diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 2cdad9a4..a75a366d 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # =============================================================================
 
 # Django
+DJANGO_JWT_ALGORITHM=HS256
 DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=dev-secret-key-change-in-production
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=backend.settings.local
 
diff --git a/backend/settings/base.py b/backend/settings/base.py
index 41a14537..e769bc6e 100644
--- a/backend/settings/base.py
+++ b/backend/settings/base.py
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 }
 
 SIMPLE_JWT = {
+    "ALGORITHM": getenv("DJANGO_JWT_ALGORITHM"),
     "ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME": timedelta(hours=1),
     "REFRESH_TOKEN_LIFETIME": timedelta(days=7),
     "USER_AUTHENTICATION_RULE": "backend.apps.chatbot.authentication.authentication_rule",
@@ -195,6 +196,7 @@
 # GraphQL JWT configurations
 GRAPHQL_JWT = {
     "JWT_AUTH_HEADER_PREFIX": "Bearer",
+    "JWT_ALGORITHM": getenv("DJANGO_JWT_ALGORITHM"),
     "JWT_VERIFY_EXPIRATION": True,
     "JWT_EXPIRATION_DELTA": timedelta(days=7),
     "JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRATION_DELTA": timedelta(days=14),
diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index f39fa4d7..fba2bc7d 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ services:
       memlock:
         soft: -1
         hard: -1
-    volumes: [esdata:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data]
     ports: [9200:9200, 9300:9300]
+    volumes: [esdata:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data]
     healthcheck:
       test: [CMD-SHELL, curl -s http://localhost:9200 >/dev/null || exit 1]
       interval: 1m
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ services:
     env_file: [.env]
     ports: [5432:5432]
     volumes: [pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data]
+    networks: [default, db_network]
     healthcheck:
       test: [CMD, pg_isready, -U, postgres]
       interval: 1m
@@ -59,10 +60,11 @@ services:
           memory: 4G
     env_file: [.env]
     command: [poetry, run, /app/start-server-dev.sh]
-    volumes: [.:/app, $HOME/.basedosdados/credentials:/app/credentials:ro]
     ports:
       - 8080:80  # API port
       - 5678:5678  # Debug port
+    volumes: [.:/app, $HOME/.basedosdados/credentials:/app/credentials:ro]
+    networks: [default, db_network]
     depends_on:
       index:
         condition: service_healthy
@@ -80,3 +82,7 @@ services:
 volumes:
   esdata:
   pgdata:
+# External network used for database access by other services (e.g., chatbot API)
+networks:
+  db_network:
+    name: db_network