diff --git a/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/Configuration.java b/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/Configuration.java
index 2479c433ee..366266093e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/Configuration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/Configuration.java
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.XStream;
 import com.thoughtworks.xstream.io.xml.StaxDriver;
 
-public class Configuration implements Serializable {
+public abstract class Configuration implements Serializable {
 
   // TODO: add a map type.
   // TODO: push the name/class onto this ?
@@ -22,14 +22,9 @@ public class Configuration implements Serializable {
    * 
    */
   private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-  public HashMap<String, Object> config = null;
-  // private XStream xstream = null;
+  public HashMap<String, Object> config = new HashMap<String, Object>();
 
   public Configuration() {
-    config = new HashMap<String, Object>();
-    // figure that we need to be able to serialize / deserialize
-    // TODO: consider a faster driver / serializer
-    // xstream = new XStream(new StaxDriver());
   }
 
   public void setStringParam(String name, String value) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/StageConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/StageConfiguration.java
index 0359931814..6243f41c88 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/StageConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/document/transformer/StageConfiguration.java
@@ -4,20 +4,16 @@
 
 public class StageConfiguration extends Configuration {
 
-  // private HashMap<String, Object> config = null;
-
   private String stageName = "defaultStage";
   private String stageClass = "org.myrobotlab.document.transformer.AbstractStage";
 
   public StageConfiguration(String stageName, String stageClass) {
-    config = new HashMap<String, Object>();
     this.stageName = stageName;
     this.stageClass = stageClass;
   }
 
   public StageConfiguration() {
     // depricate this constructor?
-    config = new HashMap<String, Object>();
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/service/Solr.java b/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/service/Solr.java
index 043287d923..5445f607f0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/service/Solr.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/myrobotlab/service/Solr.java
@@ -177,9 +177,7 @@ public synchronized void startEmbedded(String path) throws SolrServerException,
    */
   public void addDocument(SolrInputDocument doc) {
     // Always batch!
-    ArrayList<SolrInputDocument> docs = new ArrayList<SolrInputDocument>();
-    docs.add(doc);
-    addDocuments(docs);
+    addDocuments(List.of(doc));
   }
 
   /**
@@ -670,11 +668,9 @@ private SolrInputDocument convertDocument(Document doc) {
   @Override
   public ProcessingStatus onDocument(Document doc) {
     // always be batching when sending docs.
-    ArrayList<Document> docs = new ArrayList<Document>();
-    docs.add(doc);
     // TODO: we want to add to the current batch to send..  
     // and make sure we have a thread flushing the batch if it gets too old.
-    return onDocuments(docs);
+    return onDocuments(List.of(doc));
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/python.yml b/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/python.yml
deleted file mode 100755
index c372d6ec5d..0000000000
--- a/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/python.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-!!org.myrobotlab.service.config.PythonConfig
-listeners: null
-modulePaths:
-- resource\Python\modules
-peers: null
-scriptRootDir: C:\dev\workspace.mrl4\myrobotlab\data\Python\python
-startScripts: [
-  ]
-stopScripts: [
-  ]
-type: Python
diff --git a/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/runtime.yml b/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/runtime.yml
index 9e2fb0c0a5..cf77865501 100755
--- a/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/runtime.yml
+++ b/src/main/resources/resource/config/mediasearch/runtime.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ peers: null
 registry:
 - runtime
 - security
-- python
 - webgui
 - solr
 - audiofile