diff --git a/rag-service/pom.xml b/rag-service/pom.xml
index fe29688..3280b2a 100644
--- a/rag-service/pom.xml
+++ b/rag-service/pom.xml
@@ -6,12 +6,11 @@
 		<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
 		<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
 		<version>3.5.7</version>
-		<relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
+		<relativePath/>
 	</parent>
 	<groupId>com.balex</groupId>
 	<artifactId>rag</artifactId>
 	<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
-	<name>rag</name>
 	<description>Backend for queries to RAG</description>
 	<url/>
 	<licenses>
@@ -29,6 +28,7 @@
 	<properties>
 		<java.version>25</java.version>
 		<spring-ai.version>1.0.3</spring-ai.version>
+		<spring-cloud.version>2025.0.0</spring-cloud.version>
 		<lombok-mapstruct-binding.version>0.2.0</lombok-mapstruct-binding.version>
 	</properties>
 	<dependencies>
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@
 			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
 			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
 		</dependency>
+		<!-- Actuator for health checks and Consul registration -->
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
+		</dependency>
+		<!-- Consul service discovery -->
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
+			<artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-consul-discovery</artifactId>
+		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
 			<artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
@@ -160,6 +170,13 @@
 				<type>pom</type>
 				<scope>import</scope>
 			</dependency>
+			<dependency>
+				<groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
+				<artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
+				<version>${spring-cloud.version}</version>
+				<type>pom</type>
+				<scope>import</scope>
+			</dependency>
 		</dependencies>
 	</dependencyManagement>
 
diff --git a/rag-service/src/main/resources/application.properties b/rag-service/src/main/resources/application.properties
index 14e3da0..6a10acf 100644
--- a/rag-service/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/rag-service/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -5,11 +5,21 @@ spring.ai.openai.base-url=${SPRING_AI_OPENAI_BASE_URL:https://api.groq.com/opena
 spring.ai.openai.api-key=${SPRING_AI_OPENAI_API_KEY:}
 spring.ai.openai.chat.model=${SPRING_AI_OPENAI_CHAT_MODEL:llama-3.3-70b-versatile}
 
-# --- Embedding model: use local pgvector with a lightweight model ---
-# Groq does not provide an embedding endpoint, so we disable OpenAI embedding auto-config
-# and rely on the pgvector store's existing embedding setup
+# --- Embedding model: local ONNX (Groq has no embedding API) ---
 spring.ai.openai.embedding.enabled=false
 
+# --- Consul service discovery ---
+spring.cloud.consul.host=${SPRING_CLOUD_CONSUL_HOST:localhost}
+spring.cloud.consul.port=${SPRING_CLOUD_CONSUL_PORT:8500}
+spring.cloud.consul.discovery.service-name=rag-service
+spring.cloud.consul.discovery.instance-id=${spring.application.name}-${random.value}
+spring.cloud.consul.discovery.prefer-ip-address=true
+spring.cloud.consul.discovery.health-check-interval=10s
+
+# --- Actuator ---
+management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info
+management.endpoint.health.show-details=always
+
 jwt.secret=${JWT_SECRET:ywfI6dBznYmHbokihB/OBzZz6E0Fj+6PiqrM8dQ5c3t0HeYarblCbOGM8vQtOt472AtQ+MsCH7OVIKHOzjrPsQ==}
 jwt.expiration=103600000
 spring.datasource.url=${SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL:jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/ragdb}