diff --git a/solr-tika/README.md b/solr-tika/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..711e7d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/solr-tika/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Solr and Tika
+
+This Docker Compose configuration contains the minimum requirements for running Solr and Tika together.
+
+## Starting Up
+
+To run it using you own configuration:
+
+    docker compose --env-file ../.env up -d
+
+Or to run it using the default development configuration:
+
+    docker compose --env-file ../.env.example up -d
+
+## Shutting Down
+
+To stop it use:
+
+    docker compose down
diff --git a/solr/README.md b/solr/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fcdc6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/solr/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Solr
+
+This Docker Compose configuration contains the minimum requirement for running Solr standalone. 
+
+## Starting Up
+
+To run it using you own configuration:
+
+    docker compose --env-file ../.env up -d
+
+Or to run it using the default development configuration:
+
+    docker compose --env-file ../.env.example up -d
+
+## Shutting Down
+
+To stop it use:
+
+    docker compose down
diff --git a/solr/docker-compose.yml b/solr/docker-compose.yml
index 502dc86..19df84a 100644
--- a/solr/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/solr/docker-compose.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ services:
     entrypoint: |
       /bin/sh -c "chown -R 8983:8983 /var/solr"
   solr:
+    env_file:
+      - path: ../.env.example
+        required: false
+      - path: ../.env
+        required: false
     depends_on:
       - solr-init
     image: solr:latest
@@ -18,8 +23,11 @@ services:
       - "${SOLR_DOCS_PORT-8983}:8983"
     volumes:
       - solr-data:/var/solr
-#    environment:
-#      - SOLR_CORE=my_core
+    environment:
+      - SOLR_DOCS_PORT=${SOLR_DOCS_PORT-8983}
+      - SOLR_DOCS_CORE_NAME=${SOLR_DOCS_CORE_NAME-nm3clol_core}
+      - SOLR_LAW_CORE_NAME=${SOLR_LAW_CORE_NAME-vacode_core}
+      # - SOLR_CORE=my_core
     command:
       # - /bin/sh -c "chown -R 8983:8983 /var/solr"
       - solr-precreate
@@ -213,7 +221,7 @@ configs:
     file: ../solr-log4j2.xml    
   solr_nm3clol_core_properties:
     content: |
-      name=nm3clol_core
+      name=${SOLR_DOCS_CORE_NAME-nm3clol_core}
   solr_nm3clol_core_solrconfig:
     file: ../solr-data/nm3clol_core/conf/solrconfig.xml
   solr_nm3clol_core_managed_schema:
@@ -304,7 +312,7 @@ configs:
     file: ../solr-data/nm3clol_core/conf/synonyms.txt
   solr_vacode_core_properties:
     content: |
-      name=vacode_core
+      name=${SOLR_LAW_CORE_NAME-vacode_core}
   solr_vacode_core_solrconfig:
     file: ../solr-data/vacode_core/conf/solrconfig.xml
   solr_vacode_core_managed_schema:
diff --git a/tika/README.md b/tika/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7737e1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tika/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Tika
+
+This Docker Compose configuration contains the minimum requirement for running Tika standalone. 
+
+## Starting Up
+
+Or to run it using the default configuration:
+
+    docker compose up -d
+
+## Shutting Down
+
+To stop it use:
+
+    docker compose down