diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6104f70..0d38610 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -97,6 +97,15 @@ The defaults work for local development. Notable variables in `src/infra/.env`:
 | `RESOLVER_CONFIG_PATH` | *(bundled `/app/config/resolver.yaml`)* | Path to the Splink resolver config YAML. Override to use a custom resolver config outside Docker. |
 | `DUCKDB_PATH` | *(resolver default)* | Path to the DuckDB database file. Leave unset to use the path defined in `resolver.yaml`. |
 
+> **Schema or configuration changes:** If you have modified `src/config/resolver.yaml` or
+> `src/config/rdf_mapping.yaml` and the DuckDB database has already been initialised,
+> remove the data volume before restarting to avoid schema mismatch errors:
+> ```bash
+> docker volume rm ere-local_ere-data
+> # or for a full clean slate:
+> make infra-down-volumes
+> ```
+
 ### 3. Start the stack
 
 ```bash
@@ -108,6 +117,12 @@ Note: `make infra-up` creates a shared external network `ersys-local` used for c
 To remove it manually: `docker network rm ersys-local`
 ```
 
+> **Rebuilding with a clean cache:** If you have upgraded the source or made changes to the
+> image and need to discard Docker layer cache, run:
+> ```bash
+> make infra-rebuild-clean
+> ```
+
 | Service | URL / Port |
 |---------|-----------|
 | Redis | `localhost:6379` |
@@ -355,5 +370,4 @@ Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue before submitting a pull request
 - Keep commits small and well-described
 - Branch naming: `feature/<ticket>/<short-description>` (e.g. `feature/ERS1-124/conflict-detection`)
 
-For active tasks and current work, edit [WORKING.md](WORKING.md).
 For development workflow and architecture guidelines, see [CLAUDE.md](.claude/CLAUDE.md).
diff --git a/src/VERSION b/src/VERSION
index 9084fa2..b2d500d 100644
--- a/src/VERSION
+++ b/src/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.1.0
+1.1.0-rc.3
diff --git a/src/filters/fortify-exclusion.properties b/src/filters/fortify-exclusion.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1db3bd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/filters/fortify-exclusion.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+excludePatterns=**/docs/**/*,**/test/**/*
diff --git a/src/filters/odc-exclusion.properties b/src/filters/odc-exclusion.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1db3bd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/filters/odc-exclusion.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+excludePatterns=**/docs/**/*,**/test/**/*
diff --git a/src/infra/.env.example b/src/infra/.env.example
index 1b9f044..ea0bb09 100644
--- a/src/infra/.env.example
+++ b/src/infra/.env.example
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 # When running inside the full ERSys stack, the parent project's .env covers these.
 
 # --- Redis ---
+# When running the demo from the host machine (poetry run python demo/demo.py),
+# the Docker service name 'ersys-redis' is not resolvable from the host. Set
+# REDIS_HOST=localhost here before running the demo. The ERE container reads this
+# file at startup, so restore the original value before restarting the stack.
 REDIS_HOST=ersys-redis
 REDIS_PORT=6379
 REDIS_DB=0
diff --git a/src/poetry.lock b/src/poetry.lock
index 20cd36c..28adf51 100644
--- a/src/poetry.lock
+++ b/src/poetry.lock
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 2.3.4 and should not be changed by hand.
+# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 2.3.2 and should not be changed by hand.
 
 [[package]]
 name = "altair"
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ all = ["adbc-driver-manager", "fsspec", "ipython", "numpy", "pandas", "pyarrow"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ers-spec"
-version = "1.0.0"
+version = "1.1.0"
 description = "  The core components for the Entity Resolution System (ERS) components.\n\n  The ERS is a pluggable entity resolution system for data transformation pipelines.\n"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.12,<4.0"
@@ -552,8 +552,8 @@ pydantic = ">=2.10.6,<3.0.0"
 [package.source]
 type = "git"
 url = "https://github.com/OP-TED/entity-resolution-spec.git"
-reference = "release/1.0.0"
-resolved_reference = "457ae516cb1894a3f0ea3786ae05b355785c2f12"
+reference = "release/1.1.0"
+resolved_reference = "0565b2ddf3d5a11851128a80abed08f4de950080"
 subdirectory = "src"
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2603,4 +2603,4 @@ requests = ">=2.0,<3.0"
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.1"
 python-versions = ">=3.12,<3.15"
-content-hash = "20f977ccb294fd1c656b2b76eaa3c546bf7eddf5cdea1226000bbc7c0f28b8c8"
+content-hash = "a74fb6a86c6e0f5bd7163394aeceb779b6c13ab388a20b1f8727d6c84d32c92b"
diff --git a/src/pyproject.toml b/src/pyproject.toml
index 1c380ff..3c1e981 100644
--- a/src/pyproject.toml
+++ b/src/pyproject.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "ere-basic"
 version = "1.1.0"
 description = "A basic implementation of the Entity Resolution Engine (ERE)."
 authors = [
-    {name = "Meaningfy",email = "hi@meaningfy.ws"}
+    {name = "Publications Office of the European Union"}
 ]
 readme = "../README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.12,<3.15"
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ rdflib = "7.6.0"
 pyyaml = "6.0.3"
 
 # TODO: should we have a registry?
-ers-spec = { git = "https://github.com/OP-TED/entity-resolution-spec.git", branch = "release/1.0.0", subdirectory = "src" }
+ers-spec = { git = "https://github.com/OP-TED/entity-resolution-spec.git", branch = "release/1.1.0", subdirectory = "src" }
 
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]