diff --git a/app/Livewire/Project/Shared/EnvironmentVariable/All.php b/app/Livewire/Project/Shared/EnvironmentVariable/All.php
index 89130799a..f5516d2a1 100644
--- a/app/Livewire/Project/Shared/EnvironmentVariable/All.php
+++ b/app/Livewire/Project/Shared/EnvironmentVariable/All.php
@@ -714,6 +714,12 @@ class All extends Component
         // Extract all hard-coded variables
         $hardcodedVars = extractHardcodedEnvironmentVariables($dockerComposeRaw);
 
+        // Compose self-references are inputs supplied through Coolify's .env file,
+        // not hard-coded values. Keep them editable in the environment variables UI.
+        $hardcodedVars = $hardcodedVars->reject(
+            fn (array $variable): bool => $this->isSelfReferencingComposeVariable($variable)
+        );
+
         // Filter out magic variables (SERVICE_FQDN_*, SERVICE_URL_*, SERVICE_NAME_*)
         $hardcodedVars = $hardcodedVars->filter(function ($var) {
             $key = $var['key'];
@@ -755,7 +761,14 @@ class All extends Component
             return [];
         }
 
-        return extractHardcodedEnvironmentVariables($dockerComposeRaw)
+        $assignments = extractHardcodedEnvironmentVariables($dockerComposeRaw);
+        $editableKeys = $assignments
+            ->filter(fn (array $variable): bool => $this->isSelfReferencingComposeVariable($variable))
+            ->pluck('key')
+            ->unique();
+
+        return $assignments
+            ->reject(fn (array $variable): bool => $editableKeys->contains($variable['key']))
             ->pluck('key')
             ->reject(fn (string $key): bool => str($key)->startsWith(['SERVICE_FQDN_', 'SERVICE_URL_', 'SERVICE_NAME_']))
             ->unique()
@@ -763,6 +776,28 @@ class All extends Component
             ->all();
     }
 
+    private function isSelfReferencingComposeVariable(array $variable): bool
+    {
+        $value = $variable['value'] ?? null;
+        if (! is_string($value)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if ($value === '$'.$variable['key']) {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        $reference = extractBalancedBraceContent($value);
+        if ($reference === null || $reference['start'] !== 1 || $reference['end'] !== strlen($value) - 1) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        $splitReference = splitOnOperatorOutsideNested($reference['content']);
+        $referencedKey = $splitReference['variable'] ?? $reference['content'];
+
+        return $referencedKey === $variable['key'];
+    }
+
     public function getDevView()
     {
         $this->variables = $this->formatEnvironmentVariables($this->getEnvironmentVariables(false, false));
diff --git a/tests/Feature/EnvironmentVariableSearchTest.php b/tests/Feature/EnvironmentVariableSearchTest.php
index a44124ea7..5ce4c09c4 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/EnvironmentVariableSearchTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/EnvironmentVariableSearchTest.php
@@ -182,6 +182,42 @@ YAML,
         ->toBe(['API_TOKEN']);
 });
 
+it('keeps Compose self-referencing environment variables editable without changing Compose', function () {
+    $dockerCompose = <<<'YAML'
+services:
+  app:
+    image: nginx
+    environment:
+      API_TOKEN: ${API_TOKEN}
+      LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
+      FIXED_VALUE: production
+YAML;
+
+    $service = Service::factory()->create([
+        'environment_id' => $this->environment->id,
+        'docker_compose_raw' => $dockerCompose,
+    ]);
+
+    foreach (['API_TOKEN', 'LOG_LEVEL'] as $key) {
+        EnvironmentVariable::create([
+            'key' => $key,
+            'resourceable_type' => Service::class,
+            'resourceable_id' => $service->id,
+        ]);
+    }
+
+    $rows = Livewire::test(All::class, ['resource' => $service])
+        ->call('loadEnvironmentVariables')
+        ->instance()
+        ->environmentVariablePageRows;
+
+    expect($rows->where('kind', 'managed')->pluck('environmentVariable.key')->all())
+        ->toBe(['API_TOKEN', 'LOG_LEVEL'])
+        ->and($rows->where('kind', 'hardcoded')->pluck('environmentVariable.key')->all())
+        ->toBe(['FIXED_VALUE'])
+        ->and($service->fresh()->docker_compose_raw)->toBe($dockerCompose);
+});
+
 it('shows a Compose-defined value as read-only when a managed variable has the same key', function () {
     $service = Service::factory()->create([
         'environment_id' => $this->environment->id,