diff --git a/config.toml b/config.toml
index a0ec5fa..19a743b 100644
--- a/config.toml
+++ b/config.toml
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ compress=true
 urls=[
     "nats://localhost:4222"
 ]
-    # Embedded server config file
-    server_config=""
+# Embedded server config file
+server_config=""
 # Subject prefix used when publishing log entries, it's usually suffixed by shard number
 # to get the full subject name
 subject_prefix="marmot-change-log"
diff --git a/stream/embedded_nats.go b/stream/embedded_nats.go
index 63870ed..1dc54b3 100644
--- a/stream/embedded_nats.go
+++ b/stream/embedded_nats.go
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@ import (
 	"path"
 	"strconv"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/maxpert/marmot/cfg"
 	"github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2/logger"
 	"github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2/server"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
 	"github.com/rs/zerolog/log"
 )
 
@@ -45,12 +47,15 @@ func startEmbeddedServer(nodeName string) (*server.Server, error) {
 		JetStream:          true,
 		JetStreamMaxMemory: 1 << 25,
 		JetStreamMaxStore:  1 << 30,
-		Routes:             server.RoutesFromStr(*cfg.ClusterPeers),
 		Cluster: server.ClusterOpts{
 			Name: "e-marmot",
 		},
 	}
 
+	if *cfg.ClusterPeers != "" {
+		opts.Routes = server.RoutesFromStr(*cfg.ClusterPeers)
+	}
+
 	if *cfg.ClusterListenAddr != "" {
 		host, port, err := parseHostAndPort(*cfg.ClusterListenAddr)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -62,10 +67,6 @@ func startEmbeddedServer(nodeName string) (*server.Server, error) {
 		opts.Cluster.Port = port
 	}
 
-	if opts.StoreDir == "" {
-		opts.StoreDir = path.Join(cfg.TmpDir, "nats", nodeName)
-	}
-
 	if cfg.Config.NATS.ServerConfigFile != "" {
 		err := opts.ProcessConfigFile(cfg.Config.NATS.ServerConfigFile)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -73,16 +74,51 @@ func startEmbeddedServer(nodeName string) (*server.Server, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if opts.StoreDir == "" {
+		opts.StoreDir = path.Join(cfg.TmpDir, "nats", nodeName)
+	}
+
 	s, err := server.NewServer(opts)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	s.SetLogger(logger.NewStdLogger(true, false, false, true, false), true, false)
+	s.SetLogger(
+		logger.NewStdLogger(true, opts.Debug, opts.Trace, true, false),
+		opts.Debug,
+		opts.Trace,
+	)
 	s.Start()
-	log.Info().
-		Bool("clustered", s.JetStreamIsClustered()).
-		Msg("Started embedded JetStream server...")
+
+	err = touchStreamReady(nodeName, s)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	embeddedServer = s
 	return s, nil
 }
+
+func touchStreamReady(nodeName string, s *server.Server) error {
+	for {
+		c, err := nats.Connect("", nats.InProcessServer(s))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		j, err := c.JetStream()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		st, err := j.StreamInfo(nodeName, nats.MaxWait(1*time.Second))
+		if err == nats.ErrStreamNotFound || st != nil {
+			log.Info().Msg("Streaming ready...")
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		c.Close()
+		log.Info().Err(err).Msg("Streams not ready, waiting for NATS streams to come up...")
+		time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/stream/nats.go b/stream/nats.go
index 17876ed..3657b4c 100644
--- a/stream/nats.go
+++ b/stream/nats.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import (
 func Connect() (*nats.Conn, error) {
 	opts := []nats.Option{
 		nats.Name(cfg.Config.NodeName()),
-		nats.Timeout(60 * time.Second),
+		nats.Timeout(10 * time.Second),
 	}
 
 	serverUrl := strings.Join(cfg.Config.NATS.URLs, ", ")