diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml
index 94b8ad0..fed154f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ jobs:
         run: docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml build
 
       - name: Create network
-        run: docker network create process_api_net
+        run: docker network create sepex_net
 
       - name: Run the docker compose stack
         run: docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Create bucket
         run: >
           docker run
-          --network process_api_net
+          --network sepex_net
           -e MINIO_ROOT_USER=user
           -e MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=password
           -e STORAGE_BUCKET=sepex-storage
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8505120..87d5bd2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ https://developer.ogc.org/api/processes/index.html
 
 ### Linux using Docker
 
-1. Create docker network `docker network create process_api_net`
+1. Create docker network `docker network create sepex_net`
 
 1. Build docker images for example plugins
 ```sh
diff --git a/api/controllers/docker.go b/api/controllers/docker.go
index 1267144..b794caf 100644
--- a/api/controllers/docker.go
+++ b/api/controllers/docker.go
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/labstack/gommon/log"
 )
 
-const DOCKER_NETWORK = "process_api_net"
+const DOCKER_NETWORK = "sepex_net"
 
 type ContainerInfo struct {
 	Exists   bool
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.base.yml
similarity index 86%
rename from docker-compose.yml
rename to docker-compose.base.yml
index 853afa2..7ed614e 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.base.yml
@@ -3,17 +3,13 @@ services:
     container_name: api
     build:
       context: ./api
-      target: dev
-    ports:
-      - '5050:5050'
     env_file:
       - .env
     volumes:
-      - ./api:/app
-      - ./.data/api:/.data
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
+      - ./.data/api:/.data
     networks:
-      - process_api_net
+      - sepex_net
     depends_on:
       minio:
         condition: service_started
@@ -32,25 +28,25 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - ./.data/minio:/data
     networks:
-      - process_api_net
+      - sepex_net
 
   postgres:
     container_name: postgres
     image: postgres:17.2-alpine3.20
     env_file:
       - .env
-    ports:
-      - '5432:5432'
     healthcheck:
       test: ['CMD-SHELL', 'pg_isready -U $$POSTGRES_USER -d $$POSTGRES_DB']
       interval: 10s
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 5
+    ports:
+      - '5432:5432'
     volumes:
       - ./.data/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
     networks:
-      - process_api_net
+      - sepex_net
 
 networks:
-  process_api_net:
+  sepex_net:
     external: true
diff --git a/docker-compose.dev.yml b/docker-compose.dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..264d3d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+include:
+  - docker-compose.base.yml
+
+services:
+  api:
+    build:
+      target: dev
+    ports:
+      - '5050:5050'
+    volumes:
+      - ./api:/app
diff --git a/docker-compose.prod.yml b/docker-compose.prod.yml
index b8e60cd..c879f63 100644
--- a/docker-compose.prod.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.prod.yml
@@ -1,55 +1,9 @@
+include:
+  - docker-compose.base.yml
+
 services:
   api:
-    container_name: api
-    build:
-      context: ./api
     ports:
       - '80:5050'
-    env_file:
-      - .env
     volumes:
       - ./api/plugins:/app/plugins
-      - ./.data/api:/.data
-      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
-    networks:
-      - process_api_net
-    depends_on:
-      minio:
-        condition: service_started
-      postgres:
-        condition: service_healthy
-
-  minio:
-    container_name: minio
-    image: minio/minio:RELEASE.2024-11-07T00-52-20Z.fips
-    command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
-    env_file:
-      - .env
-    ports:
-      - '9000:9000'
-      - '9001:9001'
-    volumes:
-      - ./.data/minio:/data
-    networks:
-      - process_api_net
-
-  postgres:
-    container_name: postgres
-    image: postgres:17.2-alpine3.20
-    healthcheck:
-      test: ['CMD-SHELL', 'pg_isready -U $$POSTGRES_USER -d $$POSTGRES_DB']
-      interval: 10s
-      timeout: 5s
-      retries: 5
-    env_file:
-      - .env
-    ports:
-      - '5432:5432'
-    volumes:
-      - ./.data/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
-    networks:
-      - process_api_net
-
-networks:
-  process_api_net:
-    external: true
diff --git a/run_e2e_local.sh b/run_e2e_local.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 82675a0..0000000
--- a/run_e2e_local.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,101 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -euo pipefail
-
-# --- Create env file (same as GH Actions) ---
-cat > .env <<'EOF'
-API_NAME='github-testing-sepex'
-STORAGE_SERVICE='minio'
-STORAGE_BUCKET='sepex-storage'
-STORAGE_METADATA_PREFIX='metadata'
-STORAGE_RESULTS_PREFIX='results'
-STORAGE_LOGS_PREFIX='logs'
-
-PLUGINS_LOAD_DIR='plugins'
-PLUGINS_DIR='/.data/plugins'
-TMP_JOB_LOGS_DIR='/.data/tmp/logs'
-
-MAX_LOCAL_CPUS=4
-MAX_LOCAL_MEMORY=4096
-
-MINIO_ACCESS_KEY_ID=user
-MINIO_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=password
-MINIO_S3_ENDPOINT=http://minio:9000
-MINIO_S3_REGION='us-east-1'
-MINIO_ROOT_USER=user
-MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=password
-
-DB_SERVICE='postgres'
-POSTGRES_CONN_STRING='postgres://user:password@postgres:5432/db?sslmode=disable'
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD='password'
-POSTGRES_USER='user'
-POSTGRES_DB='db'
-PG_LOG_CHECKPOINTS='off'
-
-# Optional (only needed if your tests hit aws-batch paths)
-# AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
-# AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
-# AWS_REGION=...
-
-BATCH_LOG_STREAM_GROUP='/aws/batch/job'
-
-PYWRITE_MINIO_ACCESS_KEY_ID='user'
-PYWRITE_MINIO_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY='password'
-PYWRITE_MINIO_S3_ENDPOINT='http://minio:9000'
-PYWRITE_MINIO_S3_REGION='us-east-1'
-PYWRITE_MINIO_S3_BUCKET='sepex-storage'
-EOF
-
-# --- Build plugin example images (same as GH Actions) ---
-( cd plugin-examples && chmod +x build.sh && ./build.sh ) &
-
-# --- Build compose stack ---
-docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml build
-
-# --- Network (ignore error if already exists) ---
-docker network create process_api_net >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
-
-# --- Run stack ---
-docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
-
-# --- Create bucket in minio ---
-docker run \
-  --network process_api_net \
-  -e MINIO_ROOT_USER=user \
-  -e MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=password \
-  -e STORAGE_BUCKET=sepex-storage \
-  --entrypoint /bin/sh \
-  minio/mc:RELEASE.2023-08-18T21-57-55Z \
-  -c "mc alias set myminio http://minio:9000 \$MINIO_ROOT_USER \$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD && mc mb -p myminio/\${STORAGE_BUCKET} || true"
-
-# --- Wait for API ---
-attempts=0
-max_attempts=12
-until curl -fsS http://localhost:80 >/dev/null 2>&1; do
-  attempts=$((attempts+1))
-  if [ "$attempts" -ge "$max_attempts" ]; then
-    echo "API not ready after $max_attempts attempts"
-    docker compose logs
-    exit 1
-  fi
-  echo "Waiting for API server... attempt $attempts"
-  sleep 10
-done
-echo "API server is ready!"
-
-# --- Run newman tests (use host networking like GH Actions) ---
-docker run --network="host" \
-  -v "$PWD/tests/e2e:/etc/newman" \
-  postman/newman:5.3.1-alpine \
-  run tests.postman_collection.json \
-  --env-var "url=localhost:80" \
-  --reporters cli \
-  --bail \
-  --color on
-
-# --- Logs (helpful locally too) ---
-echo "---- docker compose logs ----"
-docker compose logs || true
-if [ -f .data/api/logs/api.jsonl ]; then
-  echo "---- .data/api/logs/api.jsonl ----"
-  cat .data/api/logs/api.jsonl || true
-fi
diff --git a/run_e2e_tests_local.sh b/run_e2e_tests_local.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..35cea5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run_e2e_tests_local.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+COMPOSE="docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml"
+
+cleanup() {
+  echo "---- Tearing down ----"
+  $COMPOSE down --volumes --remove-orphans 2>/dev/null || true
+  if [ -d ".data" ]; then
+# cleaning up .data/ with docker to avoid permission issues
+    docker run --rm -v "$PWD/.data:/cleanup" alpine sh -c "rm -rf /cleanup/*"
+  fi
+}
+if [ "${1:-}" != "--no-cleanup" ]; then
+  trap cleanup EXIT
+fi
+
+# --- Check .env exists ---
+if [ ! -f ".env" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: .env file not found. Copy example.env to .env and configure it."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# --- Check if .data exists and is non-empty ---
+if [ -d ".data" ] && [ -n "$(ls -A .data 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
+  echo "WARNING: .data/ directory is not empty. E2E tests will overwrite its contents."
+  read -rp "Delete .data/ and continue? [y/N] " answer
+  if [[ "$answer" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
+    docker run --rm -v "$PWD/.data:/cleanup" alpine sh -c "rm -rf /cleanup/*"
+  else
+    echo "Aborted."
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+
+# --- Build plugin example images (same as GH Actions) ---
+( cd plugin-examples && chmod +x build.sh && ./build.sh ) &
+
+# --- Build compose stack ---
+$COMPOSE build
+
+# --- Network (ignore error if already exists) ---
+docker network create sepex_net >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+
+# --- Run stack ---
+$COMPOSE up -d
+
+# --- Create bucket in minio ---
+docker run --rm \
+  --network sepex_net \
+  -e MINIO_ROOT_USER=user \
+  -e MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=password \
+  -e STORAGE_BUCKET=sepex-storage \
+  --entrypoint /bin/sh \
+  minio/mc:RELEASE.2023-08-18T21-57-55Z \
+  -c "mc alias set myminio http://minio:9000 \$MINIO_ROOT_USER \$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD && mc mb -p myminio/\${STORAGE_BUCKET} || true"
+
+# --- Wait for API ---
+attempts=0
+max_attempts=12
+until curl -fsS http://localhost:80 >/dev/null 2>&1; do
+  attempts=$((attempts+1))
+  if [ "$attempts" -ge "$max_attempts" ]; then
+    echo "API not ready after $max_attempts attempts"
+    $COMPOSE logs
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  echo "Waiting for API server... attempt $attempts"
+  sleep 10
+done
+echo "API server is ready!"
+
+# --- Run newman tests ---
+docker run --rm --network="host" \
+  -v "$PWD/tests/e2e:/etc/newman" \
+  postman/newman:5.3.1-alpine \
+  run tests.postman_collection.json \
+  --env-var "url=localhost:80" \
+  --reporters cli \
+  --bail \
+  --color on
+
+# --- Logs ---
+echo "---- docker compose logs ----"
+$COMPOSE logs || true
+if [ -f .data/api/logs/api.jsonl ]; then
+  echo "---- .data/api/logs/api.jsonl ----"
+  cat .data/api/logs/api.jsonl || true
+fi