diff --git a/docs/en/observability/network-topology-get-started.asciidoc b/docs/en/observability/network-topology-get-started.asciidoc
index 7493ccd99d..2ff5480d0f 100644
--- a/docs/en/observability/network-topology-get-started.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/en/observability/network-topology-get-started.asciidoc
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ You need:
 * One or more network devices with SNMP v1, v2c, or v3 enabled.
 * {ls} installed and able to reach your network devices.
 
-TIP: If you don't have SNMP-enabled devices to point at yet, you can evaluate the plugin against simulated data using the sample data generator and Docker Compose dev environment included in the https://github.com/elastic/kibana-network-topology-plugin[Network Topology plugin repository].
+TIP: If you don't have SNMP-enabled devices to point at yet, you can evaluate the plugin against simulated data using the sample data generator in the https://github.com/elastic/kibana-network-topology-plugin[Network Topology plugin repository]. The plugin is not a standalone app and does not require a dedicated {es} cluster — use your existing self-managed stack, or follow the plugin README's Development Quick Start.
 
 [discrete]
 [[network-topology-install-plugin]]
diff --git a/docs/en/observability/network-topology.asciidoc b/docs/en/observability/network-topology.asciidoc
index 2a5dced504..7dd1333e07 100644
--- a/docs/en/observability/network-topology.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/en/observability/network-topology.asciidoc
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ The Network Topology plugin includes:
 * *A reference {ls} pipeline* that walks the IF-MIB (interface counters and status), IP-MIB (ARP tables and IP address assignments), BRIDGE-MIB (MAC address forwarding tables), BGP4-MIB (BGP peer sessions), and OSPF-MIB (OSPF neighbor adjacencies) on each target device at a configurable poll interval. The pipeline handles poll timeouts, missing OID branches on devices that don't support a given MIB, and batching across large device inventories.
 * *A `snmp-device-enrichment` ingest pipeline* that parses each device's `sysDescr` string to assign a normalized `host.type` (router, switch, firewall, access point, server) and `observer.vendor`. The pipeline recognizes common vendors out of the box (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Fortinet, Palo Alto, HPE, Aruba) and is extensible for less common hardware.
 * *An interactive topology graph* in {kib}'s Observability navigation that builds an adjacency graph from ARP, MAC table, BGP, and OSPF relationships and renders it as a force-directed layout you can zoom, pan, and rearrange. Clicking a device opens a flyout with its interface table, ARP neighbors, BGP peers, and OSPF adjacencies.
-* *A sample data generator* and Docker Compose dev environment, so you can evaluate the plugin with a realistic multi-site network before connecting to live infrastructure.
+* *A sample data generator* so you can evaluate the plugin with a realistic multi-site network before connecting to live infrastructure. For local development, use {kib}'s shared {es} workflow; see the https://github.com/elastic/kibana-network-topology-plugin[plugin README].
 
 [discrete]
 [[network-topology-how-it-works]]