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_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