diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a49f7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Copy to .env and fill in real values. .env is gitignored.
+# Read by /env.py at import; exposed as ENV["openrouter_key"] / ENV.openrouter_key.
+
+# OpenRouter API key - paid LLM routes. https://openrouter.ai/settings/keys
+OPENROUTER_API_KEY=
+
+# Ollama API key - any non-empty string for local. Cloud-hosted Ollama tags
+# (like gemma4:31b-cloud) need a real key from https://ollama.com/settings/keys
+OLLAMA_API_KEY=ollama
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d67a67e..83ea26d 100755
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -67,3 +67,7 @@ website/.cache-loader/
 /bench_*.py
 /bonsai_*.py
 /test_reasoning.py
+
+# Secrets. .env holds API keys + local overrides. Never commit it.
+# .env.example is the tracked template - copy to .env and fill in values.
+/.env
diff --git a/env.py b/env.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b02391
--- /dev/null
+++ b/env.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+"""Repo-wide env loader. Reads /.env, exposes typed ENV.
+
+Callers do ``ENV["openrouter_key"]`` or ``ENV.openrouter_key``.
+Shell env wins over .env file. Missing .env is silent (CI / prod use
+real env vars). Typos raise KeyError from __getitem__.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from pathlib import Path
+
+_DOTENV = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / ".env"
+if _DOTENV.exists():
+    for _line in _DOTENV.read_text().splitlines():
+        _line = _line.strip()
+        if _line and not _line.startswith("#") and "=" in _line:
+            _k, _, _v = _line.partition("=")
+            os.environ.setdefault(_k.strip(), _v.strip().strip('"').strip("'"))
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class _Env:
+    openrouter_key: str = os.environ.get("OPENROUTER_API_KEY", "")
+    ollama_key: str = os.environ.get("OLLAMA_API_KEY", "ollama")
+
+    def __getitem__(self, k: str) -> str:
+        return vars(self)[k]
+
+
+ENV = _Env()
diff --git a/tools/autoresearch/config.example.json b/tools/autoresearch/config.example.json
index 2f11e42..9957a96 100644
--- a/tools/autoresearch/config.example.json
+++ b/tools/autoresearch/config.example.json
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   "providers": {
     "local_ollama": {
       "base_url": "http://localhost:11434",
-      "api_key": "REPLACE_WITH_OLLAMA_KEY_OR_LEAVE_EMPTY",
+      "env_key": "ollama_key",
       "is_local": true,
       "litellm_prefix": "ollama_chat",
       "models": {
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
     },
     "openrouter": {
       "base_url": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
-      "api_key": "REPLACE_WITH_OPENROUTER_KEY_sk-or-v1-...",
+      "env_key": "openrouter_key",
       "is_local": false,
       "litellm_prefix": "openrouter",
       "models": {
@@ -45,5 +45,5 @@
   "noise_tolerance": 1.02,
   "full_bench_repeats": 3,
   "attempts_per_hypothesis": 3,
-  "notes": "Copy to config.json and fill in api_key fields. config.json is gitignored. To swap models, edit active_model. Max LLM calls per (algo, model) = 6 hypotheses × attempts_per_hypothesis."
+  "notes": "Copy to config.json. API keys come from /.env (never embed them here). See /.env.example + env.py for the typed ENV loader. To swap models, edit active_model."
 }
diff --git a/tools/autoresearch/providers.py b/tools/autoresearch/providers.py
index 620602a..252df55 100644
--- a/tools/autoresearch/providers.py
+++ b/tools/autoresearch/providers.py
@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
-import os
 from pathlib import Path
 
+from env import ENV
+
 CONFIG_PATH = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "config.json"
 
 
@@ -58,11 +59,12 @@ def resolve_providers(
         base_url = p.get("base_url", "")
         if not base_url:
             continue
-        api_key = (
-            p.get("api_key", "")
-            or os.environ.get(p.get("api_key_env", ""), "")
-            or "ollama"
-        )
+        # Each provider config declares `env_key` pointing at an ENV field
+        # (see env.py). Typed: typos raise KeyError from ENV.__getitem__.
+        # Missing `env_key` falls back to "ollama" (works for local Ollama
+        # which accepts any non-empty API key).
+        env_field = p.get("env_key", "")
+        api_key = str(ENV[env_field]) if env_field else "ollama"
         is_local = p.get("is_local", "localhost" in base_url or "127.0.0.1" in base_url)
         prefix = p.get("litellm_prefix") or ("ollama_chat" if is_local else "")
         available = p.get("models", {})
diff --git a/tools/finetune/training_config.json b/tools/finetune/training_config.json
index 34e4183..2871b7d 100644
--- a/tools/finetune/training_config.json
+++ b/tools/finetune/training_config.json
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   "providers": {
     "openrouter": {
       "base_url": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
-      "api_key": "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",
+      "env_key": "openrouter_key",
       "is_local": false,
       "litellm_prefix": "openrouter",
       "models": {