diff --git a/cmd/serve.go b/cmd/serve.go
index a9f1d577..646fbc82 100644
--- a/cmd/serve.go
+++ b/cmd/serve.go
@@ -113,7 +113,6 @@ func serve() {
 		pm.Start(wg)
 		defer pm.Stop()
 
-		rpcPort := nitroConfig.InProcessNode.RpcPort
 		tlsCertFilepath := nitroConfig.InProcessNode.TlsCertFilepath
 		tlsKeyFilepath := nitroConfig.InProcessNode.TlsKeyFilepath
 
@@ -125,7 +124,7 @@ func serve() {
 			}
 		}
 
-		nitroRpcServer, err := initNitroRpcServer(nitroNode, pm, cert, rpcPort)
+		nitroRpcServer, err := initNitroRpcServer(nitroNode, pm, cert, nitroConfig.InProcessNode.RpcPort)
 		if err != nil {
 			logWithCommand.Fatal(err)
 		}
@@ -513,18 +512,24 @@ func initNitroRpcServer(node *nitroNode.Node, pm paymentsmanager.PaymentsManager
 }
 
 func readRpcQueryRates(filepath string) (map[string]*big.Int, error) {
+	result := make(map[string]*big.Int)
+
+	if filepath == "" {
+		logWithCommand.Warn("RPC query rates file path not provided")
+		return result, nil
+	}
+
 	jsonFile, err := os.Open(filepath)
 	defer jsonFile.Close()
 
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
-			result := make(map[string]*big.Int)
+			logWithCommand.Warn("RPC query rates file does not exist")
 			return result, nil
 		}
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	var result map[string]*big.Int
 	decoder := json.NewDecoder(jsonFile)
 	err = decoder.Decode(&result)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/environments/example.toml b/environments/example.toml
index 2c7e4b39..d5f2f603 100644
--- a/environments/example.toml
+++ b/environments/example.toml
@@ -45,12 +45,12 @@
         caAddress = "" # NITRO_CA_ADDRESS
         useDurableStore = true # NITRO_USE_DURABLE_STORE
         durableStoreFolder = "./data/nitronode" # NITRO_DURABLE_STORE_FOLDER
-        msgPort = 3005
-        rpcPort = 4005
-        wsMsgPort = 5005
-        chainStartBlock = 0
-        tlsCertFilepath = ""
-        tlsKeyFilepath = ""
+        msgPort = 3005 # NITRO_MSG_PORT
+        rpcPort = 4005 # NITRO_RPC_PORT
+        wsMsgPort = 5005 # NITRO_WS_MSG_PORT
+        chainStartBlock = 0 # NITRO_CHAIN_START_BLOCK
+        tlsCertFilepath = "" # NITRO_TLS_CERT_FILEPATH
+        tlsKeyFilepath = "" # NITRO_TLS_KEY_FILEPATH
 
     [nitro.remoteNode]
         nitroEndpoint = "127.0.0.1:4005/api/v1" # NITRO_ENDPOINT
diff --git a/environments/rates.json b/environments/rpcQueryRates.json
similarity index 100%
rename from environments/rates.json
rename to environments/rpcQueryRates.json