diff --git a/safetytooling/utils/utils.py b/safetytooling/utils/utils.py
index ff4651c..7976b18 100644
--- a/safetytooling/utils/utils.py
+++ b/safetytooling/utils/utils.py
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ def setup_environment(
         os.environ["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"] = os.environ[anthropic_tag]
     if openrouter_tag in os.environ:
         os.environ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"] = os.environ[openrouter_tag]
+
+    # Blank values in .env are loaded as ""; treat any var ending in _API_KEY or HF_TOKEN as unset.
+    _other_secret_env_vars = ("HF_TOKEN",)
+    for key in list(os.environ):
+        if (key.endswith("_API_KEY") or key in _other_secret_env_vars) and (
+            (os.environ[key] or "").strip() == ""
+        ):
+            del os.environ[key]
+
     # warn if we do not have an openai api key
     if "OPENAI_API_KEY" not in os.environ:
         LOGGER.warning("OPENAI_API_KEY not found in environment, OpenAI API will not be available")
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83ec0fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import os
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from safetytooling.utils import utils
+
+
+def test_setup_environment_treats_blank_api_keys_as_unset():
+    with patch("safetytooling.utils.utils.dotenv.load_dotenv", return_value=True):
+        os.environ["TOGETHER_API_KEY"] = ""
+        try:
+            utils.setup_environment()
+            # Should be removed so downstream code gets None, not ""
+            assert "TOGETHER_API_KEY" not in os.environ
+        finally:
+            os.environ.pop("TOGETHER_API_KEY", None)
+
+
+def test_setup_environment_treats_whitespace_only_api_keys_as_unset():
+    with patch("safetytooling.utils.utils.dotenv.load_dotenv", return_value=True):
+        os.environ["TOGETHER_API_KEY"] = "   \t  "
+        try:
+            utils.setup_environment()
+            assert "TOGETHER_API_KEY" not in os.environ
+        finally:
+            os.environ.pop("TOGETHER_API_KEY", None)
+
+
+def test_setup_environment_normalizes_any_var_ending_in_api_key():
+    with patch("safetytooling.utils.utils.dotenv.load_dotenv", return_value=True):
+        os.environ["SOME_FUTURE_API_KEY"] = ""
+        try:
+            utils.setup_environment()
+            assert "SOME_FUTURE_API_KEY" not in os.environ
+        finally:
+            os.environ.pop("SOME_FUTURE_API_KEY", None)