diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 306e279..f6639e2 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Central app config (non-secret defaults)
 APP_CONFIG_PATH=config/app.toml
+APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=apex
 
 # Postgres (secret)
 DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@127.0.0.1:5432/postgres
diff --git a/Justfile b/Justfile
index 15d2e86..911bf9c 100644
--- a/Justfile
+++ b/Justfile
@@ -18,15 +18,15 @@ rust_log_server := "info,rag_server=debug,rag_core=debug,tower_http=debug"
 
 # Start Postgres + Qdrant
 up:
-    docker compose -f {{compose_file}} up -d
+    docker compose -p ${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} -f {{compose_file}} up -d
 
 # Stop services
 down:
-    docker compose -f {{compose_file}} down
+    docker compose -p ${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} -f {{compose_file}} down
 
 # Stop services and remove volumes
 down-v:
-    docker compose -f {{compose_file}} down -v
+    docker compose -p ${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} -f {{compose_file}} down -v
 
 # ── Build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
@@ -52,29 +52,29 @@ unit-test:
 # Integration tests and API smoke against local Postgres + Qdrant.
 # Starts Docker infra first and then runs the repo's non-provider integration suites.
 integration-test: up
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-client --test client_tests -- --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-cli --test e2e -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test health -- --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test health -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test health_degraded -- --ignored --nocapture --test-threads=1
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test ingest -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test search -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test e2e -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_conversations -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_ingest -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_lifecycle -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_retrieval -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-client --test client_tests -- --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-cli --test e2e -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test health -- --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test health -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test health_degraded -- --ignored --nocapture --test-threads=1
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test ingest -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test search -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test e2e -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_conversations -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_ingest -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_lifecycle -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_retrieval -- --ignored --nocapture
 
 # Offline benchmark for routed agentic search.
 agentic-eval: up
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test agentic_eval -- --ignored --nocapture --test-threads=1
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_itest}} cargo test -p rag-server --test agentic_eval -- --ignored --nocapture --test-threads=1
 
 # Optional provider/native smoke tests.
 # These require extra local setup such as PDFium, Tesseract, or live LLM credentials.
 smoke-test: up
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_smoke}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_pdf -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_smoke}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_chat -- --ignored --nocapture
-    CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_smoke}} cargo test -p rag-core --test smoke_llm -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_smoke}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_pdf -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_smoke}} cargo test -p rag-core --test integration_chat -- --ignored --nocapture
+    APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=${APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-apex} CARGO_TARGET_DIR={{target_dir_smoke}} cargo test -p rag-core --test smoke_llm -- --ignored --nocapture
 
 # ── Server ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
diff --git a/crates/rag-server/tests/health_degraded.rs b/crates/rag-server/tests/health_degraded.rs
index 3a1e896..29a5445 100644
--- a/crates/rag-server/tests/health_degraded.rs
+++ b/crates/rag-server/tests/health_degraded.rs
@@ -5,8 +5,37 @@
 
 mod common;
 
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 use test_support::spawn_app;
 
+const DEFAULT_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME: &str = "apex";
+
+fn compose_project_name() -> String {
+    std::env::var("APEX_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| DEFAULT_COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME.to_string())
+}
+
+fn workspace_root() -> PathBuf {
+    PathBuf::from(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("../..").canonicalize().expect("workspace root")
+}
+
+fn docker_compose_service(action: &str, service: &str) {
+    let compose_file = workspace_root().join("docker-compose.yml");
+    let _ = std::process::Command::new("docker")
+        .current_dir(workspace_root())
+        .args([
+            "compose",
+            "-p",
+            &compose_project_name(),
+            "-f",
+            compose_file.to_str().expect("compose file path"),
+            action,
+            service,
+        ])
+        .status();
+}
+
 /// GET /readiness returns 503 when a dependency is unreachable.
 #[tokio::test]
 #[ignore] // requires `just up`; stops and restarts Qdrant container
@@ -14,13 +43,13 @@ async fn readiness_degrades_gracefully() {
     let (app, _state) = common::full_app().await;
     let server = spawn_app(app).await.expect("spawn");
 
-    // Stop Qdrant container.
-    let _ = std::process::Command::new("docker").args(["compose", "stop", "qdrant"]).status();
+    // Stop Qdrant container from the shared local compose project.
+    docker_compose_service("stop", "qdrant");
 
     let resp = reqwest::get(format!("{}/readiness", server.base_url())).await.expect("request");
 
     // Restart Qdrant so other tests aren't affected.
-    let _ = std::process::Command::new("docker").args(["compose", "start", "qdrant"]).status();
+    docker_compose_service("start", "qdrant");
 
     // Wait for Qdrant to become responsive again before returning,
     // so tests in other binaries aren't affected.
diff --git a/docs/howto/testing.md b/docs/howto/testing.md
index bc06131..7f5f9a9 100644
--- a/docs/howto/testing.md
+++ b/docs/howto/testing.md
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ This command starts local services first:
 just up
 ```
 
+`just up` uses a shared local Docker Compose project (`apex`) so multiple repo
+worktrees reuse the same Postgres/Qdrant stack instead of racing for host ports.
+The health-degraded integration test also targets this shared project when
+stopping/starting Qdrant.
+
 Then it runs the repo's integration targets, including:
 
 - `crates/rag-client/tests/client_tests.rs`
@@ -364,7 +369,7 @@ Check services:
 
 ```bash
 just up
-docker compose ps
+docker compose -p apex ps
 ```
 
 ### Ignored tests do not run