diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 0fcbad0..6903d87 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
-# Copy to .env and fill in. Used by docker-compose; k8s pulls from the
-# nvi-config ConfigMap (ctrl/k8s/base/configmap.yaml).
+# Copy to `.env` (gitignored) and fill in. Two consumers:
+#
+# 1. k8s/kind path (tilt up): kustomize's secretGenerator in
+#    ctrl/k8s/base/kustomization.yaml reads this file and builds the
+#    nvi-secrets Secret. Non-secret config (DATABASE_URL, NVI_DATASET,
+#    *_MODEL, LANGFUSE_HOST, ...) lives in configmap.yaml — do not
+#    duplicate those here.
+# 2. docker-compose fallback (ctrl/docker-compose.yml): compose reads
+#    the same file via the shell.
 
-# Warehouse
-DATABASE_URL=postgresql://nvi:nvi@postgres:5432/nvi
-
-# Active dataset (selects api/datasets/<name>/ + Postgres schema + sqlite file).
-NVI_DATASET=financial
-
-# LLM
+# LLM API keys — set the one(s) matching your active LLM_PROVIDER.
+GROQ_API_KEY=
 ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=
-ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-6
+# vLLM and other OpenAI-compatible self-hosted endpoints ignore auth;
+# the literal placeholder is fine.
+OPENAI_API_KEY=vllm-no-auth
 
-# Langfuse — set LANGFUSE_HOST to your lng WireGuard endpoint; create an
-# "nvi" project in the lng UI and paste its keys here.
-LANGFUSE_HOST=http://lng.local.ar:3000
+# Langfuse (nivii project on the lng cluster). Both keys are project-
+# scoped. Public key is safe by design; bundled for uniformity.
 LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY=
 LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY=
diff --git a/ctrl/Tiltfile b/ctrl/Tiltfile
index 522c2ec..a708843 100644
--- a/ctrl/Tiltfile
+++ b/ctrl/Tiltfile
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ if k8s_context() != 'kind-nvi':
 
 local('kubectl --context kind-nvi create namespace nvi --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl --context kind-nvi apply -f -')
 
-k8s_yaml(kustomize('k8s/overlays/dev'))
+# --load-restrictor=LoadRestrictionsNone: secretGenerator reads ../../../.env
+# (repo root), which kustomize otherwise refuses for security. Safe here —
+# it's our own repo, the path is explicit, and the only reachable file is .env.
+k8s_yaml(kustomize('k8s/overlays/dev', flags=['--load-restrictor=LoadRestrictionsNone']))
 
 # --- Images ---
 
diff --git a/ctrl/k8s/base/api.yaml b/ctrl/k8s/base/api.yaml
index 0736283..6fa025a 100644
--- a/ctrl/k8s/base/api.yaml
+++ b/ctrl/k8s/base/api.yaml
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ spec:
           envFrom:
             - configMapRef:
                 name: nvi-config
+            - secretRef:
+                name: nvi-secrets
           readinessProbe:
             httpGet:
               path: /healthz
diff --git a/ctrl/k8s/base/configmap.yaml b/ctrl/k8s/base/configmap.yaml
index f142d40..30d3fff 100644
--- a/ctrl/k8s/base/configmap.yaml
+++ b/ctrl/k8s/base/configmap.yaml
@@ -12,14 +12,10 @@ data:
   NVI_DATASET: "financial"
 
   # LLM. Supported providers: groq, anthropic, openai.
+  # Secrets (*_API_KEY) live in the Secret built by kustomize from .env.
   LLM_PROVIDER: "groq"
-  GROQ_API_KEY: "REDACTED_GROQ_API_KEY"
   GROQ_MODEL: "llama-3.3-70b-versatile"
-
-  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ""
   ANTHROPIC_MODEL: "claude-sonnet-4-6"
 
   # Langfuse (nivii project in the lng cluster).
   LANGFUSE_HOST: "http://lng.local.ar"
-  LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY: "REDACTED_LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY"
-  LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY: "REDACTED_LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY"
diff --git a/ctrl/k8s/base/kustomization.yaml b/ctrl/k8s/base/kustomization.yaml
index b8db436..cd992c8 100644
--- a/ctrl/k8s/base/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/ctrl/k8s/base/kustomization.yaml
@@ -21,3 +21,15 @@ configMapGenerator:
       - Caddyfile
     options:
       disableNameSuffixHash: true
+
+# API key Secret built from .env at the repo root. .env is gitignored; only
+# .env.example is committed. The path is relative to this kustomization.yaml
+# (ctrl/k8s/base/) — `../../../.env` resolves to the repo root.
+# disableNameSuffixHash keeps the Secret name stable so api.yaml's secretRef
+# doesn't break on every rebuild.
+secretGenerator:
+  - name: nvi-secrets
+    envs:
+      - ../../../.env
+    options:
+      disableNameSuffixHash: true