diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f03cd376..cc34382a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,6 @@ tests/integration/ace_tasks.db
 # Added by goreleaser init:
 dist/
 
+# Local config generated by `ace config init` (the tracked template is ace.example.yaml)
+/ace.yaml
+/pg_service.conf
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 101f70ca..c944e274 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ COPY --from=downloader --chown=nonroot:nonroot /opt/ace/ace /usr/local/bin/ace
 COPY --from=downloader /opt/ace/LICENSE /licenses/LICENSE
 COPY --from=downloader /opt/ace/README.md /licenses/README.md
 
-COPY --chown=nonroot:nonroot ace.yaml /etc/ace/ace.yaml
+COPY --chown=nonroot:nonroot ace.example.yaml /etc/ace/ace.yaml
 
 ENV ACE_CONFIG=/etc/ace/ace.yaml
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 557c1180..0dc11e74 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ Set the `default_cluster` key in `ace.yaml` to the cluster name you most frequen
 
     For detailed information about creating and modifying ACE configuration files, visit [here](/docs/configuration.md).
 
-The [`ace.yaml` file](ace.yaml) defines default values used when executing ACE commands like `table-diff` or `mtree table-diff`.  You can modify properties that influence ACE performance and execution like timeout values and certificate information.
+The [`ace.example.yaml` file](ace.example.yaml) is a reference copy of the configuration, showing the default values used when executing ACE commands like `table-diff` or `mtree table-diff`.  In your own `ace.yaml`, you can modify properties that influence ACE performance and execution like timeout values and certificate information.
 
 The `pg_service.conf` file contains cluster connection details that help ACE locate nodes.  After creating the file: 
 
diff --git a/ace.yaml b/ace.example.yaml
similarity index 98%
rename from ace.yaml
rename to ace.example.yaml
index 44d8fb91..f80dbe35 100644
--- a/ace.yaml
+++ b/ace.example.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ postgres:
   tcp_keepalives_count: 5
 
 table_diff:
-  concurrency_factor: 1
+  concurrency_factor: 0.5
   max_diff_rows: 1000000
   min_diff_block_size: 1
   max_diff_block_size: 1000000
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ server:
   tls_key_file: ""
   client_crl_file: ""
   allowed_common_names: []
+  taskstore_path: ""
 
 schedule_jobs: []
 schedule_config: []
diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 46c54795..81df430e 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ ACE first attempts to use the Postgres service file to resolve connection inform
 
 ## The ace.yaml file
 
-The [`ace.yaml` file](https://github.com/pgEdge/ace/blob/main/ace.yaml) defines default values used when calling the ACE commands.  The file contains properties that control the resources used by ACE commands; after creating the `ace.yaml` file, use your choice of editor to customize the properties for your system:
+The [`ace.example.yaml` file](https://github.com/pgEdge/ace/blob/main/ace.example.yaml) is a reference copy of the configuration that ACE ships, showing the default values used when calling the ACE commands.  The file contains properties that control the resources used by ACE commands; after creating your own `ace.yaml` file, use your choice of editor to customize the properties for your system:
 
 
 <!-- TODO: Remove and/or update inapplicable fields -->
diff --git a/internal/cli/default_config.yaml b/internal/cli/default_config.yaml
index f792a4c5..f80dbe35 100644
--- a/internal/cli/default_config.yaml
+++ b/internal/cli/default_config.yaml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ table_diff:
   diff_batch_size: 1
   max_diff_batch_size: 1000
   compare_unit_size: 10000
+  max_connections: 0            # max DB connections per node (0 = derive from concurrency factor)
 
 mtree:
   cdc:
@@ -36,6 +37,13 @@ mtree:
     cdc_processing_timeout: 300
     cdc_metadata_flush_seconds: 10
     cdc_flush_batch_size: 10000
+    # Escalate a table to a whole-tree rehash when a bounded drain sees more
+    # than max(adaptive_drain_min_changes, adaptive_drain_fraction * rows)
+    # UPDATE changes for it (inserts/deletes are always tracked individually,
+    # preserving block split/merge maintenance). Set adaptive_drain_fraction
+    # to -1 to disable.
+    adaptive_drain_fraction: 0.01
+    adaptive_drain_min_changes: 1000
   schema: "pgedge_ace"
 
   diff:
diff --git a/internal/cli/default_config_test.go b/internal/cli/default_config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5656f20b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/cli/default_config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+//
+// # ACE - Active Consistency Engine
+//
+// Copyright (C) 2023 - 2026, pgEdge (https://www.pgedge.com/)
+//
+// This software is released under the PostgreSQL License:
+// https://opensource.org/license/postgresql
+//
+// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+package cli
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+
+	"github.com/pgedge/ace/pkg/config"
+)
+
+// exampleConfigPath is the repo-root reference copy that the README and
+// docs/configuration.md link to. It must stay byte-identical to the template
+// embedded in ConfigInitCLI, otherwise the documented defaults are not the
+// defaults users actually get from `ace config init`.
+const exampleConfigPath = "../../ace.example.yaml"
+
+func TestExampleConfigMatchesEmbeddedTemplate(t *testing.T) {
+	example, err := os.ReadFile(exampleConfigPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read %s: %v", exampleConfigPath, err)
+	}
+
+	if string(example) != defaultConfigYAML {
+		t.Errorf(
+			"%s has drifted from internal/cli/default_config.yaml.\n"+
+				"`ace config init` writes the embedded template, so the two must "+
+				"match or the documented defaults are wrong.\n"+
+				"Run: cp internal/cli/default_config.yaml ace.example.yaml",
+			exampleConfigPath,
+		)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestDefaultConfigTemplateParses guards against shipping a template that
+// fails to load, which would break `ace config init` followed by any command.
+func TestDefaultConfigTemplateParses(t *testing.T) {
+	var cfg config.Config
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(defaultConfigYAML), &cfg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("default_config.yaml does not parse into config.Config: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// The template must agree with the concurrency-factor default advertised by
+	// the CLI flag; disagreement is the drift that shipped a documented "1".
+	if got, want := cfg.TableDiff.ConcurrencyFactor, 0.5; got != want {
+		t.Errorf("table_diff.concurrency_factor = %v, want %v (matches the --concurrency-factor flag default)", got, want)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/tests/integration/main_test.go b/tests/integration/main_test.go
index 2860c85d..f393238f 100644
--- a/tests/integration/main_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/main_test.go
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
 	)
 	tcLog.SetDefault(log.New(io.Discard, "", 0))
 
-	if err := config.Init("../../ace.yaml"); err != nil {
+	if err := config.Init("../../ace.example.yaml"); err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to load config: %v", err)
 	}