diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
index 00f8746..2b32dea 100644
--- a/frontend/Dockerfile
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -21,8 +21,11 @@ FROM nginx:alpine
 # Copy built files
 COPY --from=build /app/dist /usr/share/nginx/html
 
-# Copy nginx config
-COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
+# Copy nginx template (processed at startup with envsubst)
+COPY nginx.conf.template /etc/nginx/templates/default.conf.template
+
+# Default API URL (override with -e API_URL=...)
+ENV API_URL=http://api:8000/
 
 EXPOSE 80
 
diff --git a/frontend/nginx.conf b/frontend/nginx.conf.template
similarity index 96%
rename from frontend/nginx.conf
rename to frontend/nginx.conf.template
index a16abcf..b36c4df 100644
--- a/frontend/nginx.conf
+++ b/frontend/nginx.conf.template
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ server {
 
     # Proxy API requests to backend
     location /api/ {
-        proxy_pass http://api:8000/;
+        proxy_pass ${API_URL};
         proxy_http_version 1.1;
         proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
         proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';