diff --git a/amqp.py b/amqp.py
index 3a307a7..818f119 100644
--- a/amqp.py
+++ b/amqp.py
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ async def subscribe(exchange: str, routing_keys: list[str], handler) -> None:
     if ch is None:
         log.error("cannot subscribe — no AMQP channel")
         return
+    # Track subscription before attempting so reconnect catches it even if this try fails
+    _subscriptions.append((exchange, routing_keys, handler))
     try:
         queue = await ch.declare_queue("", exclusive=True)
         ex = await ch.get_exchange(exchange)
@@ -58,7 +60,6 @@ async def subscribe(exchange: str, routing_keys: list[str], handler) -> None:
                     log.exception("AMQP handler error for %s %s", exchange, msg.routing_key)
 
         await queue.consume(_dispatch)
-        _subscriptions.append((exchange, routing_keys, handler))
     except Exception:
         log.exception("AMQP subscribe failed for %s %s", exchange, routing_keys)
 
diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index bb1dfec..af323e5 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -47,9 +47,12 @@ log = logging.getLogger("caic")
 log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 syslog_address = os.environ.get("CAIC_SYSLOG_ADDRESS", "/dev/log")
 if syslog_address:
-    syslog_handler = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler(address=syslog_address)
-    syslog_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("caic[%(process)d]: %(levelname)s %(message)s"))
-    log.addHandler(syslog_handler)
+    try:
+        syslog_handler = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler(address=syslog_address)
+        syslog_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("caic[%(process)d]: %(levelname)s %(message)s"))
+        log.addHandler(syslog_handler)
+    except Exception:
+        log.warning("syslog not available at %s -- skipping", syslog_address)
 
 BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).parent
 templates = Jinja2Templates(directory=str(BASE_DIR / "templates"))
diff --git a/config.py b/config.py
index 559cd92..df3abb0 100644
--- a/config.py
+++ b/config.py
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ import logging
 
 log = logging.getLogger("caic")
 
-VERSION = "v0.22.0"
+VERSION = "v0.22.1"
 OLLAMA_BASE = os.environ.get("OLLAMA_BASE", "http://localhost:11434")
-LLAMA_SERVER_BASE = os.environ.get("LLAMA_SERVER_BASE", "http://192.168.50.108:8081")
+LLAMA_SERVER_BASE = os.environ.get("LLAMA_SERVER_BASE", "http://localhost:8081")
 SEARXNG_BASE = os.environ.get("CAIC_SEARXNG_BASE", "http://localhost:8888")
 DEFAULT_MODEL = "qwen2.5-7b-instruct"
 COMPLETIONS_API_KEY = os.environ.get("CAIC_COMPLETIONS_API_KEY", "caic-sk-" + os.urandom(24).hex())
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ MODEL_CONTEXT_LENGTH = 4096
 AMQP_RECONNECT_DELAY = 5
 AMQP_EXCHANGE_ADMIN = "jc.admin"
 AMQP_EXCHANGE_SYSTEM = "jc.system"
-AMQP_SECRET_PATH = os.environ.get("CAIC_AMQP_SECRET_PATH", "/home/gramps/.caic_amqp_secret")
+AMQP_SECRET_PATH = os.environ.get("CAIC_AMQP_SECRET_PATH", "/run/secrets/caic_amqp_secret")
 
 def get_amqp_url() -> str:
     url = os.environ.get("CAIC_AMQP_URL")
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def get_amqp_url() -> str:
     except (FileNotFoundError, OSError):
         pw = "password"
         log.warning("AMQP secret file not found at %s — using default password", AMQP_SECRET_PATH)
-    return f"amqp://caic:{pw}@localhost:5672/caic"
+    return f"amqp://caic:{pw}@rabbitmq:5672/caic"
 
 # --- Auth ---
 SESSION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 3600
@@ -69,13 +69,13 @@ BODY_LIMIT_PROFILE_BYTES = 256 * 1024
 UPLOAD_DIR = os.environ.get("CAIC_UPLOAD_DIR", "/tmp/caic_uploads")
 MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES = 20 * 1024 * 1024
 SUPPORTED_UPLOAD_TYPES = {"text/plain", "text/markdown", "application/pdf", "application/json", "text/x-python", "text/html", "image/png", "image/jpeg", "image/gif", "image/svg+xml", "image/webp"}
-QDRANT_URL = os.environ.get("CAIC_QDRANT_URL", "http://192.168.50.108:6333")
+QDRANT_URL = os.environ.get("CAIC_QDRANT_URL", "http://localhost:6333")
 RAG_COLLECTION = os.environ.get("CAIC_RAG_COLLECTION", "caic_rag")
 UPLOAD_CONTEXT_EXPIRY_HOURS = 1
 BODY_LIMIT_UPLOAD_BYTES = MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES
 
 # --- RAG eviction ---
-RAG_MAX_VECTORS = 50000
+RAG_MAX_VECTORS = int(os.environ.get("CAIC_RAG_MAX_VECTORS", "50000"))
 RAG_EVICTION_HIGH_WATER = 0.80
 RAG_EVICTION_LOW_WATER = 0.20
 RAG_EVICTION_BATCH = 1000
diff --git a/db.py b/db.py
index 40cc0f2..cad2253 100644
--- a/db.py
+++ b/db.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ def get_db():
     conn = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)
     conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
     conn.execute("PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON")
+    conn.execute("PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL")
     return conn
 
 
diff --git a/rag.py b/rag.py
index 42b2e6f..5532824 100644
--- a/rag.py
+++ b/rag.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from config import MAX_SKILL_PROMPT_CHARS, QDRANT_URL, RAG_COLLECTION
 
 log = logging.getLogger("caic")
 
-EMBED_URL = os.environ.get("CAIC_EMBED_URL", "http://192.168.50.210:11434")
+EMBED_URL = os.environ.get("CAIC_EMBED_URL", "http://localhost:11434")
 EMBED_MODEL = os.environ.get("CAIC_EMBED_MODEL", "mxbai-embed-large")
 RAG_SCORE_THRESHOLD = 0.25
 
diff --git a/routers/completions.py b/routers/completions.py
index 8c197c4..875ee90 100644
--- a/routers/completions.py
+++ b/routers/completions.py
@@ -120,26 +120,28 @@ async def chat_completions(request: Request):
 
     # --- Persist conversation ---
     db = get_db()
-    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
-    conv_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
-    title = f"[IDE] {user_message[:72]}{'...' if len(user_message) > 72 else ''}"
-    db.execute(
-        "INSERT INTO conversations (id, title, model, created_at, updated_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)",
-        (conv_id, encrypt_text(title), model, now, now),
-    )
-    for msg in messages:
-        role = msg.get("role")
-        content = msg.get("content", "")
-        if role in ("user", "assistant"):
-            db.execute(
-                "INSERT INTO messages (conversation_id, role, content, created_at, perplexity) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)",
-                (conv_id, role, encrypt_text(content), now, None),
-            )
-    db.commit()
+    try:
+        now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
+        conv_id = str(uuid.uuid4())
+        title = f"[IDE] {user_message[:72]}{'...' if len(user_message) > 72 else ''}"
+        db.execute(
+            "INSERT INTO conversations (id, title, model, created_at, updated_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)",
+            (conv_id, encrypt_text(title), model, now, now),
+        )
+        for msg in messages:
+            role = msg.get("role")
+            content = msg.get("content", "")
+            if role in ("user", "assistant"):
+                db.execute(
+                    "INSERT INTO messages (conversation_id, role, content, created_at, perplexity) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)",
+                    (conv_id, role, encrypt_text(content), now, None),
+                )
+        db.commit()
 
-    # --- Build system prompt through full jC pipeline ---
-    system_prompt = await build_system_prompt(db, "", user_message)
-    db.close()
+        # --- Build system prompt through full jC pipeline ---
+        system_prompt = await build_system_prompt(db, "", user_message)
+    finally:
+        db.close()
 
     # Assemble messages for upstream: inject jC system prompt, preserve history
     upstream_messages = []
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index e69de29..ab41d02 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Ensure the project root is on sys.path so that test modules can import
+# top-level packages (app, amqp, cluster, config, …) without PYTHONPATH hacks.
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent))