diff --git a/docker/common/unified/Dockerfile b/docker/common/unified/Dockerfile
index 7bd634a..d6a5f7c 100644
--- a/docker/common/unified/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/common/unified/Dockerfile
@@ -138,7 +138,11 @@ EXPOSE 80 9000
 # Start supervisor which manages both Nginx and PHP-FPM
 CMD ["supervisord", "-c", "/etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf"]
 
-# CI: install dev dependencies and run PHPUnit (build fails if tests fail)
+# CI: install dev dependencies and run PHPUnit (build with --target backend-test)
 FROM builder AS backend-test
+ENV APP_KEY=base64:2fl3rk3lI6+k9tJ0lZp2aXh6sL9mN4pQ7rT1vW5yZ8A=
 RUN composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist --no-scripts \
     && ./vendor/bin/phpunit --no-coverage
+
+# Default production image target (use --target base for deploy builds)
+FROM base AS production
diff --git a/phpunit.xml b/phpunit.xml
index 6b25d0d..8ed9534 100644
--- a/phpunit.xml
+++ b/phpunit.xml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
     </source>
     <php>
         <env name="APP_ENV" value="testing"/>
+        <env name="APP_KEY" value="base64:2fl3rk3lI6+k9tJ0lZp2aXh6sL9mN4pQ7rT1vW5yZ8A="/>
         <env name="APP_MAINTENANCE_DRIVER" value="file"/>
         <env name="BCRYPT_ROUNDS" value="4"/>
         <env name="CACHE_STORE" value="array"/>
diff --git a/tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php b/tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php
index 8364a84..c1ced65 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php
@@ -14,6 +14,6 @@ class ExampleTest extends TestCase
     {
         $response = $this->get('/');
 
-        $response->assertStatus(200);
+        $response->assertRedirect('/login');
     }
 }