diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index eddfd2f5e..bb5eef2ca 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -1078,6 +1078,7 @@ def _launch_tui(
     )
     env.setdefault("HERMES_PYTHON", sys.executable)
     env.setdefault("HERMES_CWD", os.getcwd())
+    env.setdefault("NODE_ENV", "development" if tui_dev else "production")
     if model:
         env["HERMES_MODEL"] = model
         env["HERMES_INFERENCE_MODEL"] = model
diff --git a/hermes_cli/web_server.py b/hermes_cli/web_server.py
index 015957962..13337a734 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/web_server.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/web_server.py
@@ -2327,16 +2327,14 @@ def _resolve_chat_argv(
     from hermes_cli.main import PROJECT_ROOT, _make_tui_argv
 
     argv, cwd = _make_tui_argv(PROJECT_ROOT / "ui-tui", tui_dev=False)
-    env: Optional[dict] = None
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env.setdefault("NODE_ENV", "production")
 
-    if resume or sidecar_url:
-        env = os.environ.copy()
+    if resume:
+        env["HERMES_TUI_RESUME"] = resume
 
-        if resume:
-            env["HERMES_TUI_RESUME"] = resume
-
-        if sidecar_url:
-            env["HERMES_TUI_SIDECAR_URL"] = sidecar_url
+    if sidecar_url:
+        env["HERMES_TUI_SIDECAR_URL"] = sidecar_url
 
     return list(argv), str(cwd) if cwd else None, env
 
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_resume_flow.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_resume_flow.py
index a8a2d3aa2..7187431c8 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_resume_flow.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_tui_resume_flow.py
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ def test_launch_tui_exports_model_and_provider(monkeypatch, main_mod):
     assert env["HERMES_INFERENCE_MODEL"] == "nous/hermes-test"
     assert env["HERMES_TUI_PROVIDER"] == "nous"
     assert env["HERMES_INFERENCE_PROVIDER"] == "nous"
+    assert env["NODE_ENV"] == "production"
 
 
 def test_print_tui_exit_summary_includes_resume_and_token_totals(monkeypatch, capsys):