diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 173764d..36ffa86 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -169,9 +169,11 @@ $RECYCLE.BIN/
 # Environment & Secrets
 # ============================================
 .env
-.env.*
+.env.local
+.env.*.local
 !.env.example
-!.env.*.example
+!.env.development
+!.env.production
 *.pem
 *.key
 *.p12
diff --git a/frontend/.env.development b/frontend/.env.development
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..155c3f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/.env.development
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Development environment defaults
+VITE_GRAPHQL_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:5000/graphql
diff --git a/frontend/.env.example b/frontend/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b6814c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Books Frontend Environment Configuration
+# Copy this file to .env.local and adjust values for your environment
+
+# GraphQL API endpoint
+# Development: http://localhost:5000/graphql
+# Production: /graphql (relative, proxied by nginx/ingress)
+VITE_GRAPHQL_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:5000/graphql
diff --git a/frontend/.env.production b/frontend/.env.production
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f48dbb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/.env.production
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Production environment - uses relative path (proxied by nginx/ingress)
+VITE_GRAPHQL_ENDPOINT=/graphql