diff --git a/gai-backend/config_manager.py b/gai-backend/config_manager.py
index d7aa9d608..e549e74ae 100644
--- a/gai-backend/config_manager.py
+++ b/gai-backend/config_manager.py
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("config_manager")
 
+# Environment variable for API keys JSON
+ORCHID_GENAI_API_KEYS_ENV = "ORCHID_GENAI_API_KEYS"
+
 class ConfigError(Exception):
     """Raised when config operations fail"""
     pass
@@ -17,6 +20,33 @@ def __init__(self, redis: Redis):
         self.last_load_time = 0
         self.current_config = {}
         
+    def _load_api_keys_from_env(self) -> Optional[Dict[str, str]]:
+        """Load API keys from environment variable"""
+        api_keys_json = os.environ.get(ORCHID_GENAI_API_KEYS_ENV)
+        if not api_keys_json:
+            return None
+            
+        try:
+            api_keys = json.loads(api_keys_json)
+            if not isinstance(api_keys, dict):
+                logger.warning(f"Invalid API keys format in {ORCHID_GENAI_API_KEYS_ENV}: expected JSON object")
+                return None
+            return api_keys
+        except json.JSONDecodeError:
+            logger.warning(f"Failed to parse JSON from {ORCHID_GENAI_API_KEYS_ENV}")
+            return None
+            
+    def _apply_api_keys_to_config(self, config: Dict[str, Any], api_keys: Dict[str, str]) -> None:
+        """Apply API keys from environment to config endpoints"""
+        if 'inference' not in config or 'endpoints' not in config['inference']:
+            return
+            
+        endpoints = config['inference']['endpoints']
+        for endpoint_id, endpoint in endpoints.items():
+            if endpoint_id in api_keys:
+                endpoint['api_key'] = api_keys[endpoint_id]
+                logger.debug(f"Applied API key from environment to endpoint: {endpoint_id}")
+        
     async def load_from_file(self, config_path: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         try:
             with open(config_path, 'r') as f:
@@ -40,6 +70,12 @@ def process_config(self, config: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
            if not endpoints:
                raise ConfigError("No inference endpoints configured")
            
+           # Apply API keys from environment variable if it exists
+           env_api_keys = self._load_api_keys_from_env()
+           if env_api_keys:
+               logger.info("Found API keys in environment variables, overriding config values")
+               self._apply_api_keys_to_config(config, env_api_keys)
+           
            total_models = 0
            
            for endpoint_id, endpoint in endpoints.items():