diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 281d3a01..f23db168 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -17,10 +17,17 @@ services:
       CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_MCP_URL: http://mcp:8000/mcp
       REDIS_URL: redis://ped-ai-redis:6379
       LOKI_URL: http://monitoring-loki:3100
-      # LITELLM_API_BASE is deliberately NOT set here. Compose env wins over
-      # OpenBao, so hardcoding the internal URL silently overrode the vault's
-      # https://llm.danvics.com and the intended config never took effect.
-      # Set it here only to pin ped-ai to the internal gateway on purpose.
+      # Deliberate: ped-ai talks to LiteLLM over the container network, not the
+      # public hostname. Clinical traffic then never leaves the host and does
+      # not depend on Caddy, public DNS or edge TLS being up. The latency
+      # difference is ~19ms on calls that take hundreds of ms, so speed is not
+      # the reason — not leaving the box is.
+      #
+      # OpenBao still stores https://llm.danvics.com for this key and Compose
+      # env wins, so the vault value is dead. Change it in the vault to match,
+      # or this line will keep looking like the accidental override it used to
+      # be. The app's AppRole is read-only, so that has to be done by hand.
+      LITELLM_API_BASE: http://litellm:4000
       TTS_PROVIDER: litellm
       LITELLM_TTS_MODEL: local-kokoro-tts
       LITELLM_TTS_VOICE: sherpa/kokoro:am_adam
@@ -58,7 +65,7 @@ services:
       - danvics_mcp
       - danvics_monitoring
       - ped-ai-storage-assets
-      - openwebui_openwebui
+      - danvics_translate
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "wget", "--spider", "-q", "http://localhost:3000/api/health"]
       interval: 30s
@@ -119,6 +126,8 @@ networks:
   ped-ai-storage-assets:
     external: true
     name: personal-assistant-storage-milvus_assets
-  openwebui_openwebui:
+  # LibreTranslate's own service network, owned by the libretranslate project.
+  # ped-ai used to join open-webui's stack network purely to resolve this one
+  # hostname, which coupled a clinical app to an unrelated stack's lifecycle.
+  danvics_translate:
     external: true
-    name: open-webui_openwebui-network