time": "2025-12-06T11:56:16+00:00"
+            "time": "2026-07-04T14:30:18+00:00"
         },
         {
             "name": "nunomaduro/termwind",