diff --git a/src/__tests__/api-key-env-static.test.ts b/src/__tests__/api-key-env-static.test.ts
index f463a3e..0652b1c 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/api-key-env-static.test.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/api-key-env-static.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { readFileSync } from 'fs';
 import { join } from 'path';
 
 const configSource = readFileSync(join(process.cwd(), 'src/config/index.ts'), 'utf8');
+const serverSource = readFileSync(join(process.cwd(), 'src/server.ts'), 'utf8');
 const setupScript = readFileSync(join(process.cwd(), 'scripts/setup-api.sh'), 'utf8');
 
 function sourceBlock(startMarker: string, endMarker: string): string {
@@ -33,6 +34,11 @@ describe('API key environment handling hardening', () => {
     expect(block).toContain("join(homedir(), '.t3mp3st', '.env')");
   });
 
+  it('the API server does not re-enable caller-cwd dotenv loading', () => {
+    expect(serverSource).not.toMatch(/from ['"]dotenv['"]/);
+    expect(serverSource).not.toMatch(/\bdotenv\.config\s*\(/);
+  });
+
   it('setup-api.sh writes the same T3MP3ST-owned env file that ConfigManager reads', () => {
     const block = configLoadEnvBlock();
 
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index 362377d..271a6ad 100755
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -32,9 +32,6 @@ import type { OperatorArchetype } from './types/index.js';
 import { listOperatorPrompts, setOperatorOverride, resetOperatorOverride, type OperatorOverride } from './operators/index.js';
 import { ingestRepoToSourceContext, runWhiteboxAnalysis, resolveContainedRepoPath, RepoPathError } from './recon/whitebox.js';
 import { redactCredential } from './evidence/index.js';
-import dotenv from 'dotenv';
-
-dotenv.config();
 
 const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile);