diff --git a/.env b/.env.production
similarity index 77%
rename from .env
rename to .env.production
index 80809ce..8f25364 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env.production
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Committed on purpose - see .gitignore.
 #
+# Named .env.production, not .env: Dokploy overwrites .env in the build context
+# from the service's Environment tab (empty when that tab is blank). Vite loads
+# .env.production for production builds and it wins over .env, so this survives.
+#
 # Nothing here is a secret. VITE_API_BASE_URL is inlined into the public JS
 # bundle at build time, so it is readable by anyone who opens the site; keeping
 # it out of git protected nothing and only meant the value had to be remembered
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cf60b8b..aac5a69 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,15 +12,22 @@ dist
 dist-ssr
 *.local
 
-# .env is committed here deliberately. It holds only VITE_API_BASE_URL, which
-# Vite inlines into the public bundle anyway - it is visible to anyone who opens
-# the site, so ignoring it protected nothing. Committing it means the deploy
+# .env.production is committed deliberately. It holds only VITE_API_BASE_URL,
+# which Vite inlines into the public bundle anyway - visible to anyone who opens
+# the site - so ignoring it protected nothing, and committing it means the deploy
 # does not depend on remembering a --build-arg.
 #
+# The name matters. Dokploy writes its own .env into the build context from the
+# service's Environment tab after cloning, so a committed .env is silently
+# replaced - with an empty file when that tab is blank, which is exactly what
+# left the deployed bundle with no API URL at all. Vite loads .env.production
+# for production builds and it takes precedence over .env, so this survives.
+#
 # Anything genuinely secret must NOT go in a VITE_-prefixed variable: it would
 # be published in the bundle. Use .env.local (still ignored) for local
 # overrides.
-!.env
+!.env.production
+.env
 .env.local
 
 # Editor directories and files