diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index f70f1d3..40e28b9 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 # LLM routing: hosts + ordered backup chains (committed, no secrets inside).
 # When set, replaces OLLAMA_HOST / OLLAMA_API_KEY as the LLM config.
 # LLM_CONFIG_FILE=llm.json
+# A second Ollama Cloud account is just another variable, referenced by name
+# from llm.json as "api_key_env": "OLLAMA_API_KEY_2".
+# OLLAMA_API_KEY_2=
 
 # ── LLM: OpenAI (optional) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
 OPENAI_API_KEY=
diff --git a/.env.navi_code.example b/.env.navi_code.example
index 81622b6..5f4676a 100644
--- a/.env.navi_code.example
+++ b/.env.navi_code.example
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 # LLM routing: hosts + ordered backup chains (committed, no secrets inside).
 # When set, replaces OLLAMA_HOST / OLLAMA_API_KEY as the LLM config.
 # LLM_CONFIG_FILE=llm.json
+# A second Ollama Cloud account is just another variable, referenced by name
+# from llm.json as "api_key_env": "OLLAMA_API_KEY_2".
+# OLLAMA_API_KEY_2=
 
 # ── LLM: OpenAI (optional) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
 OPENAI_API_KEY=
diff --git a/docs/config.md b/docs/config.md
index 78ff0da..18ac2c5 100644
--- a/docs/config.md
+++ b/docs/config.md
@@ -61,10 +61,14 @@
 }
 ```
 
-- **`targets`** — named hosts. `api_key_env` names an environment variable and is
-  read from `os.environ` **or** from the settings loaded out of `.env` (the
-  latter is not exported to the process environment), so the deploy branch's
-  `.env` does not change. A literal `api_key` is also accepted.
+- **`targets`** — named hosts. `api_key_env` names an environment variable and
+  is read from `os.environ` **or** from the `.env` file itself (the process
+  environment does not receive it), so the deploy branch's `.env` does not
+  change. Any name works — that is how a second Ollama Cloud account joins a
+  route: give it its own target and its own variable, e.g. `cloud2` with
+  `"api_key_env": "OLLAMA_API_KEY_2"`, then list both in the chain. A literal
+  `api_key` is also accepted, but `llm.json` is committed: keep secrets in
+  `.env` and reference them by name.
 - **`routes`** — ordered chains; **the first entry is the primary**, the rest are
   backups. `context_window` caps `num_ctx` for that model and drives the
   compressor's window, and `options` are merged over the global Ollama options.
diff --git a/navi/llm/config.py b/navi/llm/config.py
index af77087..837f731 100644
--- a/navi/llm/config.py
+++ b/navi/llm/config.py
@@ -49,6 +49,33 @@
     """``llm.json`` is present but cannot be used. Raised at startup."""
 
 
+def _env_file_value(env_name: str) -> str:
+    """Read one variable out of the same ``.env`` pydantic-settings uses.
+
+    The file is read directly because the settings object only exposes the
+    fields it declares: a second cloud account's ``OLLAMA_API_KEY_2`` is a name
+    nobody mapped to a field, and it still has to resolve.
+    """
+    from dotenv import dotenv_values
+
+    try:
+        from navi.config import Settings
+
+        configured = Settings.model_config.get("env_file", ".env")
+    except Exception:  # settings are optional for this lookup
+        configured = ".env"
+    names = configured if isinstance(configured, (list, tuple)) else [configured]
+    for name in names:
+        # Relative to the working directory, exactly as pydantic-settings
+        # resolves it: if the server cannot see that file, neither can this.
+        path = Path(str(name)).expanduser()
+        if path.is_file():
+            value = dotenv_values(path).get(env_name)
+            if value:
+                return value
+    return ""
+
+
 def _resolve_secret(env_name: str) -> str:
     """Look a key up by environment-variable name.
 
@@ -56,11 +83,16 @@
     the *settings object*, it does not export those values to the process
     environment. On production the ollama key lives in ``.env`` and nowhere
     else, so a plain ``os.environ.get`` would silently hand the cloud target
-    an empty key and every request would 401.
+    an empty key and every request would 401. Reading the file covers any name
+    — several accounts, each with its own variable — and the settings fields
+    stay as a last resort for tests and for a key injected as a field.
     """
     value = os.environ.get(env_name, "")
     if value:
         return value
+    value = _env_file_value(env_name)
+    if value:
+        return value
     from navi.config import settings
 
     known = {
diff --git a/tests/unit/llm/test_config.py b/tests/unit/llm/test_config.py
index 461845c..423c06a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/llm/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/unit/llm/test_config.py
@@ -104,12 +104,56 @@
     assert config.targets["cloud"].api_key == "from-env"
 
 
+def test_any_variable_name_resolves_from_the_dotenv_file(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """A second cloud account's key has no Settings field — only a name in
+    .env. Hard-coding the two known names left it empty and every call 401."""
+    monkeypatch.delenv("OLLAMA_API_KEY_2", raising=False)
+    (tmp_path / ".env").write_text("OLLAMA_API_KEY_2=second-account\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+    payload = {
+        "targets": {"cloud2": {"host": "https://ollama.com", "api_key_env": "OLLAMA_API_KEY_2"}},
+        "routes": {"default": [{"model": "m", "target": "cloud2"}]},
+    }
+
+    config = load_llm_config(_write(tmp_path, payload))
+
+    assert config.targets["cloud2"].api_key == "second-account"
+
+
+def test_the_environment_wins_over_the_dotenv_file(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    (tmp_path / ".env").write_text("TEST_LLM_KEY=from-file\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("TEST_LLM_KEY", "from-env")
+
+    config = load_llm_config(_write(tmp_path, BASE))
+
+    assert config.targets["cloud"].api_key == "from-env"
+
+
+def test_a_malformed_dotenv_line_does_not_stop_the_lookup(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Production's .env has one such line; it must not hide the keys below."""
+    monkeypatch.delenv("OLLAMA_API_KEY_2", raising=False)
+    (tmp_path / ".env").write_text(
+        "ljap nonsense\nOLLAMA_API_KEY_2=still-found\n", encoding="utf-8"
+    )
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+    payload = {
+        "targets": {"cloud2": {"host": "https://ollama.com", "api_key_env": "OLLAMA_API_KEY_2"}},
+        "routes": {"default": [{"model": "m", "target": "cloud2"}]},
+    }
+
+    config = load_llm_config(_write(tmp_path, payload))
+
+    assert config.targets["cloud2"].api_key == "still-found"
+
+
 def test_an_api_key_falls_back_to_settings_when_the_env_is_not_exported(
     tmp_path, monkeypatch
 ):
     """pydantic-settings reads .env into the settings object, not os.environ."""
     import navi.config as config_mod
 
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)  # no .env here: the file must not answer
     monkeypatch.delenv("OLLAMA_API_KEY", raising=False)
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         config_mod, "settings", config_mod.Settings(_env_file=None, ollama_api_key="from-dotenv")