diff --git a/apps/agent-zero/agent-zero.yaml b/apps/agent-zero/agent-zero.yaml
index b23cfeb..d9f8603 100644
--- a/apps/agent-zero/agent-zero.yaml
+++ b/apps/agent-zero/agent-zero.yaml
@@ -294,6 +294,16 @@ spec:
                 secretKeyRef:
                   name: fc-llm-bridge-api-keys
                   key: agent-zero-k8s
+            # Agent Zero's runtime still resolves provider keys from the
+            # provider-level env names (models.get_api_key -> OPENAI_API_KEY /
+            # API_KEY_OPENAI), not the slot-scoped A0_SET_* value alone.
+            # Mirror the same secret here so real public chat runs can reach
+            # the fc-llm-bridge chat_model path instead of failing before MCP.
+            - name: OPENAI_API_KEY
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: fc-llm-bridge-api-keys
+                  key: agent-zero-k8s
             - name: A0_SET_chat_model_ctx_length
               value: "8192"
             - name: A0_SET_chat_model_kwargs