diff --git a/amplify.yml b/amplify.yml
index f085d85..7701fe3 100644
--- a/amplify.yml
+++ b/amplify.yml
@@ -4,10 +4,19 @@ frontend:
     preBuild:
       commands:
         - npm ci
+        - echo "Checking for environment variables..."
+        - printenv | grep YOUTUBE || echo "No YOUTUBE env vars found"
+        - echo "YOUTUBE_API_KEY value length:" $(echo -n "$YOUTUBE_API_KEY" | wc -c)
     build:
       commands:
-        - echo "YOUTUBE_API_KEY=$YOUTUBE_API_KEY" >> .env.production
-        - env | grep YOUTUBE_API_KEY || echo "YOUTUBE_API_KEY not found in environment"
+        - |
+          if [ ! -z "$YOUTUBE_API_KEY" ]; then
+            echo "YOUTUBE_API_KEY=$YOUTUBE_API_KEY" >> .env.production
+            echo "Created .env.production with YOUTUBE_API_KEY"
+          else
+            echo "WARNING: YOUTUBE_API_KEY is not set in environment"
+          fi
+        - cat .env.production 2>/dev/null || echo "No .env.production file"
         - npm run build
   artifacts:
     baseDirectory: .next
diff --git a/next.config.ts b/next.config.ts
index 4259001..f20d813 100644
--- a/next.config.ts
+++ b/next.config.ts
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
       },
     ],
   },
-  env: {
-    YOUTUBE_API_KEY: process.env.YOUTUBE_API_KEY || '',
-  },
 };
 
 export default nextConfig;