diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile.dev b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile.dev
index 80a45f6f7..bf3306d07 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile.dev
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile.dev
@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@ COPY <<EOF /etc/discourse/client-api-key
 I am so secret
 EOF
 
+# Environment Variables for TIRA Configuration:
+ENV TIRA_ROOT=/workspaces/tira/model/src
+ENV TIRA_CONFIG=/workspaces/tira/application/config/tira-application-config.yml
+ENV TIRA_DEBUG=true
+
 ########################################################################################################################
 # Client                                                                                                               #
 ########################################################################################################################
diff --git a/application/.dockerignore b/application/.dockerignore
index 9fb602b61..6392292d9 100644
--- a/application/.dockerignore
+++ b/application/.dockerignore
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-config
-!config/*.docker.yml
 mock-data
 
 .dockerignore
diff --git a/application/Dockerfile.prod b/application/Dockerfile.prod
index 097de3735..2051ab26f 100644
--- a/application/Dockerfile.prod
+++ b/application/Dockerfile.prod
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ ENV PATH=/home/tira/.local/bin:$PATH
 # CONFIGURE THE FOLLOWING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES IN YOUR DOCKER-COMPOSE FILE
 ENV HF_HOME=/home/tira/data/publicly-shared-datasets/huggingface/
 ENV TIRA_CONFIG=/tira/config/tira-application-config.docker.yml
+ENV TIRA_DEBUG=false
 
 EXPOSE 80
 
diff --git a/application/config/tira-application-config.docker.yml b/application/config/tira-application-config.docker.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 05a3e05df..000000000
--- a/application/config/tira-application-config.docker.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-# ---task/celebrity-profiling/user/hodge20a
-debug: true
-allowed_hosts:
-  - "127.0.0.1"
-django_secret: "not-so-secret"
-# ---
-tira_root: !ENV ${TIRA_ROOT:/tira}
-# disraptor_secret_file: /etc/discourse/client-api-key
-# The directory where logs are written to. Defaults to TIRA_ROOT/log/tira-application
-# logging_dir: /mnt/ceph/tira/log/tira-application
-# grpc_host can be local or remote. If local, it will call localhost (i.e. for testing). If remote, it will call the vm-host
-# When developing, set this option to local, otherwise you might accidentally remote-control the live-vms.
-grpc_host: local
-host_grpc_port: 50051
-application_grpc_port: 50052
-database:
-  engine: django.db.backends.sqlite3 # django.db.backends.mysql or django.db.backends.sqlite3
-  name: tira # when backend is sqlite, this will be the name of the database below TIRA_ROOT/state
-  user: tira # ignored when using sqlite3
-  password: TODO-ENTER-PASSWORD # ignored when using sqlite3
-  host: tira-mariadb # ignored when using sqlite3
-  port: 3306 # ignored when using sqlite3
-github_token: !ENV ${TIRA_GITHUB_TOKEN}
-discourse_api_url: !ENV ${DISCOURSE_API_URL:https://www.tira.io}
diff --git a/application/config/tira-application-config.dev.yml b/application/config/tira-application-config.yml
similarity index 97%
rename from application/config/tira-application-config.dev.yml
rename to application/config/tira-application-config.yml
index d9b4b8375..c8f0f1175 100644
--- a/application/config/tira-application-config.dev.yml
+++ b/application/config/tira-application-config.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # ---task/celebrity-profiling/user/hodge20a
-debug: true
+debug: ${TIRA_DEBUG:false}
 allowed_hosts:
   - "127.0.0.1"
 django_secret: "not-so-secret"
diff --git a/application/src/django_admin/settings.py b/application/src/django_admin/settings.py
index 478023ccf..0c3b978b4 100644
--- a/application/src/django_admin/settings.py
+++ b/application/src/django_admin/settings.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/
 """
 
+import errno
 import importlib.resources as resources
 import logging
 import os
@@ -22,10 +23,7 @@
 BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 
 custom_settings = {}
-# for cfg in (BASE_DIR / "config").glob("*.yml"):
-#    print(f"Load settings from {cfg}.")
-#    custom_settings.update(yaml.load(open(cfg, "r").read(), Loader=yaml.FullLoader))
-cfgpath = os.environ.get("TIRA_CONFIG", str(BASE_DIR / "config" / "tira-application-config.dev.yml"))
+cfgpath = os.environ.get("TIRA_CONFIG", str(BASE_DIR / "config" / "tira-application-config.yml"))
 logging.info(f"Load settings from {cfgpath}.")
 config = parse_config(cfgpath, default_value=None)
 custom_settings.update(config)
@@ -37,20 +35,20 @@
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/howto/deployment/checklist/
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
-SECRET_KEY = custom_settings.get("django_secret", "not-so-secret")
+SECRET_KEY = custom_settings["django_secret"]
 
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = custom_settings.get("debug", True)
-ALLOWED_HOSTS = custom_settings.get("allowed_hosts", [])
+DEBUG = custom_settings["debug"]
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = custom_settings["allowed_hosts"]
 
-TIRA_ROOT = Path(custom_settings.get("tira_root", BASE_DIR.parents[1] / "model" / "src"))
+TIRA_ROOT = Path(custom_settings["tira_root"])
 if not TIRA_ROOT.is_dir():
     logging.warning(f"{TIRA_ROOT} does not exists and will be created now.")
 
 (TIRA_ROOT / "state").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
-DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE = Path(custom_settings.get("disraptor_secret_file", "/etc/discourse/client-api-key"))
+DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE = Path(custom_settings["disraptor_secret_file"])
 HOST_GRPC_PORT = custom_settings.get("host_grpc_port", "50051")
 APPLICATION_GRPC_PORT = custom_settings.get("application_grpc_port", "50052")
 GRPC_HOST = custom_settings.get("grpc_host", "local")  # can be local or remote
@@ -361,24 +359,6 @@ def logger_config(log_dir: Path):
         raise PermissionError(f"Can not write to {ld} in production mode.")
 
 
-# Password validation
-# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators
-
-AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator",
-    },
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator",
-    },
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator",
-    },
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator",
-    },
-]
-
 # Internationalization
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/topics/i18n/
 
@@ -415,7 +395,10 @@ def logger_config(log_dir: Path):
 }
 
 CODE_SUBMISSION_REPOSITORY_NAMESPACE = "tira-io"
-try:
-    DISRAPTOR_API_KEY = open(DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE, "r").read().strip()
-except Exception:
-    pass
+if DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE.exists():
+    DISRAPTOR_API_KEY = DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE.read_text().strip()
+elif DEBUG:
+    logging.warning(f"The Disraptor Secret File, {DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE}, could not be found.")
+    DISRAPTOR_API_KEY = ""
+else:
+    raise FileNotFoundError(errno.ENOENT, os.strerror(errno.ENOENT), str(DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE))
diff --git a/application/test/settings_test.py b/application/test/settings_test.py
index 4fb323ed1..0c0bbc597 100644
--- a/application/test/settings_test.py
+++ b/application/test/settings_test.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/
 """
 
+import errno
 import importlib.resources as resources
 import logging
 import os
@@ -22,10 +23,7 @@
 BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 
 custom_settings = {}
-# for cfg in (BASE_DIR / "config").glob("*.yml"):
-#    print(f"Load settings from {cfg}.")
-#    custom_settings.update(yaml.load(open(cfg, "r").read(), Loader=yaml.FullLoader))
-cfgpath = os.environ.get("TIRA_CONFIG", str(BASE_DIR / "config" / "tira-application-config.dev.yml"))
+cfgpath = os.environ.get("TIRA_CONFIG", str(BASE_DIR / "config" / "tira-application-config.yml"))
 logging.info(f"Load settings from {cfgpath}.")
 config = parse_config(cfgpath, default_value=None)
 custom_settings.update(config)
@@ -34,12 +32,12 @@
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/howto/deployment/checklist/
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
-SECRET_KEY = custom_settings.get("django_secret", "not-so-secret")
+SECRET_KEY = custom_settings["django_secret"]
 
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = custom_settings.get("debug", True)
-ALLOWED_HOSTS = custom_settings.get("allowed_hosts", [])
+DEBUG = custom_settings["debug"]
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = custom_settings["allowed_hosts"]
 
 TIRA_ROOT = Path(custom_settings.get("tira_root", BASE_DIR / "test" / "tira-root"))
 if not TIRA_ROOT.is_dir():
@@ -47,7 +45,7 @@
 
 (TIRA_ROOT / "state").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
-DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE = Path(custom_settings.get("disraptor_secret_file", "/etc/discourse/client-api-key"))
+DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE = Path(custom_settings["disraptor_secret_file"])
 HOST_GRPC_PORT = custom_settings.get("host_grpc_port", "50051")
 APPLICATION_GRPC_PORT = custom_settings.get("application_grpc_port", "50052")
 GRPC_HOST = custom_settings.get("grpc_host", "local")  # can be local or remote
@@ -299,24 +297,6 @@ def logger_config(log_dir: Path):
         raise PermissionError(f"Can not write to {ld} in production mode.")
 
 
-# Password validation
-# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators
-
-AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator",
-    },
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator",
-    },
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator",
-    },
-    {
-        "NAME": "django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator",
-    },
-]
-
 # Internationalization
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/topics/i18n/
 
@@ -341,7 +321,10 @@ def logger_config(log_dir: Path):
 REFERENCE_DATASETS: dict[str, str] = {}
 
 CODE_SUBMISSION_REPOSITORY_NAMESPACE = "tira-io"
-try:
-    DISRAPTOR_API_KEY = open(DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE, "r").read().strip()
-except Exception:
-    pass
+if DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE.exists():
+    DISRAPTOR_API_KEY = DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE.read_text().strip()
+elif DEBUG:
+    logging.warning(f"The Disraptor Secret File, {DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE}, could not be found.")
+    DISRAPTOR_API_KEY = ""
+else:
+    raise FileNotFoundError(errno.ENOENT, os.strerror(errno.ENOENT), str(DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE))
diff --git a/documentation/organizers/deployment/application.rst b/documentation/organizers/deployment/application.rst
index 56f09c16e..733f64b5f 100644
--- a/documentation/organizers/deployment/application.rst
+++ b/documentation/organizers/deployment/application.rst
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ If you set up Discourse with `Disraptor <https://www.disraptor.org>`_, this will
 make TIRA work with it.
 
 (1) Since TIRA has a legacy and a Disraptor :code:`deployment` mode first change that to :code:`disraptor` in the
-    development config file :code:`application/config/tira-application-config.dev.yml`.
+    development config file :code:`application/config/tira-application-config.yml`.
 (2) When you set up Disraptor you set a :code:`Disraptor App Secret Key` that allows Disraptor to communicate with your
     web application. Since TIRA has to evaluate that this secret is correct we have to supply it to it. TIRA expects
     that secret in an environment variable called :code:`DISRAPTOR_APP_SECRET_KEY`, so before starting your development
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ Setup on MacOS (Monterey/M1)
     .. code:: bash
 
         brew install python@3.10 pipenv pyvenv mariadb uwsgi
-(2) Inside :code:`tira/application/config/tira-application-config.dev.yml` change :code:`tira_root` to the model you
+(2) Inside :code:`tira/application/config/tira-application-config.yml` change :code:`tira_root` to the model you
     want to use.
 (3) From within :code:`tira/application` execute the makefile at least once. This copies the config and runs
     :code:`manage.py index_model` once.
diff --git a/model/.gitignore b/model/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb..000000000
diff --git a/model/requirements.txt b/model/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb..000000000
diff --git a/pipelines/src/django_tira_git/settings.py b/pipelines/src/django_tira_git/settings.py
index 63a27b07b..83550d1a6 100644
--- a/pipelines/src/django_tira_git/settings.py
+++ b/pipelines/src/django_tira_git/settings.py
@@ -26,22 +26,19 @@
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/howto/deployment/checklist/
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
-SECRET_KEY = custom_settings.get("django_secret", "not-so-secret")
+SECRET_KEY = custom_settings["django_secret"]
 
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = custom_settings.get("debug", True)
-ALLOWED_HOSTS = custom_settings.get("allowed_hosts", [])
+DEBUG = custom_settings["debug"]
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = custom_settings["allowed_hosts"]
 
-TIRA_ROOT = Path(
-    custom_settings.get("tira_root", BASE_DIR.parents[1] / "tira-model" / "src")
-)
+TIRA_ROOT = Path(custom_settings["tira_root"])
 if not TIRA_ROOT.is_dir():
     raise FileNotFoundError(
         f"TIRA_ROOT must point to an existing tira model but points to {TIRA_ROOT} instead."
     )
 
-DEPLOYMENT = custom_settings.get("deployment", "disraptor")
 DISRAPTOR_SECRET_FILE = Path(
     custom_settings.get("disraptor_secret_file", "/etc/discourse/client-api-key")
 )