diff --git a/Pipfile b/Pipfile
index 4c0589d..3ff50c0 100644
--- a/Pipfile
+++ b/Pipfile
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ black = "==24.3.0"
 [packages]
 fastapi = "==0.109.1"
 uvicorn = "==0.26.0"
+pydantic-settings = "==2.2.1"
 
 [requires]
 python_version = "3.11"
diff --git a/Pipfile.lock b/Pipfile.lock
index f8ff88b..9f22ddf 100644
--- a/Pipfile.lock
+++ b/Pipfile.lock
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "_meta": {
         "hash": {
-            "sha256": "c3b3aa94bfdb743216f1b93e0108d822d52d1738dbb641b236384e5e1d838bb6"
+            "sha256": "bb9a0007005e14f614cbcce60d7702a5f22564b960da2f98d76ebf3754047733"
         },
         "pipfile-spec": 6,
         "requires": {
@@ -166,6 +166,22 @@
             "markers": "python_version >= '3.8'",
             "version": "==2.16.3"
         },
+        "pydantic-settings": {
+            "hashes": [
+                "sha256:00b9f6a5e95553590434c0fa01ead0b216c3e10bc54ae02e37f359948643c5ed",
+                "sha256:0235391d26db4d2190cb9b31051c4b46882d28a51533f97440867f012d4da091"
+            ],
+            "index": "pypi",
+            "version": "==2.2.1"
+        },
+        "python-dotenv": {
+            "hashes": [
+                "sha256:e324ee90a023d808f1959c46bcbc04446a10ced277783dc6ee09987c37ec10ca",
+                "sha256:f7b63ef50f1b690dddf550d03497b66d609393b40b564ed0d674909a68ebf16a"
+            ],
+            "markers": "python_version >= '3.8'",
+            "version": "==1.0.1"
+        },
         "sniffio": {
             "hashes": [
                 "sha256:2f6da418d1f1e0fddd844478f41680e794e6051915791a034ff65e5f100525a2",
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6c70a89..3a07bae 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ You can expect 12 entries to be solved after ~1s with `bruteforce`and <0.1s with
 weaker machines.
 Multiple cores won't speed up job time, but will enable efficient solving of parallel jobs.
 
-The thresholds that decide which jobs are solved which way are defined in constants.py.
-This might be configurable by CLI later (TODO #69).
+The thresholds that decide which jobs are solved which way are defined in constants.py and can be passed as env,
+see [docker-compose.yml](/docker-compose.yml) for details.
 
 ## Contributing
 
diff --git a/app/constants.py b/app/constants.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 6b8f23f..0000000
--- a/app/constants.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-from pydantic import BaseModel
-
-# used for git tags
-version = "v1.0.1"
-
-
-class SolverSettings(BaseModel):
-    bruteforce_max_combinations: int
-    n_max: int
-
-
-# TODO should be startup parameter (see #69)
-solverSettings = SolverSettings(
-    # Desktop with Ryzen 2700X:
-    # (4, 3, 2)=1260 => 0.1s, (4, 3, 3)=4200 => 0.8s, (5, 3, 3)=9240 => 8s
-    bruteforce_max_combinations=5000,
-    # that is already unusable x100, but the solver takes it easily
-    n_max=2000
-)
diff --git a/app/main.py b/app/main.py
index fc449aa..52a2e00 100644
--- a/app/main.py
+++ b/app/main.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from starlette.requests import Request
 from starlette.responses import HTMLResponse, PlainTextResponse
 
-from app.constants import version, solverSettings
+from app.settings import version, solverSettings
 # don't mark /app as a sources root or pycharm will delete the "app." prefix
 # that's needed for pytest to work correctly
 from app.solver.data.Job import Job
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
     print(f"Starting CutSolver {version}...")
+    print(f"Settings: {solverSettings.json()}")
+    print(f"Routes: {app.routes}")
     yield
     print("Shutting down CutSolver...")
 
diff --git a/app/settings.py b/app/settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef6cce3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from pydantic import PositiveInt
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
+
+# constant; used for git tags
+version = "v1.0.1"
+
+
+class SolverSettings(BaseSettings):
+    # Desktop with Ryzen 2700X:
+    # (4, 3, 2)=1260 => 0.1s, (4, 3, 3)=4200 => 0.8s, (5, 3, 3)=9240 => 8s
+    bruteforce_max_combinations: PositiveInt = 5000
+    # that is already unusable x100, but the solver takes it easily
+    solver_n_max: PositiveInt = 2000
+
+
+# defaults can be overwritten via env
+solverSettings = SolverSettings()
diff --git a/app/solver/solver.py b/app/solver/solver.py
index 77c71d4..62f65ca 100644
--- a/app/solver/solver.py
+++ b/app/solver/solver.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from itertools import permutations
 from time import perf_counter
 
-from app.constants import solverSettings
+from app.settings import solverSettings
 from app.solver.data.Job import Job, TargetSize
 from app.solver.data.Result import ResultLengths, Result, SolverType
 from app.solver.utils import _get_trimming, _sorted
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def solve(job: Job) -> Result:
     if job.n_combinations() <= solverSettings.bruteforce_max_combinations:
         lengths = _solve_bruteforce(job)
         solver_type = SolverType.bruteforce
-    elif job.n_targets() <= solverSettings.n_max:
+    elif job.n_targets() <= solverSettings.solver_n_max:
         lengths = _solve_FFD(job)
         solver_type = SolverType.FFD
     else:
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 3008ac3..afcb3e2 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     ports:
       - "8000:80"
+    environment:
+      - BRUTEFORCE_MAX_COMBINATIONS=4000
+      - SOLVER_N_MAX=1500
 
   cutsolver_frontend:
     image: modischfabrications/cutsolver_frontend:latest
diff --git a/tag_from_version.py b/tag_from_version.py
index 6959d95..3c11a1a 100644
--- a/tag_from_version.py
+++ b/tag_from_version.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from git import Repo
 
-from app import constants
+from app import settings
 
 
 def compare_versions(left: str, right: str):
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def process():
     repo = Repo(Path("."))
     assert not repo.bare
 
-    version = constants.version
+    version = settings.version
 
     version_tags_only = tuple(filter(lambda tag: tag.name[0] == "v", repo.tags))
     newest_tag = version_tags_only[-1]