diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cce9db1..81af933 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -129,13 +129,11 @@ Everything else in `.env` (currency, CORS, the port Aurum listens on) has a sens
 ### 4. Start it
 
 ```bash
-./start.sh
+docker compose up -d --build
 ```
 
 This builds the backend and frontend images, starts Postgres, waits for it to report healthy, then starts the backend (which runs every database migration automatically — nothing to do by hand) and finally the frontend. First run takes a minute or two; after that, images are cached and it's seconds.
 
-`start.sh` is a thin wrapper around `docker compose up -d --build` — if you skipped step 3 and there's no `.env` yet, it creates one from `.env.example` and prints a warning about the defaults it's running on (no password, default Postgres credentials) before starting anything, instead of silently starting an unprotected instance. You can still run `docker compose up -d --build` directly if you prefer; just make sure `.env` exists first.
-
 ### 5. Open it
 
 Visit **http://localhost:3000** (or whatever port you set via `AURUM_WEB_PORT` in `.env`). A default account and the standard expense/income categories are seeded automatically — there's nothing to configure before you can add your first transaction.
diff --git a/start.sh b/start.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 7ea237b..0000000
--- a/start.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# Thin wrapper around `docker compose up` that guarantees a .env file
-# exists before containers start. Running `docker compose up --build`
-# directly works fine even without .env — every variable in
-# docker-compose.yml and backend/app/core/config.py has a hardcoded
-# fallback — but that means someone who skips the README's "cp
-# .env.example .env" step gets a fully working instance with no visible
-# sign that it's running on defaults (weak Postgres password, no basic
-# auth — see frontend/docker-entrypoint.d/20-basic-auth.sh) until they
-# go looking for it. This script closes that gap: if .env is missing,
-# it's created from .env.example and the operator is told, loudly, once,
-# before anything starts — rather than staying silent forever.
-set -eu
-
-cd "$(dirname "$0")"
-
-if [ ! -f .env ]; then
-  cp .env.example .env
-  cat >&2 <<'EOF'
-[aurum] No .env file found — created one from .env.example with default values:
-[aurum]   - No password on the app itself (AURUM_BASIC_AUTH_USER/PASSWORD blank)
-[aurum]   - Default Postgres credentials (AURUM_POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change-me)
-[aurum] Fine for a quick local try-out on localhost. Before exposing this beyond
-[aurum] your own machine, edit .env and re-run this script (or `docker compose up -d --build`).
-EOF
-fi
-
-exec docker compose up -d --build "$@"