diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b05a1a5..be6b980 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ It is best practice to work within a python virtual environment for both develop
 
 ```sh
 # run the following from the top-level directory of your python project
-python3 -m venv env-name # creates the environment
+python3 -m venv venv # creates the environment
 source venv/bin/activate # activates the environment
 deactivate # deactivates the environment
 ```
@@ -210,4 +210,20 @@ docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d --build
 
 then wait for the elastic search container to come up (use
 `docker-compose logs -f` to see it if you like), then execute the
-following (from the top-level directory of this repo):
+following (from the top-level directory of this repo, having
+activated the virtual environment you created earlier):
+
+```
+python -m pytest tests
+```
+
+## Examining memory usage in elasticsearch
+
+```
+$ docker-compose exec elasticsearch bash
+elasticsearch@7b6eb4ff0455:~$ curl "localhost:9200/_nodes/stats?filter_path=nodes.*.jvm.mem.pools.old"
+{"nodes":{"w9Hm2YGAT7iorZM3JTYlUA":{"jvm":{"mem":{"pools":{"old":{"used_in_bytes":29128704,"max_in_bytes":8589934592,"peak_used_in_bytes":41711616,"peak_max_in_bytes":8589934592}}}}}}}
+elasticsearch@7b6eb4ff0455:~$ exit
+```
+
+This shows us 291M used, 8.5G max.
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 8900b92..e0f119e 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ services:
     - xpack.security.enabled=false
     - http.cors.enabled=true
     - http.cors.allow-origin=/http:\/\/(elasticsearch|localhost):9200/
+    - "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms4g -Xmx8g"
     volumes:
     - es_data:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data:rw