diff --git a/env.example b/env.example
deleted file mode 100644
index 814ad70..0000000
--- a/env.example
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-# Copy this file to .env.local and set the real value.
-# NO `VITE_` prefix — the secret stays server-side and is never bundled.
-HASURA_ADMIN_SECRET=your-hasura-admin-secret-here
-
-# Optional production server port (defaults to 3000)
-# PORT=3000
diff --git a/src/components/TopicView.jsx b/src/components/TopicView.jsx
index c991020..c31883d 100644
--- a/src/components/TopicView.jsx
+++ b/src/components/TopicView.jsx
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ function toProxyPath(fullUrl) {
   if (fullUrl.startsWith(LEGACY_BASE_URL)) {
     return fullUrl.slice(LEGACY_BASE_URL.length)
   }
-  
-  // REST API (jupiter.nearle.app): We used to proxy this to avoid CORS issues,
-  // but we fixed CORS on the Kubernetes backend yesterday (jupiter-cors-proxy)!
-  // So we can now fetch from the full URL directly.
+  // REST API (jupiter.nearle.app): Proxy requests through local server to avoid CORS issues
+  if (fullUrl.startsWith(REST_BASE_URL)) {
+    return fullUrl.slice(REST_BASE_URL.length)
+  }
   return fullUrl
 }