diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
index d309948..a4f91ff 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -140,6 +140,20 @@ jobs:
           echo "Workspace root: ${{ gitea.workspace }}"
           echo "Using compose file: ${COMPOSE_FILE}"
 
+           # --- START Verify Environment Variables ---
+          echo "Verifying environment variables available to the script:"
+          echo "DB_HOST: ${DB_HOST}"
+          echo "DB_USER: ${DB_USER}"
+          echo "DB_NAME: ${DB_NAME}"
+          echo "DB_PASSWORD length: ${#DB_PASSWORD}" # Check length, not value
+          echo "REDIS_URL: ${REDIS_URL}"
+          echo "PEPPER length: ${#PEPPER}"
+          echo "JWT_SECRET_KEY length: ${#JWT_SECRET_KEY}"
+          echo "GOOGLE_API_KEY length: ${#GOOGLE_API_KEY}"
+          echo "DOCKER_REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${DOCKER_REGISTRY_USERNAME}"
+          echo "GITEA_SHA: ${GITEA_SHA}"
+          echo "--- END Verify Environment Variables ---
+
           # Verify compose file exists
           if [ ! -f "${COMPOSE_FILE}" ]; then
             echo "ERROR: Compose file not found at ${COMPOSE_FILE}"
diff --git a/backend/docker-compose.deploy.yml b/backend/docker-compose.deploy.yml
index cc499c3..34c2978 100644
--- a/backend/docker-compose.deploy.yml
+++ b/backend/docker-compose.deploy.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ services:
       REDIS_URL: ${REDIS_URL}
       PEPPER: ${PEPPER}
       JWT_SECRET_KEY: ${JWT_SECRET_KEY}
-      GOOGLE_API_KEY: $GOOGLE_API_KEY}
+      GOOGLE_API_KEY: ${GOOGLE_API_KEY}
     expose:
       - "8000"
     depends_on: