diff --git a/compose.prod.yml b/compose.prod.yml
index e796b88..5036c02 100644
--- a/compose.prod.yml
+++ b/compose.prod.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ services:
       PORT: 8000
       JWT_SECRET: ${JWT_SECRET}
       BASE_URL: ${BASE_URL}
-      NATS_URL: ${NATS_URL}
+      NATS_URL: nats://k_nats:4222
       CORS_ORIGINS: ${CORS_ORIGINS:-*}
       ALLOW_REGISTRATION: ${ALLOW_REGISTRATION:-false}
     depends_on:
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ services:
       retries: 5
     networks:
       - internal
-      - nats
+      - shared-services
       - traefik
     labels:
       - "traefik.enable=true"
@@ -62,13 +62,13 @@ services:
       RUST_LOG: info
       DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@database/${POSTGRES_DB}
       BASE_URL: ${BASE_URL}
-      NATS_URL: ${NATS_URL}
+      NATS_URL: nats://k_nats:4222
     depends_on:
       database:
         condition: service_healthy
     networks:
       - internal
-      - nats
+      - shared-services
 
   frontend:
     container_name: thoughts-frontend
@@ -104,13 +104,9 @@ volumes:
     driver: local
 
 networks:
-  # Shared NATS network — must already exist on the host (external: true).
-  # Set NATS_NETWORK env var to match your shared network name (default: nats).
-  nats:
-    name: ${NATS_NETWORK:-nats}
+  shared-services:
     external: true
   traefik:
-    name: traefik
     external: true
   internal:
     driver: bridge