diff --git a/.changeset/gateway-base-url-env.md b/.changeset/gateway-base-url-env.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..745eef78d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/gateway-base-url-env.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"eve": patch
+---
+
+`validateGatewayApiKey` now honors the `AI_GATEWAY_BASE_URL` environment variable when constructing the gateway provider, so the `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` check can be pointed at a self-hosted or proxied AI Gateway instead of always hitting `ai-gateway.vercel.sh`.
diff --git a/packages/eve/src/setup/validate-gateway-key.ts b/packages/eve/src/setup/validate-gateway-key.ts
index a7c856ee3..10e5d71db 100644
--- a/packages/eve/src/setup/validate-gateway-key.ts
+++ b/packages/eve/src/setup/validate-gateway-key.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ export async function validateGatewayApiKey(
   try {
     const provider = createGateway({
       apiKey,
+      baseURL: process.env.AI_GATEWAY_BASE_URL,
       fetch: (url: Parameters<typeof fetch>[0], init?: Parameters<typeof fetch>[1]) =>
         globalThis.fetch(url, { ...init, signal: effectiveSignal }),
     });