diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/tenor.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/tenor.ts
index df85555..3d6c88f 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/tenor.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/tenor.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,15 @@ const ENDPOINT = 'https://tenor.googleapis.com/v2';
 const CLIENT_KEY = 'netralax-chat';
 const RECENT_KEY = 'chatapp.gifRecent.v1';
 const RECENT_MAX = 24;
-// Tenor's public key for browser-side reads. Documented as "anonymous" and
-// usable without account binding. Rate-limited at ~3k/day per IP which is
-// plenty for a chat app's picker traffic.
-const PUBLIC_API_KEY = 'AIzaSyAyimkuYQYF_FXVALexPuGQctUWRURdCYQ';
+// Tenor requires a Google API key. Provision one at
+// https://developers.google.com/tenor/guides/quickstart and expose it via
+// the renderer env var VITE_TENOR_API_KEY (e.g. in apps/desktop/.env.local).
+// When unset, every Tenor call throws — the picker degrades to a friendly
+// "GIFs gerade nicht verfügbar" message via the consumer's catch.
+const API_KEY = (
+  (import.meta as unknown as { env?: { VITE_TENOR_API_KEY?: string } }).env
+    ?.VITE_TENOR_API_KEY ?? ''
+).trim();
 
 export interface GifResult {
   id: string;
@@ -44,13 +49,20 @@ function mapResult(r: TenorApiResult): GifResult | null {
 }
 
 async function fetchTenor(path: string, params: Record<string, string>): Promise<GifResult[]> {
-  const search = new URLSearchParams({ key: PUBLIC_API_KEY, client_key: CLIENT_KEY, ...params });
+  if (!API_KEY) {
+    throw new Error('tenor_api_key_missing');
+  }
+  const search = new URLSearchParams({ key: API_KEY, client_key: CLIENT_KEY, ...params });
   const res = await fetch(`${ENDPOINT}/${path}?${search.toString()}`);
   if (!res.ok) throw new Error('tenor http ' + res.status);
   const json = (await res.json()) as { results?: TenorApiResult[] };
   return (json.results ?? []).map(mapResult).filter((x): x is GifResult => x !== null);
 }
 
+export function isTenorConfigured(): boolean {
+  return API_KEY.length > 0;
+}
+
 export async function searchGifs(query: string, locale: string = 'de_DE'): Promise<GifResult[]> {
   if (!query.trim()) return featuredGifs(locale);
   return fetchTenor('search', { q: query, limit: '30', locale });