diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
index 95e93301..6ca3f513 100644
--- a/frontend/Dockerfile
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
 COPY . .
 
 # Set environment variable for build
-ENV NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://backend:8000
+# Leave NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL empty at build time.
+# Docker Compose sets BACKEND_URL at runtime; Railway users set it in env vars.
+ENV NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=
 
 # Build Next.js app
 RUN bun run build
diff --git a/frontend/app/api/[...path]/route.ts b/frontend/app/api/[...path]/route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a40433e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/app/api/[...path]/route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/**
+ * Catch-all API proxy route.
+ *
+ * Proxies every /api/* request that does NOT have a more-specific route handler
+ * (e.g. /api/chat, /api/auth/*, /api/config) to the FastAPI backend.
+ *
+ * Unlike next.config.ts rewrites(), this resolves the backend URL **per-request**
+ * so it works correctly on Railway and other platforms where the backend URL
+ * is only available at runtime via environment variables.
+ */
+import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from "next/server";
+import { getBackendUrl } from "@/lib/backend-url";
+
+const TIMEOUT_MS = 300_000; // 5 minutes – analysis tasks can be long-running
+
+async function proxyRequest(req: NextRequest, { params }: { params: Promise<{ path: string[] }> }) {
+  const { path } = await params;
+  const backendUrl = getBackendUrl();
+  const target = `${backendUrl}/api/${path.join("/")}`;
+
+  // Preserve query string
+  const url = new URL(req.url);
+  const qs = url.search; // includes leading "?"
+  const fullTarget = `${target}${qs}`;
+
+  try {
+    // Forward relevant headers
+    const headers: Record<string, string> = {
+      "Content-Type": req.headers.get("content-type") || "application/json",
+    };
+
+    const auth = req.headers.get("authorization");
+    if (auth) {
+      headers["Authorization"] = auth;
+    }
+
+    // Read body for methods that have one
+    let body: string | undefined;
+    if (req.method !== "GET" && req.method !== "HEAD") {
+      body = await req.text();
+    }
+
+    const response = await fetch(fullTarget, {
+      method: req.method,
+      headers,
+      body,
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
+    });
+
+    const data = await response.text();
+
+    if (!response.ok) {
+      console.error(`[API Proxy] ${req.method} ${target} → ${response.status}`);
+      try {
+        return NextResponse.json(JSON.parse(data), { status: response.status });
+      } catch {
+        return NextResponse.json(
+          { detail: `Backend error: ${response.status}` },
+          { status: response.status },
+        );
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Try to return JSON; fall back to plain text
+    try {
+      return NextResponse.json(JSON.parse(data));
+    } catch {
+      return new NextResponse(data, {
+        status: 200,
+        headers: { "Content-Type": response.headers.get("content-type") || "text/plain" },
+      });
+    }
+  } catch (error: any) {
+    console.error(`[API Proxy] ${req.method} ${fullTarget} failed:`, error?.message || error);
+    return NextResponse.json(
+      { detail: `Failed to connect to backend: ${error?.message || "Unknown error"}` },
+      { status: 502 },
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+export const GET    = proxyRequest;
+export const POST   = proxyRequest;
+export const PUT    = proxyRequest;
+export const PATCH  = proxyRequest;
+export const DELETE = proxyRequest;
diff --git a/frontend/app/api/chat/route.ts b/frontend/app/api/chat/route.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index f55b469c..00000000
--- a/frontend/app/api/chat/route.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
-import { getBackendUrl } from "@/lib/backend-url";
-
-export async function POST(req: Request) {
-  try {
-    const backendUrl = getBackendUrl();
-
-    // Read the complete body from the request
-    const bodyText = await req.text();
-    
-    console.log(`[API Route] Proxying /api/chat to ${backendUrl}/api/chat (${bodyText.length} bytes)`);
-
-    // Use native fetch to proxy the request to the backend.
-    // This bypasses the Next.js next.config.ts rewrites http-proxy,
-    // which has known bugs with large POST bodies and timeouts in standalone mode.
-    const response = await fetch(`${backendUrl}/api/chat`, {
-      method: "POST",
-      headers: {
-        "Content-Type": "application/json",
-      },
-      body: bodyText,
-      // @ts-ignore - Node.js fetch specific option to disable timeout
-      signal: AbortSignal.timeout ? AbortSignal.timeout(180_000) : undefined, // 3 minutes timeout
-    });
-
-    const data = await response.text();
-
-    if (!response.ok) {
-      console.error(`[API Route] Backend returned ${response.status}:`, data);
-      try {
-        const json = JSON.parse(data);
-        return NextResponse.json(json, { status: response.status });
-      } catch (e) {
-        return NextResponse.json(
-          { detail: `Backend error: ${response.status}` },
-          { status: response.status }
-        );
-      }
-    }
-
-    return NextResponse.json(JSON.parse(data));
-  } catch (error: any) {
-    console.error("[API Route] Proxy error:", error);
-    return NextResponse.json(
-      { detail: `Failed to connect to backend: ${error.message}` },
-      { status: 500 }
-    );
-  }
-}
diff --git a/frontend/next.config.ts b/frontend/next.config.ts
index 34a20338..1e55b45f 100644
--- a/frontend/next.config.ts
+++ b/frontend/next.config.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 import type { NextConfig } from "next";
-import { getBackendUrl } from "./lib/backend-url";
 
 const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
   output: 'standalone',
   reactCompiler: true,
-  
+
   // Security headers
   async headers() {
     return [
@@ -56,17 +55,10 @@ const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
     ];
   },
   
-  async rewrites() {
-    const backendUrl = getBackendUrl();
-    console.log(`[Next.js] Rewriting API requests to: ${backendUrl}`);
-    
-    return [
-      {
-        source: "/api/:path*",
-        destination: `${backendUrl}/api/:path*`,
-      },
-    ];
-  },
+  // NOTE: API proxying is handled by the catch-all route handler at
+  // app/api/[...path]/route.ts which resolves the backend URL per-request.
+  // This is required for Railway where the backend URL is only available
+  // at runtime, not at server startup when rewrites() is evaluated.
 };
 
 export default nextConfig;