diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index c7cbe4c..72bc84e 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -84,7 +84,12 @@ services:
       - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD:?}
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=${MINIO_ROOT_USER:?}
       - RABBITMQ_CONNECTION_STRING=amqp://${RABBITMQ_USER}:${RABBITMQ_PASSWORD}@rabbitmq:5672
-      - POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment?sslmode=disable
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER:?}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
+      - POSTGRES_PARAMETERS=${POSTGRES_PARAMETERS:-sslmode=disable}
       - RABBITMQ_PASSWORD=${RABBITMQ_PASSWORD:?}
       - RABBITMQ_USER=${RABBITMQ_USER:?}
     depends_on:
@@ -277,7 +282,12 @@ services:
       - ./infra/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml:/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml:ro
       - ./infra/dapr/configuration/config_monitoring_${NEMESIS_MONITORING:-disabled}.yaml:/dapr/configuration/config.yaml:ro
     environment:
-      - POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment?sslmode=disable
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER:?}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
+      - POSTGRES_PARAMETERS=${POSTGRES_PARAMETERS:-sslmode=disable}
       - RABBITMQ_CONNECTION_STRING=amqp://${RABBITMQ_USER}:${RABBITMQ_PASSWORD}@rabbitmq:5672
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=${MINIO_ROOT_USER:?}
       - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD:?}
@@ -413,7 +423,7 @@ services:
       # Phoenix LLM tracing configuration
       - PHOENIX_ENABLED=${PHOENIX_ENABLED:-false}
       - PHOENIX_ENDPOINT=${PHOENIX_ENDPOINT:-http://phoenix:6006/v1/traces}
-      - PHOENIX_SQL_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/phoenix
+      - PHOENIX_SQL_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/phoenix
       - NEMESIS_MONITORING=${NEMESIS_MONITORING:-disabled}
       - OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT=http://otel-collector:4317
       - OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT_INSECURE=true
@@ -456,7 +466,12 @@ services:
       - ./infra/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml:/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml:ro
       - ./infra/dapr/configuration/config_monitoring_${NEMESIS_MONITORING:-disabled}.yaml:/dapr/configuration/config.yaml:ro
     environment:
-      - POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment?sslmode=disable
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER:?}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
+      - POSTGRES_PARAMETERS=${POSTGRES_PARAMETERS:-sslmode=disable}
       - HASURA_ADMIN_SECRET=${HASURA_ADMIN_SECRET:-pass456}
       - RABBITMQ_CONNECTION_STRING=amqp://${RABBITMQ_USER}:${RABBITMQ_PASSWORD}@rabbitmq:5672
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=${MINIO_ROOT_USER:?}
@@ -514,7 +529,12 @@ services:
     environment:
       - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD:?}
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=${MINIO_ROOT_USER:?}
-      - POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment?sslmode=disable
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER:?}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
+      - POSTGRES_PARAMETERS=${POSTGRES_PARAMETERS:-sslmode=disable}
     depends_on:
       housekeeping: { condition: service_started }
       placement: { condition: service_started }
@@ -584,7 +604,12 @@ services:
     environment:
       - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD:?}
       - MINIO_ROOT_USER=${MINIO_ROOT_USER:?}
-      - POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment?sslmode=disable
+      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER:?}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}
+      - POSTGRES_HOST=${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}
+      - POSTGRES_PORT=${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
+      - POSTGRES_PARAMETERS=${POSTGRES_PARAMETERS:-sslmode=disable}
       - RABBITMQ_CONNECTION_STRING=amqp://${RABBITMQ_USER}:${RABBITMQ_PASSWORD}@rabbitmq:5672
     depends_on:
       document-conversion: { condition: service_started }
@@ -726,7 +751,7 @@ services:
     profiles: ["monitoring"]
     image: prometheuscommunity/postgres-exporter:latest
     environment:
-      DATA_SOURCE_NAME: "postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER:?}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}@postgres:5432/enrichment?sslmode=disable"
+      DATA_SOURCE_NAME: "postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER:?}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}?${POSTGRES_PARAMETERS:-sslmode=disable}"
     volumes:
       - ./infra/postgres-exporter/postgres_exporter.yml:/postgres_exporter.yml:ro
     depends_on:
@@ -739,13 +764,13 @@ services:
     environment:
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_ADMIN_SECRET: "${HASURA_ADMIN_SECRET:-pass456}"
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_BASE_PATH: "/hasura"
-      HASURA_GRAPHQL_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment
+      HASURA_GRAPHQL_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_ENABLE_CONSOLE: "true"
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_ENABLE_METADATA_SYNC: "true"
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_ENABLE_TELEMETRY: "false"
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_ENABLED_LOG_TYPES: startup, http-log, webhook-log, websocket-log, query-log
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_LOG_LEVEL: "warn"
-      HASURA_GRAPHQL_METADATA_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/enrichment
+      HASURA_GRAPHQL_METADATA_DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/${POSTGRES_DB:-enrichment}
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_METADATA_DIR: /hasura-metadata
       HASURA_GRAPHQL_UNAUTHORIZED_ROLE: anonymous
     volumes:
@@ -845,7 +870,7 @@ services:
     environment:
       - PHOENIX_WORKING_DIR=/data
       - PHOENIX_HOST_ROOT_PATH=/phoenix
-      - PHOENIX_SQL_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/phoenix
+      - PHOENIX_SQL_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/phoenix
       - PHOENIX_DEFAULT_RETENTION_POLICY_DAYS=100
     volumes:
       - phoenix_data:/data
@@ -995,7 +1020,7 @@ services:
     profiles: ["llm"]
     image: ghcr.io/berriai/litellm:v1.74.0-stable
     environment:
-      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/litellm
+      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/litellm
       - STORE_MODEL_IN_DB=True
       - AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID:-}
       - AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY:-}
diff --git a/docs/dapr.md b/docs/dapr.md
index b40a40f..c15105e 100644
--- a/docs/dapr.md
+++ b/docs/dapr.md
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ The [document_conversion](https://github.com/SpecterOps/Nemesis/tree/main/projec
 
 ## Secrets
 
-Nemesis uses the [Dapr Secrets management](https://docs.dapr.io/developing-applications/building-blocks/secrets/secrets-overview/) building block to protect secrets internally (like Postgres connection strings). Currently the [Local environment variables](https://docs.dapr.io/reference/components-reference/supported-secret-stores/envvar-secret-store/) component is used. These secrets are also refereced within some Dapr files such as [pubsub.yaml](https://github.com/SpecterOps/Nemesis/tree/main/infra/dapr/components/pubsub.yaml).
+Nemesis uses the [Dapr Secrets management](https://docs.dapr.io/developing-applications/building-blocks/secrets/secrets-overview/) building block to protect secrets internally (like PostgreSQL connection parameters). Currently the [Local environment variables](https://docs.dapr.io/reference/components-reference/supported-secret-stores/envvar-secret-store/) component is used. These secrets are also referenced within some Dapr files such as [pubsub.yaml](https://github.com/SpecterOps/Nemesis/tree/main/infra/dapr/components/pubsub.yaml).
 
 This reason for using this abstraction is so alternative secret management systems like [Vault or Kubernetes secrets](https://docs.dapr.io/reference/components-reference/supported-secret-stores/) can be used in the future:
 
 ![Dapr Secrets](images/dapr-secrets-overview-cloud-stores.png)
 
-An example of retrieving a secret is at the top of the the [housekeeping code](https://github.com/SpecterOps/Nemesis/blob/main/projects/housekeeping/housekeeping/main.py) to retrieve the `POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING` string.
+An example of retrieving secrets is in [libs/common/common/db.py](https://github.com/SpecterOps/Nemesis/blob/main/libs/common/common/db.py) which retrieves individual PostgreSQL connection parameters (`POSTGRES_USER`, `POSTGRES_PASSWORD`, `POSTGRES_HOST`, `POSTGRES_PORT`, `POSTGRES_DB`, `POSTGRES_PARAMETERS`) and constructs the connection string.
 
 ## Service Invocation
 
diff --git a/env.example b/env.example
index 11a8cee..e9598d1 100644
--- a/env.example
+++ b/env.example
@@ -1,10 +1,17 @@
 MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=Qwerty12345
 MINIO_ROOT_USER=nemesis
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD=Qwerty12345
-POSTGRES_USER=nemesis
+
 RABBITMQ_PASSWORD=Qwerty12345
 RABBITMQ_USER=nemesis
 
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=Qwerty12345
+POSTGRES_USER=nemesis
+POSTGRES_HOST=postgres
+POSTGRES_PORT=5432
+POSTGRES_DB=enrichment
+POSTGRES_PARAMETERS=sslmode=disable
+
+
 
 # You can change the password used by HASURA. If not defined a default password will be used (pass456)
 # Example:
diff --git a/infra/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml b/infra/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml
index 8698389..24273d2 100644
--- a/infra/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml
+++ b/infra/dapr/components/workflowstate.yaml
@@ -7,9 +7,27 @@ spec:
   version: v1
   metadata:
   - name: connectionString
+    value: "postgresql://username:password@hostname:5432/databasename?sslmode=disable"
+  - name: host
     secretKeyRef:
-      name: POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING
-      key: POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING
+      name: POSTGRES_HOST
+      key: POSTGRES_HOST
+  - name: port
+    secretKeyRef:
+      name: POSTGRES_PORT
+      key: POSTGRES_PORT
+  - name: database
+    secretKeyRef:
+      name: POSTGRES_DB
+      key: POSTGRES_DB
+  - name: user
+    secretKeyRef:
+      name: POSTGRES_USER
+      key: POSTGRES_USER
+  - name: password
+    secretKeyRef:
+      name: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+      key: POSTGRES_PASSWORD  
   - name: actorStateStore
     value: "true"
   - name: table
diff --git a/libs/common/common/db.py b/libs/common/common/db.py
index 1255537..df9a310 100644
--- a/libs/common/common/db.py
+++ b/libs/common/common/db.py
@@ -1,24 +1,47 @@
 from functools import lru_cache
+from urllib.parse import quote_plus
 
 from dapr.clients import DaprClient
 
-_POSTGRES_SECRET_NAME = "POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING"
 _DAPR_SECRET_STORE_NAME = "nemesis-secret-store"
 
 
 @lru_cache(maxsize=1)
 def get_postgres_connection_str(dapr_client: DaprClient | None = None) -> str:
-    """Get PostgreSQL connection string from Dapr."""
+    """Get PostgreSQL connection string from Dapr secrets by building it from individual parameters."""
+
+    def fetch_secrets(client: DaprClient) -> dict:
+        """Fetch all required PostgreSQL secrets."""
+        secrets = {}
+        secret_keys = ["POSTGRES_USER", "POSTGRES_PASSWORD", "POSTGRES_HOST", "POSTGRES_PORT", "POSTGRES_DB", "POSTGRES_PARAMETERS"]
+
+        for key in secret_keys:
+            try:
+                secret = client.get_secret(store_name=_DAPR_SECRET_STORE_NAME, key=key)
+                secrets[key] = secret.secret[key]
+            except Exception as e:
+                raise ValueError(f"Failed to fetch {key} from Dapr secret store: {e}") from e
+
+        return secrets
 
     if dapr_client:
-        secret = dapr_client.get_secret(store_name=_DAPR_SECRET_STORE_NAME, key=_POSTGRES_SECRET_NAME)
-        output = secret.secret[_POSTGRES_SECRET_NAME]
+        secrets = fetch_secrets(dapr_client)
     else:
         with DaprClient() as client:
-            secret = client.get_secret(store_name=_DAPR_SECRET_STORE_NAME, key=_POSTGRES_SECRET_NAME)
-            output = secret.secret[_POSTGRES_SECRET_NAME]
+            secrets = fetch_secrets(client)
+
+    # Build the connection string from individual parameters
+    # URL-encode user and password to handle special characters like @, :, /, etc.
+    user = quote_plus(secrets["POSTGRES_USER"])
+    password = quote_plus(secrets["POSTGRES_PASSWORD"])
+    host = secrets["POSTGRES_HOST"]
+    port = secrets["POSTGRES_PORT"]
+    db = secrets["POSTGRES_DB"]
+    parameters = secrets["POSTGRES_PARAMETERS"]
+
+    output = f"postgresql://{user}:{password}@{host}:{port}/{db}?{parameters}"
 
     if not output.startswith("postgresql://"):
-        raise ValueError("POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING must start with 'postgresql://' to be used with the DpapiManager")
+        raise ValueError("Constructed POSTGRES connection string must start with 'postgresql://'")
 
     return output
diff --git a/projects/alerting/alerting/main.py b/projects/alerting/alerting/main.py
index 293df4d..68dbf8a 100644
--- a/projects/alerting/alerting/main.py
+++ b/projects/alerting/alerting/main.py
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
                 logger.info(f"[alerting] adding Apprise URL: {url} (tag: {tag})")
                 apobj.add(f"{url}?footer=no", tag=tag)
         else:
-            logger.warning("No Apprise services were added during initialization")
+            # Use test endpoint as default when APPRISE_URLS is not configured
+            logger.info("No APPRISE_URLS configured, using test endpoint as default")
+            apobj.add("json://localhost:8000/test/alert?footer=no", tag="default")
 
         is_initialized = True
 
@@ -120,12 +122,13 @@ async def handle_feedback_subscription():
     while True:
         try:
             transport = WebsocketsTransport(
-                url="ws://hasura:8080/v1/graphql", headers={"x-hasura-admin-secret": hasura_admin_secret}
+                url="ws://hasura:8080/v1/graphql",
+                headers={"x-hasura-admin-secret": hasura_admin_secret}
             )
 
             async with Client(
                 transport=transport,
-                fetch_schema_from_transport=True,
+                fetch_schema_from_transport=False,  # Disable schema fetching to avoid large payload
             ) as session:
                 async for result in session.subscribe(SUBSCRIPTION):
                     if result is None:
diff --git a/projects/web_api/web_api/main.py b/projects/web_api/web_api/main.py
index 771d189..1395815 100644
--- a/projects/web_api/web_api/main.py
+++ b/projects/web_api/web_api/main.py
@@ -263,7 +263,6 @@ async def upload_file(
         logger.info(
             "Received file upload request",
             filename=file.filename,
-            has_metadata=metadata is not None,
             metadata=file_metadata.model_dump(),
         )
 
@@ -285,7 +284,7 @@ async def upload_file(
         file_model = FileModel.from_file_metadata(file_metadata, str(object_id))
         submission_id = await submit_file(file_model)
 
-        logger.info("Metadata submitted", submission_id=submission_id)
+        logger.info("Metadata submitted", submission_id=str(submission_id))
         return FileWithMetadataResponse(object_id=object_id, submission_id=submission_id)
 
     except Exception as e: