diff --git a/.deploy/docker-compose-template.yml b/.deploy/docker-compose-template.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 30f3fb0..0000000
--- a/.deploy/docker-compose-template.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-version: "3.9"
-services:
-  ${APP_NAME}:
-    image: ghcr.io/${IMAGE_REPO}:${RELEASE_VERSION}
-    restart: always
-    ports:
-      - "80"
-    environment:
-      VIRTUAL_HOST: ${HOST_DOMAIN}
-      LETSENCRYPT_HOST: ${HOST_DOMAIN}
-      LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL: ${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}
-      DEPLOY_API: ${DEPLOY_API}
-
-networks:
-  default:
-    external: true
-    name: nginx
diff --git a/.deploy/docker-compose.yml b/.deploy/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de6e2d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.deploy/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+version: "3.9"
+services:
+  app:
+    image: ghcr.io/${IMAGE_REPO}:${RELEASE_VERSION} 
+    restart: always                               
+    # network_mode: bridge
+    ports:                                         
+      - "8080"                                     
+    container_name: ${APP_NAME}_app                
+    environment:
+      WS_HOST: ws://${HOST_DOMAIN}
+      WS_PORT: 80
+      VIRTUAL_HOST: ${HOST_DOMAIN}
+      VIRTUAL_PORT: 8080 # New default ASP.NET port -> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/compatibility/containers/8.0/aspnet-port
+      LETSENCRYPT_HOST: ${HOST_DOMAIN}           
+      LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL: ${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}
+      LC_ALL: "en_US.UTF-8"
+      LANG: "en_US.UTF-8"
+    volumes:
+      - app-mydb:/app/App_Data  
+
+networks:
+  default:
+    external: true                                     
+    name: nginx                                        
+
+volumes:
+    app-mydb:                                          
diff --git a/.deploy/nginx-proxy-compose.yml b/.deploy/nginx-proxy-compose.yml
index eccae8d..14a709c 100644
--- a/.deploy/nginx-proxy-compose.yml
+++ b/.deploy/nginx-proxy-compose.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-version: '2'
+version: "3.9"
 
 services:
   nginx-proxy:
-    image: jwilder/nginx-proxy
+    image: nginxproxy/nginx-proxy
     container_name: nginx-proxy
     restart: always
     ports:
@@ -15,21 +15,27 @@ services:
       - dhparam:/etc/nginx/dhparam
       - certs:/etc/nginx/certs:ro
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/tmp/docker.sock:ro
-    network_mode: bridge
+    labels:
+      - "com.github.jrcs.letsencrypt_nginx_proxy_companion.nginx_proxy"
 
   letsencrypt:
-    image: jrcs/letsencrypt-nginx-proxy-companion:2.0
+    image: nginxproxy/acme-companion:2.2
     container_name: nginx-proxy-le
     restart: always
+    depends_on:
+      - "nginx-proxy"
     environment:
       - DEFAULT_EMAIL=you@example.com
-    volumes_from:
-      - nginx-proxy
     volumes:
       - certs:/etc/nginx/certs:rw
       - acme:/etc/acme.sh
+      - vhost:/etc/nginx/vhost.d
+      - html:/usr/share/nginx/html
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
-    network_mode: bridge
+
+networks:
+  default:
+    name: nginx
 
 volumes:
   conf:
@@ -37,4 +43,4 @@ volumes:
   html:
   dhparam:
   certs:
-  acme:
+  acme:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index e948a3e..60f0ecb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -28,20 +28,15 @@ jobs:
       # Checkout latest or specific tag
       - name: checkout
         if: ${{ github.event.inputs.version == '' || github.event.inputs.version == 'latest' }}
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - name: checkout tag
         if: ${{ github.event.inputs.version != '' && github.event.inputs.version != 'latest' }}
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           ref: refs/tags/${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
-
-      - name: Setup dotnet
-        uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
-        with:
-          dotnet-version: '8.0'
-  
+          
       # Assign environment variables used in subsequent steps
-      - name: repository name fix
+      - name: Env variable assignment
         run: echo "image_repository_name=$(echo ${{ github.repository }} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       # TAG_NAME defaults to 'latest' if not a release or manual deployment
       - name: Assign version
@@ -54,59 +49,33 @@ jobs:
             echo "TAG_NAME=${{ github.event.inputs.version }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi;
 
-      - name: Run CI Prebuild Script
-        env:
-          deploy_api: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_API }}
-        run: |
-          if [ -e ./.deploy/ci.prebuild.sh ]
-          then
-            chmod +x ./.deploy/ci.prebuild.sh
-            ./.deploy/ci.prebuild.sh
-          else
-            echo "Skipping CI prebuild"
-          fi
-
-      # Publish .NET Project
-      - name: Publish dotnet project
-        working-directory: ./world
-        run: |
-          dotnet publish -c Release /p:DEPLOY_API=${{ secrets.DEPLOY_API }}
-
-      # Authenticate, build and push to GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io)
       - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v1
+        uses: docker/login-action@v2
         with:
           registry: ghcr.io
-          username: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
+          username: ${{ github.actor }}
           password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-
+        
       # Build and push new docker image, skip for manual redeploy other than 'latest'
-      - name: Build and push Docker images
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2.2.2
-        if: ${{ github.event.inputs.version == '' || github.event.inputs.version == 'latest' }}
-        with:
-          file: Dockerfile
-          context: .
-          push: true
-          tags: ghcr.io/${{ env.image_repository_name }}:${{ env.TAG_NAME }}
-
+      - name: Build and push Docker image
+        run: |
+          dotnet publish --os linux --arch x64 -c Release -p:ContainerRepository=${{ env.image_repository_name }} -p:ContainerRegistry=ghcr.io -p:ContainerImageTags=${{ env.TAG_NAME }} -p:ContainerPort=80
 
   deploy_via_ssh:
     needs: push_to_registry
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     if: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.conclusion != 'failure' }}
     steps:
       # Checkout latest or specific tag
       - name: checkout
         if: ${{ github.event.inputs.version == '' || github.event.inputs.version == 'latest' }}
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - name: checkout tag
         if: ${{ github.event.inputs.version != '' && github.event.inputs.version != 'latest' }}
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           ref: refs/tags/${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
 
-      # Assign environment variables used in subsequent steps
       - name: repository name fix and env
         run: |
           echo "image_repository_name=$(echo ${{ github.repository }} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
@@ -118,44 +87,43 @@ jobs:
             echo "TAG_NAME=${{ github.event.inputs.version }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi;
 
-      # Populate docker-compose.yml with variables from build process, including TAG_NAME.
-      - name: docker-compose file prep
-        uses: danielr1996/envsubst-action@1.1.0
-        env:
-          RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ env.TAG_NAME }}
-          IMAGE_REPO: ${{ env.image_repository_name }}
-          APP_NAME: ${{ github.event.repository.name }}
-          HOST_DOMAIN: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_API }}
-          LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL: ${{ secrets.LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL }}
-          DEPLOY_API: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_API }}
-        with:
-          input: .deploy/docker-compose-template.yml
-          output: .deploy/${{ github.event.repository.name }}-docker-compose.yml
-
+      - name: Create .env file
+        run: |
+          echo "Generating .env file"
+          
+          echo "# Autogenerated .env file" > .deploy/.env
+          echo "HOST_DOMAIN=${{ secrets.DEPLOY_HOST }}" >> .deploy/.env
+          echo "LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=${{ secrets.LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL }}" >> .deploy/.env
+          echo "APP_NAME=${{ github.event.repository.name }}" >> .deploy/.env
+          echo "IMAGE_REPO=${{ env.image_repository_name }}" >> .deploy/.env
+          echo "RELEASE_VERSION=${{ env.TAG_NAME }}" >> .deploy/.env
+      
       # Copy only the docker-compose.yml to remote server home folder
-      - name: copy compose file via scp
+      - name: copy files to target server via scp
         uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.3
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_API }}
+          host: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_HOST }}
           username: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_USERNAME }}
           port: 22
           key: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_KEY }}
-          source: ".deploy/${{ github.event.repository.name }}-docker-compose.yml"
-          target: "~/"
+          strip_components: 2
+          source: "./.deploy/docker-compose.yml,./.deploy/.env"
+          target: "~/.deploy/${{ github.event.repository.name }}/"
 
-      # Deploy Docker image with ServiceStack application using `docker compose up` remotely
+      # Deploy Docker image with your application using `docker compose up` remotely
       - name: remote docker-compose up via ssh
         uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.5
         env:
           APPTOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_USERNAME }}
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_API }}
+          host: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_HOST }}
           username: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_KEY }}
           port: 22
           envs: APPTOKEN,USERNAME
           script: |
             echo $APPTOKEN | docker login ghcr.io -u $USERNAME --password-stdin
-            docker-compose -f ~/.deploy/${{ github.event.repository.name }}-docker-compose.yml pull
-            docker-compose -f ~/.deploy/${{ github.event.repository.name }}-docker-compose.yml up -d
+            cd ~/.deploy/${{ github.event.repository.name }}
+            docker compose pull
+            docker compose up app -d
diff --git a/world/Validation.csproj b/world/Validation.csproj
index e6a8e15..f9106aa 100644
--- a/world/Validation.csproj
+++ b/world/Validation.csproj
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
     <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
     <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
     <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
-    <AspNetCoreHostingModel>InProcess</AspNetCoreHostingModel>
     <TypeScriptCompileBlocked>true</TypeScriptCompileBlocked>
     <PublishProfile>DefaultContainer</PublishProfile>
   </PropertyGroup>