diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
index cdf68059..c4cc34bf 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ jobs:
           npm exec -- supabase functions deploy delete-user --project-ref ${{ env.SUPABASE_PROJECT_ID }}
           npm exec -- supabase functions deploy seed-database --project-ref ${{ env.SUPABASE_PROJECT_ID }}
 
+      # Debug step: Verify environment variables are present before build
+      - name: Debug Environment Variables
+        run: |
+          echo "VITE_API_KEY is set: ${{ env.VITE_API_KEY != '' }}"
+
       # --- Frontend Deployment ---
       - name: Build React Application
         env:
diff --git a/services/geminiService.ts b/services/geminiService.ts
index 072685ae..bfda2e11 100644
--- a/services/geminiService.ts
+++ b/services/geminiService.ts
@@ -5,18 +5,15 @@ import type { FlyerItem, MasterGroceryItem, UnitPrice, Store } from '../types';
 import { CATEGORIES } from '../types';
 import { parsePriceToCents } from '../utils/priceParser';
 
-/*
-NOTE ON THE GOOGLE AI API KEY:
-This project uses a Google AI (Gemini) API key. In this environment, you do not need to manually create one.
-You may see a "Choose a key" dialog. If it mentions a "free tier", you can simply close or ignore that dialog.
-The environment will automatically provide a free-tier API key as `process.env.API_KEY` for the AI to work.
-*/
+// In a Vite project, environment variables are exposed on the `import.meta.env` object.
+// For security, only variables prefixed with `VITE_` are exposed to the client-side code.
+const apiKey = import.meta.env.VITE_API_KEY;
 
-if (!process.env.API_KEY) {
+if (!apiKey) {
     throw new Error("API_KEY environment variable not set");
 }
   
-const ai = new GoogleGenAI({ apiKey: process.env.API_KEY });
+const ai = new GoogleGenAI({ apiKey });
 
 /**
  * Parses a JSON string from a Gemini response, robustly handling markdown fences.
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index 2c6eed55..3e8cc6be 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
     ],
     "skipLibCheck": true,
     "types": [
-      "node"
+      "node",
+      "vite/client" // Add this line to include Vite's client-side types
     ],
     "moduleResolution": "bundler",
     "isolatedModules": true,
diff --git a/vite.config.ts b/vite.config.ts
index ee5fb8d2..95b2067f 100644
--- a/vite.config.ts
+++ b/vite.config.ts
@@ -1,23 +1,16 @@
 import path from 'path';
-import { defineConfig, loadEnv } from 'vite';
+import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
 import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react';
 
-export default defineConfig(({ mode }) => {
-    const env = loadEnv(mode, '.', '');
-    return {
-      server: {
-        port: 3000,
-        host: '0.0.0.0',
-      },
-      plugins: [react()],
-      define: {
-        'process.env.API_KEY': JSON.stringify(env.GEMINI_API_KEY),
-        'process.env.GEMINI_API_KEY': JSON.stringify(env.GEMINI_API_KEY)
-      },
-      resolve: {
-        alias: {
-          '@': path.resolve(__dirname, '.'),
-        }
-      }
-    };
+export default defineConfig({
+  server: {
+    port: 3000,
+    host: '0.0.0.0',
+  },
+  plugins: [react()],
+  resolve: {
+    alias: {
+      '@': path.resolve(__dirname, '.'),
+    }
+  }
 });