diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ae7f632..6e8de7b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ web_modules/
 .yarn-integrity
 
 # dotenv environment variable files
-.env
+server/.env
 .env.development.local
 .env.test.local
 .env.production.local
diff --git a/client/.dockerignore b/client/.dockerignore
index fb664ef..cf70988 100644
--- a/client/.dockerignore
+++ b/client/.dockerignore
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
 **/node_modules
-.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/client/.env b/client/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa03bbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+VITE_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:4400
+VITE_AZURE_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:4400
diff --git a/client/src/constants.tsx b/client/src/constants.tsx
index 032e68e..21ff020 100644
--- a/client/src/constants.tsx
+++ b/client/src/constants.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // constants.tsx
 const ENV_VARIABLES = {
     MODE: 'production',
-    VITE_BACKEND_URL: import.meta.env.VITE_BACKEND_URL ||  ""
+    VITE_BACKEND_URL: process.env.VITE_BACKEND_URL || ""
 };
 
 console.log(`ENV_VARIABLES.VITE_BACKEND_URL=${ENV_VARIABLES.VITE_BACKEND_URL}`);
diff --git a/client/src/services/WebsocketService.tsx b/client/src/services/WebsocketService.tsx
index 1ee91fb..8ba0da2 100644
--- a/client/src/services/WebsocketService.tsx
+++ b/client/src/services/WebsocketService.tsx
@@ -23,9 +23,10 @@ class WebSocketService {
     connect(backendUrl: string): Socket {
         console.log(`WebSocketService.connect(${backendUrl})`);
 
-        // Ensure the URL uses wss: if the page is loaded over https:
-        const protocol = window.location.protocol === 'https:' ? 'wss:' : 'ws:';
-        const url = backendUrl.replace(/^http:/, protocol);
+        // Ensure the URL uses wss: if the URL starts with https:
+        const protocol = backendUrl.startsWith('https:') ? 'wss:' : 'ws:';
+        console.log(`WebSocketService.connect: protocol=${protocol}`);
+        const url = backendUrl.replace(/^http(s):/, protocol);
         console.log(`WebSocketService.connect: changed url=${url}`);
 
         this.socket = io(url, {
diff --git a/client/tsconfig.json b/client/tsconfig.json
index c9c40d8..5324e80 100644
--- a/client/tsconfig.json
+++ b/client/tsconfig.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
         "target": "ESNext",
         "useDefineForClassFields": true,
         "lib": ["ES2020", "DOM", "DOM.Iterable"],
-        "module": "ES2020",
+        "module": "ESNext",
         "skipLibCheck": true,
 
         /* Bundler mode */