diff --git a/contract_env/env/environment.py b/contract_env/env/environment.py
index 32cb4f0..55186cf 100644
--- a/contract_env/env/environment.py
+++ b/contract_env/env/environment.py
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
 from contract_env.env.models import Action, Observation
 from contract_env.env.tasks import TASKS, NegotiationTask
 
-random.seed(42)
-
 
 class ContractEnv:
     """Multi-turn contract-negotiation environment.
diff --git a/contract_env/server/app.py b/contract_env/server/app.py
index f2d5ed0..760ef5a 100644
--- a/contract_env/server/app.py
+++ b/contract_env/server/app.py
@@ -143,6 +143,8 @@ def step(req: StepRequest) -> dict[str, Any]:
             "info": info,
         }
 
+    except RuntimeError as e:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail=str(e))
     except ValidationError as e:
         raise HTTPException(status_code=422, detail=e.errors())
     except Exception:
diff --git a/hf_create.py b/hf_create.py
index f331ef3..01cb416 100644
--- a/hf_create.py
+++ b/hf_create.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 req = urllib.request.Request(url, headers=headers, data=data)
 try:
-    with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
+    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=30) as resp:
         print(resp.read().decode("utf-8"))
 except Exception as e:
     import traceback
diff --git a/inference.py b/inference.py
index 8e2eedc..3743f3b 100644
--- a/inference.py
+++ b/inference.py
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@
     def load_dotenv(*_a: Any, **_kw: Any) -> None:  # type: ignore[misc]
         pass
 
+# Load .env BEFORE reading any environment variables so that .env-only
+# configuration is picked up by the module-level constants below.
+load_dotenv()
+
 from openai import OpenAI
 
 from contract_env.env.environment import ContractEnv
@@ -652,7 +656,6 @@ def run_episode(env, task_id: Optional[str] = None) -> tuple[float, str]:
 
 # ── MAIN ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 def main() -> None:
-    load_dotenv()
     random.seed(42)
 
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
diff --git a/server/app.py b/server/app.py
index 65bc94e..eeee28d 100644
--- a/server/app.py
+++ b/server/app.py
@@ -5,3 +5,7 @@
 """
 
 from contract_env.server.app import app  # noqa: F401
+from contract_env.server.app import main  # noqa: F401
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()