diff --git a/vite.config.js b/vite.config.js
index b220fb8..7e6c703 100644
--- a/vite.config.js
+++ b/vite.config.js
@@ -1,47 +1,92 @@
-import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
+import { defineConfig, loadEnv } from 'vite'
 import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
 
 /**
- * Dev-only stub for /api/* requests.
+ * Dev runner for /api/* requests in `npm run dev`.
  *
- * The files in /api are Vercel serverless functions — they run only on Vercel,
- * not in the local Vite dev server. When the frontend polls an endpoint like
- * /api/hail-status during local dev, Vite would otherwise resolve that URL to
- * the on-disk api/*.js file and push it through its module-transform pipeline,
- * which crashes on server-only imports such as `@vercel/kv`.
+ * The files in /api are Vercel serverless functions — on Vercel they run as
+ * real functions; locally Vite doesn't execute them. To test the real APIs
+ * locally (e.g. the Tomorrow.io forecast) this middleware loads .env into
+ * process.env and invokes the ACTUAL handler for KV-free routes via a small
+ * req/res shim that matches the Vercel handler contract.
  *
- * This middleware intercepts /api/* before Vite transforms anything and returns
- * a 503. Every frontend hook that hits these endpoints already degrades
- * gracefully on a failed fetch (falls back to mock data / inactive storm state),
- * so the app behaves correctly in local dev — just without the live API.
+ * Routes that use server-only deps (`@vercel/kv`: hail-status, hail-webhook)
+ * stay stubbed with a 503 — every frontend hook that hits these already
+ * degrades gracefully on a failed fetch.
  */
-const devApiStub = {
-  name: 'dev-api-stub',
-  apply: 'serve',
-  configureServer(server) {
-    server.middlewares.use((req, res, next) => {
-      if (req.url && req.url.startsWith('/api/')) {
-        res.statusCode = 503
-        res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json')
-        res.end(JSON.stringify({
-          error: 'API routes run only on Vercel and are unavailable in local dev.',
-        }))
-        return
-      }
-      next()
-    })
-  },
+
+// Only KV-free handlers are safe to import into the dev pipeline.
+const DEV_API_HANDLERS = {
+  'storm-forecast': () => import('./api/storm-forecast.js'),
+  'hail-proxy': () => import('./api/hail-proxy.js'),
+  'storm-events': () => import('./api/storm-events.js'),
+  'storm-polygons': () => import('./api/storm-polygons.js'),
 }
 
-export default defineConfig({
-  plugins: [react(), devApiStub],
-  server: {
-    // Don't watch or serve /api — those are Vercel serverless functions, not frontend code
-    watch: { ignored: ['**/api/**'] },
-    fs: { deny: ['api'] },
-  },
-  optimizeDeps: {
-    // Don't pre-bundle serverless function files
-    exclude: ['api'],
-  },
+// Server-side env vars the handlers read (mirrors what you'd set in Vercel).
+const SERVER_ENV_KEYS = [
+  'TOMORROW_API_KEY',
+  'HAIL_RECON_ACCESS_KEY',
+  'HAIL_RECON_ACCESS_SECRET',
+  'HAIL_RECON_WEBHOOK_SECRET',
+]
+
+function devApi(env) {
+  for (const k of SERVER_ENV_KEYS) {
+    if (env[k] && !process.env[k]) process.env[k] = env[k]
+  }
+  return {
+    name: 'dev-api',
+    apply: 'serve',
+    configureServer(server) {
+      server.middlewares.use(async (req, res, next) => {
+        if (!req.url || !req.url.startsWith('/api/')) return next()
+
+        const url = new URL(req.url, 'http://localhost')
+        const name = url.pathname.replace(/^\/api\//, '').replace(/\/+$/, '')
+        const load = DEV_API_HANDLERS[name]
+
+        if (!load) {
+          res.statusCode = 503
+          res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          res.end(JSON.stringify({ error: 'API route not available in local dev (needs Vercel).' }))
+          return
+        }
+
+        // Shim the Node req/res to the Vercel handler contract.
+        req.query = Object.fromEntries(url.searchParams.entries())
+        res.status = (code) => { res.statusCode = code; return res }
+        res.json = (obj) => {
+          if (!res.getHeader('Content-Type')) res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          res.end(JSON.stringify(obj))
+          return res
+        }
+
+        try {
+          const mod = await load()
+          await mod.default(req, res)
+        } catch (e) {
+          res.statusCode = 500
+          res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          res.end(JSON.stringify({ error: 'dev api handler failed', detail: e.message }))
+        }
+      })
+    },
+  }
+}
+
+export default defineConfig(({ mode }) => {
+  // Empty prefix → load ALL vars from .env (including non-VITE_ server keys).
+  const env = loadEnv(mode, process.cwd(), '')
+  return {
+    plugins: [react(), devApi(env)],
+    server: {
+      // Don't watch/serve /api as client files — they're invoked server-side above.
+      watch: { ignored: ['**/api/**'] },
+      fs: { deny: ['api'] },
+    },
+    optimizeDeps: {
+      exclude: ['api'],
+    },
+  }
 })