diff --git a/src/lib/ai-client.ts b/src/lib/ai-client.ts
index e0ad683..4f82cff 100644
--- a/src/lib/ai-client.ts
+++ b/src/lib/ai-client.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
 import { OpenAI } from 'openai';
 
-export const aiClient = new OpenAI({
-    baseURL: 'https://api.tokenfactory.nebius.com/v1/',
-    apiKey: process.env.NEBIUS_API_KEY,
-});
+/**
+ * Creates a Nebius AI client using the provided API key.
+ * This is wrapped in a function to avoid top-level initialization errors
+ * if the environment variables are not yet loaded or are missing.
+ */
+export function getNebiusClient() {
+    const apiKey = process.env.NEBIUS_API_KEY;
+
+    if (!apiKey) {
+        throw new Error('NEBIUS_API_KEY is not configured.');
+    }
+
+    return new OpenAI({
+        baseURL: 'https://api.tokenfactory.nebius.com/v1/',
+        apiKey: apiKey,
+    });
+}
diff --git a/src/services/analyze-bottle-nebius.ts b/src/services/analyze-bottle-nebius.ts
index d73304b..1721c53 100644
--- a/src/services/analyze-bottle-nebius.ts
+++ b/src/services/analyze-bottle-nebius.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 'use server';
 
-import { aiClient } from '@/lib/ai-client';
+import { getNebiusClient } from '@/lib/ai-client';
 import { SYSTEM_INSTRUCTION as GEMINI_SYSTEM_INSTRUCTION } from '@/lib/gemini';
 import { BottleMetadataSchema, AnalysisResponse, BottleMetadata } from '@/types/whisky';
 import { createServerActionClient } from '@supabase/auth-helpers-nextjs';
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ export async function analyzeBottleNebius(base64Image: string, tags?: string[],
         console.log(`[analyzeBottleNebius] Instruction prepared for AI: ${instruction.substring(0, 100)}...`);
 
 
-        const response = await aiClient.chat.completions.create({
+        const client = getNebiusClient();
+        const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
             model: "Qwen/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct",
             messages: [
                 {