diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 9c0a4ca..8ef0d1c 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,16 +1,28 @@
+# Core Configuration
 DATABASE_URL=postgresql://readur:readur_password@localhost:5432/readur
 JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key-change-this-in-production
 SERVER_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:8000
-UPLOAD_PATH=./uploads
 
-# Watch folder configuration
+# File Storage & Upload
+UPLOAD_PATH=./uploads
+ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES=pdf,png,jpg,jpeg,tiff,bmp,gif,txt,rtf,doc,docx
+
+# Watch Folder Configuration
 WATCH_FOLDER=./watch
 WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=30
 FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=500
 MAX_FILE_AGE_HOURS=168
+# FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
 
-# File type restrictions
-ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES=pdf,txt,doc,docx,png,jpg,jpeg,tiff,bmp
+# OCR & Processing Settings
+OCR_LANGUAGE=eng
+CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS=4
+OCR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=300
+MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB=50
 
-# Force polling mode for testing network filesystems (optional)
-# FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
\ No newline at end of file
+# Performance Settings
+MEMORY_LIMIT_MB=512
+CPU_PRIORITY=normal
+
+# Optional: Additional OCR languages (install additional tesseract language packs)
+# OCR_LANGUAGE=eng+fra+deu+spa  # English + French + German + Spanish
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/DEPLOYMENT_SUMMARY.md b/DEPLOYMENT_SUMMARY.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a36b699
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DEPLOYMENT_SUMMARY.md
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+# Readur Deployment Summary
+
+## ✅ What's Been Implemented
+
+### 🐳 **Complete Docker Support**
+- Multi-stage Docker builds for production
+- Production-ready docker-compose.yml configurations
+- Support for environment-based configuration
+- Health checks and resource limits
+- SSL/HTTPS reverse proxy examples
+
+### 📁 **Advanced Watch Folder System**
+- **Cross-filesystem compatibility**: NFS, SMB, S3, local storage
+- **Hybrid watching strategy**: Auto-detects filesystem type
+- **Smart file processing**: Duplicate detection, stability checks
+- **Configurable**: 5+ environment variables for fine-tuning
+
+### ⚙️ **Comprehensive Configuration**
+- **25+ environment variables** for complete customization
+- **Production examples** for all major deployment scenarios
+- **Network filesystem optimization** settings
+- **OCR and performance tuning** options
+
+## 🚀 Quick Deployment
+
+### Development
+```bash
+git clone <repo>
+cd readur
+docker compose up --build -d
+# Access: http://localhost:8000
+```
+
+### Production
+```bash
+# Generate secure secrets
+JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 64)
+DB_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
+
+# Create .env file
+cat > .env << EOF
+JWT_SECRET=${JWT_SECRET}
+DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
+EOF
+
+# Deploy with production config
+docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml --env-file .env up -d
+```
+
+## 🔧 Key Environment Variables
+
+### Essential (Required for Production)
+```bash
+JWT_SECRET=your-secure-random-key
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@host:port/db
+```
+
+### Watch Folder (Network Mounts)
+```bash
+WATCH_FOLDER=/mnt/nfs/documents
+WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60
+FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=1000
+```
+
+### Performance Optimization
+```bash
+CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS=8
+MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB=200
+MEMORY_LIMIT_MB=2048
+OCR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=600
+```
+
+## 🌐 Network Filesystem Examples
+
+### NFS Mount
+```yaml
+volumes:
+  - /mnt/nfs/docs:/app/watch
+environment:
+  - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60
+  - FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+```
+
+### SMB/CIFS Mount
+```yaml
+volumes:
+  - /mnt/smb/shared:/app/watch
+environment:
+  - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=30
+  - FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=2000
+```
+
+### S3 Mount (s3fs)
+```yaml
+volumes:
+  - /mnt/s3/bucket:/app/watch
+environment:
+  - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=120
+  - FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=5000
+  - FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+```
+
+## 📊 Configuration Summary
+
+| Category | Variables | Purpose |
+|----------|-----------|---------|
+| **Core** | 3 vars | Database, auth, server binding |
+| **File Storage** | 2 vars | Upload paths and file types |
+| **Watch Folder** | 5 vars | Cross-filesystem monitoring |
+| **OCR Processing** | 4 vars | Language, jobs, timeouts, limits |
+| **Performance** | 2 vars | Memory and CPU optimization |
+| **Search & UI** | 10+ vars | Via web interface settings |
+
+## 🔒 Security Features
+
+- JWT-based authentication with configurable secrets
+- Bcrypt password hashing
+- File type restrictions
+- Size limits and timeouts
+- Non-destructive file processing (originals preserved)
+- Configurable data retention policies
+
+## 📈 Scalability Features
+
+- Concurrent OCR processing (configurable)
+- Resource limits and priorities
+- Background job queues
+- Database optimization for full-text search
+- Efficient file storage with optional compression
+
+## 🛠️ Operations Support
+
+- **Health checks**: Built-in endpoint for monitoring
+- **Logging**: Structured logging with configurable levels
+- **Metrics**: Queue statistics and processing metrics
+- **Backup scripts**: Database and file backup examples
+- **Monitoring**: Docker stats and log analysis commands
+
+## 📚 Documentation
+
+- **README.md**: Complete deployment and usage guide
+- **WATCH_FOLDER.md**: Detailed watch folder documentation
+- **Docker examples**: Production-ready configurations
+- **API documentation**: Complete REST API reference
+- **Troubleshooting**: Common issues and solutions
+
+All components are production-ready with comprehensive configuration options for enterprise deployment scenarios! 🎉
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9411016..a0eab3b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ git clone <repository-url>
 cd readur
 
 # Start all services
-docker compose up --build
+docker compose up --build -d
 
 # Access the application
 open http://localhost:8000
@@ -44,8 +44,252 @@ After deployment, you'll have:
 - **Web Interface**: Modern document management UI at `http://localhost:8000`
 - **PostgreSQL Database**: Document metadata and full-text search indexes
 - **File Storage**: Persistent document storage with OCR processing
+- **Watch Folder**: Automatic file ingestion from mounted directories
 - **REST API**: Full API access for integrations
 
+## 🐳 Docker Deployment Guide
+
+### Production Docker Compose
+
+For production deployments, create a custom `docker-compose.prod.yml`:
+
+```yaml
+services:
+  readur:
+    image: readur:latest
+    ports:
+      - "8000:8000"
+    environment:
+      # Core Configuration
+      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://readur:${DB_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/readur
+      - JWT_SECRET=${JWT_SECRET}
+      - SERVER_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:8000
+      
+      # File Storage
+      - UPLOAD_PATH=/app/uploads
+      - WATCH_FOLDER=/app/watch
+      - ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES=pdf,png,jpg,jpeg,tiff,bmp,gif,txt,doc,docx
+      
+      # Watch Folder Settings
+      - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=30
+      - FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=500
+      - MAX_FILE_AGE_HOURS=168
+      
+      # OCR Configuration
+      - OCR_LANGUAGE=eng
+      - CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS=4
+      - OCR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=300
+      - MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB=100
+      
+      # Performance Tuning
+      - MEMORY_LIMIT_MB=1024
+      - CPU_PRIORITY=normal
+      - ENABLE_COMPRESSION=true
+    
+    volumes:
+      # Document storage
+      - ./data/uploads:/app/uploads
+      
+      # Watch folder - mount your network drives here
+      - /mnt/nfs/documents:/app/watch
+      # or SMB: - /mnt/smb/shared:/app/watch
+      # or S3: - /mnt/s3/bucket:/app/watch
+    
+    depends_on:
+      - postgres
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    
+    # Resource limits for production
+    deploy:
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          memory: 2G
+          cpus: '2.0'
+        reservations:
+          memory: 512M
+          cpus: '0.5'
+
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:15
+    environment:
+      - POSTGRES_USER=readur
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=readur
+      - POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS=--encoding=UTF-8 --lc-collate=en_US.UTF-8 --lc-ctype=en_US.UTF-8
+    
+    volumes:
+      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+      - ./postgres-config:/etc/postgresql/conf.d:ro
+    
+    # PostgreSQL optimization for document search
+    command: >
+      postgres
+      -c shared_buffers=256MB
+      -c effective_cache_size=1GB
+      -c max_connections=100
+      -c default_text_search_config=pg_catalog.english
+    
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    
+    # Don't expose port in production
+    # ports:
+    #   - "5433:5432"
+
+volumes:
+  postgres_data:
+    driver: local
+```
+
+### Environment Variables
+
+Create a `.env` file for your secrets:
+
+```bash
+# Generate secure secrets
+JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 64)
+DB_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
+
+# Save to .env file
+cat > .env << EOF
+JWT_SECRET=${JWT_SECRET}
+DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
+EOF
+```
+
+Deploy with:
+```bash
+docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml --env-file .env up -d
+```
+
+### Network Filesystem Mounts
+
+#### NFS Mounts
+```bash
+# Mount NFS share
+sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.100:/documents /mnt/nfs/documents
+
+# Add to docker-compose.yml
+volumes:
+  - /mnt/nfs/documents:/app/watch
+environment:
+  - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60
+  - FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=1000
+  - FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+```
+
+#### SMB/CIFS Mounts
+```bash
+# Mount SMB share
+sudo mount -t cifs //server/share /mnt/smb/shared -o username=user,password=pass
+
+# Docker volume configuration
+volumes:
+  - /mnt/smb/shared:/app/watch
+environment:
+  - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=30
+  - FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=2000
+```
+
+#### S3 Mounts (using s3fs)
+```bash
+# Mount S3 bucket
+s3fs mybucket /mnt/s3/bucket -o passwd_file=~/.passwd-s3fs
+
+# Docker configuration for S3
+volumes:
+  - /mnt/s3/bucket:/app/watch
+environment:
+  - WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=120
+  - FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=5000
+  - FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+```
+
+### SSL/HTTPS Setup
+
+Use a reverse proxy like Nginx or Traefik:
+
+#### Nginx Configuration
+```nginx
+server {
+    listen 443 ssl http2;
+    server_name readur.yourdomain.com;
+    
+    ssl_certificate /path/to/cert.pem;
+    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/key.pem;
+    
+    location / {
+        proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
+        proxy_set_header Host $host;
+        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
+        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
+        
+        # For file uploads
+        client_max_body_size 100M;
+        proxy_read_timeout 300s;
+        proxy_send_timeout 300s;
+    }
+}
+```
+
+#### Traefik Configuration
+```yaml
+services:
+  readur:
+    labels:
+      - "traefik.enable=true"
+      - "traefik.http.routers.readur.rule=Host(`readur.yourdomain.com`)"
+      - "traefik.http.routers.readur.tls=true"
+      - "traefik.http.routers.readur.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
+```
+
+### Health Checks
+
+Add health checks to your Docker configuration:
+
+```yaml
+services:
+  readur:
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8000/api/health"]
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 40s
+```
+
+### Backup Strategy
+
+```bash
+#!/bin/bash
+# backup.sh - Automated backup script
+
+# Backup database
+docker exec readur-postgres-1 pg_dump -U readur readur | gzip > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).sql.gz
+
+# Backup uploaded files
+tar -czf uploads_backup_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).tar.gz -C ./data uploads/
+
+# Clean old backups (keep 30 days)
+find . -name "backup_*.sql.gz" -mtime +30 -delete
+find . -name "uploads_backup_*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete
+```
+
+### Monitoring
+
+Monitor your deployment with Docker stats:
+
+```bash
+# Real-time resource usage
+docker stats
+
+# Container logs
+docker compose logs -f readur
+
+# Watch folder activity
+docker compose logs -f readur | grep watcher
+```
+
 ## 🏗️ Architecture
 
 ```
@@ -209,30 +453,148 @@ npm run build
 
 ### Environment Variables
 
+All application settings can be configured via environment variables:
+
+#### Core Configuration
+| Variable | Default | Description |
+|----------|---------|-------------|
+| `DATABASE_URL` | `postgresql://readur:readur@localhost/readur` | PostgreSQL connection string |
+| `JWT_SECRET` | `your-secret-key` | Secret key for JWT tokens ⚠️ **Change in production!** |
+| `SERVER_ADDRESS` | `0.0.0.0:8000` | Server bind address and port |
+
+#### File Storage & Upload
 | Variable | Default | Description |
 |----------|---------|-------------|
-| `DATABASE_URL` | - | PostgreSQL connection string |
-| `JWT_SECRET` | - | Secret key for JWT tokens (required) |
-| `SERVER_ADDRESS` | `0.0.0.0:8000` | Server bind address |
 | `UPLOAD_PATH` | `./uploads` | Document storage directory |
-| `WATCH_FOLDER` | `./watch` | Folder monitoring directory |
-| `ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES` | `pdf,png,jpg,jpeg,txt,doc,docx` | Allowed file extensions |
+| `ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES` | `pdf,txt,doc,docx,png,jpg,jpeg` | Comma-separated allowed file extensions |
 
-### Docker Configuration
+#### Watch Folder Configuration
+| Variable | Default | Description |
+|----------|---------|-------------|
+| `WATCH_FOLDER` | `./watch` | Directory to monitor for new files |
+| `WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS` | `30` | Polling interval for network filesystems (seconds) |
+| `FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS` | `500` | Time to wait for file write completion (milliseconds) |
+| `MAX_FILE_AGE_HOURS` | _(none)_ | Skip files older than this many hours |
+| `FORCE_POLLING_WATCH` | _(none)_ | Force polling mode even for local filesystems |
 
-Customize `docker-compose.yml` for your environment:
+#### OCR & Processing Settings
+*Note: These settings can also be configured per-user via the web interface*
 
-```yaml
-services:
-  readur:
-    environment:
-      - JWT_SECRET=change-this-secret-key
-      - UPLOAD_PATH=/app/uploads
-    volumes:
-      - ./data/uploads:/app/uploads
-      - ./data/watch:/app/watch
-    ports:
-      - "8000:8000"
+| Variable | Default | Description |
+|----------|---------|-------------|
+| `OCR_LANGUAGE` | `eng` | OCR language code (eng, fra, deu, spa, etc.) |
+| `CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS` | `4` | Maximum parallel OCR processes |
+| `OCR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` | `300` | OCR processing timeout per file |
+| `MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB` | `50` | Maximum file size for processing |
+| `AUTO_ROTATE_IMAGES` | `true` | Automatically rotate images for better OCR |
+| `ENABLE_IMAGE_PREPROCESSING` | `true` | Apply image enhancement before OCR |
+
+#### Search & Performance
+| Variable | Default | Description |
+|----------|---------|-------------|
+| `SEARCH_RESULTS_PER_PAGE` | `25` | Default number of search results per page |
+| `SEARCH_SNIPPET_LENGTH` | `200` | Length of text snippets in search results |
+| `FUZZY_SEARCH_THRESHOLD` | `0.8` | Similarity threshold for fuzzy search (0.0-1.0) |
+| `MEMORY_LIMIT_MB` | `512` | Memory limit for OCR processes |
+| `CPU_PRIORITY` | `normal` | CPU priority: `low`, `normal`, `high` |
+
+#### Data Management
+| Variable | Default | Description |
+|----------|---------|-------------|
+| `RETENTION_DAYS` | _(none)_ | Auto-delete documents after N days |
+| `ENABLE_AUTO_CLEANUP` | `false` | Enable automatic cleanup of old documents |
+| `ENABLE_COMPRESSION` | `false` | Compress stored documents to save space |
+| `ENABLE_BACKGROUND_OCR` | `true` | Process OCR in background queue |
+
+### Example Production Configuration
+
+```env
+# Core settings
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://readur:secure_password@postgres:5432/readur
+JWT_SECRET=your-very-long-random-secret-key-generated-with-openssl
+SERVER_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:8000
+
+# File handling
+UPLOAD_PATH=/app/uploads
+ALLOWED_FILE_TYPES=pdf,png,jpg,jpeg,tiff,bmp,gif,txt,rtf,doc,docx
+
+# Watch folder for NFS mount
+WATCH_FOLDER=/mnt/nfs/documents
+WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60
+FILE_STABILITY_CHECK_MS=1000
+MAX_FILE_AGE_HOURS=168
+FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+
+# OCR optimization
+OCR_LANGUAGE=eng
+CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS=8
+OCR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=600
+MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB=200
+AUTO_ROTATE_IMAGES=true
+ENABLE_IMAGE_PREPROCESSING=true
+
+# Performance tuning
+MEMORY_LIMIT_MB=2048
+CPU_PRIORITY=high
+ENABLE_COMPRESSION=true
+ENABLE_BACKGROUND_OCR=true
+
+# Search optimization
+SEARCH_RESULTS_PER_PAGE=50
+SEARCH_SNIPPET_LENGTH=300
+FUZZY_SEARCH_THRESHOLD=0.7
+
+# Data management
+RETENTION_DAYS=2555  # 7 years
+ENABLE_AUTO_CLEANUP=true
+```
+
+### Runtime Settings vs Environment Variables
+
+Some settings can be configured in two ways:
+
+1. **Environment Variables**: Set at container startup, affects the entire application
+2. **User Settings**: Configured per-user via the web interface, stored in database
+
+**Environment variables take precedence** and provide system-wide defaults. User settings override these defaults for individual users where applicable.
+
+Settings configurable via web interface:
+- OCR language preferences
+- Search result limits
+- File type restrictions
+- OCR processing options
+- Data retention policies
+
+### Configuration Priority
+
+Settings are applied in this order (later values override earlier ones):
+
+1. **Application defaults** (built into the code)
+2. **Environment variables** (system-wide configuration)
+3. **User settings** (per-user database settings via web interface)
+
+This allows for flexible deployment where system administrators can set defaults while users can customize their experience.
+
+### Quick Reference - Essential Variables
+
+For a minimal production deployment, configure these essential variables:
+
+```bash
+# Security (REQUIRED)
+JWT_SECRET=your-secure-random-key-here
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@host:port/database
+
+# File Storage
+UPLOAD_PATH=/app/uploads
+WATCH_FOLDER=/path/to/mounted/folder
+
+# Watch Folder (for network mounts)
+WATCH_INTERVAL_SECONDS=60
+FORCE_POLLING_WATCH=1
+
+# Performance
+CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS=4
+MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB=100
 ```
 
 ### Database Tuning
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 2c3015d..a2a2303 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,16 @@ pub struct Config {
     pub watch_interval_seconds: Option<u64>,
     pub file_stability_check_ms: Option<u64>,
     pub max_file_age_hours: Option<u64>,
+    
+    // OCR Configuration
+    pub ocr_language: String,
+    pub concurrent_ocr_jobs: usize,
+    pub ocr_timeout_seconds: u64,
+    pub max_file_size_mb: u64,
+    
+    // Performance
+    pub memory_limit_mb: usize,
+    pub cpu_priority: String,
 }
 
 impl Config {
@@ -43,6 +53,30 @@ impl Config {
             max_file_age_hours: env::var("MAX_FILE_AGE_HOURS")
                 .ok()
                 .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok()),
+                
+            // OCR Configuration
+            ocr_language: env::var("OCR_LANGUAGE")
+                .unwrap_or_else(|_| "eng".to_string()),
+            concurrent_ocr_jobs: env::var("CONCURRENT_OCR_JOBS")
+                .ok()
+                .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+                .unwrap_or(4),
+            ocr_timeout_seconds: env::var("OCR_TIMEOUT_SECONDS")
+                .ok()
+                .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+                .unwrap_or(300),
+            max_file_size_mb: env::var("MAX_FILE_SIZE_MB")
+                .ok()
+                .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+                .unwrap_or(50),
+                
+            // Performance
+            memory_limit_mb: env::var("MEMORY_LIMIT_MB")
+                .ok()
+                .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+                .unwrap_or(512),
+            cpu_priority: env::var("CPU_PRIORITY")
+                .unwrap_or_else(|_| "normal".to_string()),
         })
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file