diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 0d499db..60a8f1f 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ services:
     # `ps` inside this container, unlike the zenmoney and IMAP secrets which are
     # read from files.
     command: ["mavweb", "-addr", ":9201", "-voice", "mavend:9100", "-core", "/run/maven/mavend.sock",
-              "-ambient-enabled", "${MAVEN_AMBIENT_ENABLED:-false}",
+              "-ambient-enabled=${MAVEN_AMBIENT_ENABLED:-false}",
               "-ambient-token", "${MAVEN_AMBIENT_TOKEN:-}",
               "-nexus", "http://nexus:9740", "-praxis", "http://praxis:8989", "-hexis", "http://hexis:9741"]
     depends_on: [mavend]
diff --git a/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go b/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go
index 090bf55..44416f7 100644
--- a/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go
+++ b/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go
@@ -108,3 +108,23 @@ func TestCanonicalDeployEnvExampleNamesEverySecret(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// Go's flag package treats a bare boolean flag as true and does not consume a
+// following "true"/"false" argument. That following value becomes the first
+// positional argument and stops parsing, so every flag after it silently keeps
+// its default. Keep the Compose boolean in -name=value form (V-691 live QA).
+func TestComposeAmbientBooleanDoesNotStopFlagParsing(t *testing.T) {
+	path := filepath.Join("..", "..", "docker-compose.yml")
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read %s: %v", path, err)
+	}
+	compose := string(b)
+	const joined = `"-ambient-enabled=${MAVEN_AMBIENT_ENABLED:-false}"`
+	if !strings.Contains(compose, joined) {
+		t.Fatalf("mavweb ambient boolean must be one argv element %s", joined)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(compose, `"-ambient-enabled",`) {
+		t.Fatal("bare -ambient-enabled leaves its value positional and prevents -ambient-token from being parsed")
+	}
+}