diff --git a/.env.unified b/.env.unified
index a20587b..1318d27 100644
--- a/.env.unified
+++ b/.env.unified
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
 # Blank means requests stay relative ("/api/..."), i.e. same-origin, so they
 # land on whichever server delivered the page. That is exactly what the
 # single-port unified deployment needs, and it needs no CORS entry at all.
-#
+# Single line comment to avoid a trailing newline, which Vite interprets as a literal value and appends to the URL, breaking all API calls.
+
 # Same value and same reasoning as .env.development; separate file because
 # Vite only loads .env.development in dev mode, never during a build.
 VITE_API_BASE_URL=