diff --git a/docker/.env.example b/docker/.env.example
index a975ed8e7..95de0cf85 100644
--- a/docker/.env.example
+++ b/docker/.env.example
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ EMBEDDING_MODEL=sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
 # BACKEND_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com
 # NEXT_PUBLIC_FASTAPI_BACKEND_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com
 # NEXT_PUBLIC_ZERO_CACHE_URL=https://zero.yourdomain.com
+# FASTAPI_BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL=http://backend:8000
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Zero-cache (real-time sync)
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.yml b/docker/docker-compose.yml
index 549190947..93d725979 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.yml
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ services:
       NEXT_PUBLIC_FASTAPI_BACKEND_AUTH_TYPE: ${AUTH_TYPE:-LOCAL}
       NEXT_PUBLIC_ETL_SERVICE: ${ETL_SERVICE:-DOCLING}
       NEXT_PUBLIC_DEPLOYMENT_MODE: ${DEPLOYMENT_MODE:-self-hosted}
+      FASTAPI_BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL: ${FASTAPI_BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL:-http://backend:8000}
     labels:
       - "com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable=true"
     depends_on:
diff --git a/surfsense_obsidian/src/settings.ts b/surfsense_obsidian/src/settings.ts
index ffa590cce..1191e5b7a 100644
--- a/surfsense_obsidian/src/settings.ts
+++ b/surfsense_obsidian/src/settings.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,13 @@ export class SurfSenseSettingTab extends PluginSettingTab {
 					.setPlaceholder("https://surfsense.com")
 					.setValue(settings.serverUrl)
 					.onChange(async (value) => {
-						this.plugin.settings.serverUrl = value.trim();
+						const next = value.trim();
+						const previous = this.plugin.settings.serverUrl;
+						if (previous !== "" && next !== previous) {
+							this.plugin.settings.searchSpaceId = null;
+							this.plugin.settings.connectorId = null;
+						}
+						this.plugin.settings.serverUrl = next;
 						await this.plugin.saveSettings();
 					}),
 			);
@@ -59,7 +65,13 @@ export class SurfSenseSettingTab extends PluginSettingTab {
 					.setPlaceholder("Paste token")
 					.setValue(settings.apiToken)
 					.onChange(async (value) => {
-						this.plugin.settings.apiToken = value.trim();
+						const next = value.trim();
+						const previous = this.plugin.settings.apiToken;
+						if (previous !== "" && next !== previous) {
+							this.plugin.settings.searchSpaceId = null;
+							this.plugin.settings.connectorId = null;
+						}
+						this.plugin.settings.apiToken = next;
 						await this.plugin.saveSettings();
 					});
 			})
diff --git a/surfsense_web/app/api/zero/query/route.ts b/surfsense_web/app/api/zero/query/route.ts
index 3d8ff0d33..a91edcd6f 100644
--- a/surfsense_web/app/api/zero/query/route.ts
+++ b/surfsense_web/app/api/zero/query/route.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@ import type { Context } from "@/types/zero";
 import { queries } from "@/zero/queries";
 import { schema } from "@/zero/schema";
 
-const backendURL = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_FASTAPI_BACKEND_URL || "http://localhost:8000";
+const backendURL =
+	process.env.FASTAPI_BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL ||
+	process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_FASTAPI_BACKEND_URL ||
+	"http://localhost:8000";
 
 async function authenticateRequest(
 	request: Request