diff --git a/.env.captcha b/.env.captcha
index 4580f2892..5ee96e4c0 100644
--- a/.env.captcha
+++ b/.env.captcha
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ CAPTCHA_ENABLED_ON_PASSWORD_RESET=false
 CAPTCHA_ENABLED_ON_CURATED_REGISTER=false
 
 # --- hCaptcha (driver: hcaptcha) ---
-CAPTCHA_SECRET=
-CAPTCHA_SITEKEY=
+CAPTCHA_H_SITEKEY=
+CAPTCHA_H_SECRET=
 
 # --- Cloudflare Turnstile (driver: turnstile) ---
 CAPTCHA_TURNSTILE_SITEKEY=
diff --git a/app/Http/Controllers/Admin/AdminSettingsController.php b/app/Http/Controllers/Admin/AdminSettingsController.php
index 94289cb7f..f4f507521 100644
--- a/app/Http/Controllers/Admin/AdminSettingsController.php
+++ b/app/Http/Controllers/Admin/AdminSettingsController.php
@@ -718,14 +718,10 @@ trait AdminSettingsController
             };
 
             // hCaptcha credentials. Persist to the canonical captcha.hcaptcha.*
-            // keys and mirror to the top-level keys the buzz/laravel-h-captcha
-            // package reads internally.
-            $hcaptchaSecret = $request->input('captcha_hcaptcha_secret');
-            $hcaptchaSitekey = $request->input('captcha_hcaptcha_sitekey');
-            $putIfChanged('captcha.hcaptcha.secret', $hcaptchaSecret);
-            $putIfChanged('captcha.hcaptcha.sitekey', $hcaptchaSitekey);
-            $putIfChanged('captcha.secret', $hcaptchaSecret);
-            $putIfChanged('captcha.sitekey', $hcaptchaSitekey);
+            // keys. CaptchaServiceProvider hydrates the top-level captcha.secret
+            // / captcha.sitekey that the buzz/laravel-h-captcha package reads.
+            $putIfChanged('captcha.hcaptcha.secret', $request->input('captcha_hcaptcha_secret'));
+            $putIfChanged('captcha.hcaptcha.sitekey', $request->input('captcha_hcaptcha_sitekey'));
 
             // Turnstile credentials (sitekey is public, store as-is when present)
             $putIfChanged('captcha.turnstile.secret', $request->input('captcha_turnstile_secret'));
diff --git a/app/Providers/CaptchaServiceProvider.php b/app/Providers/CaptchaServiceProvider.php
index 33ca46881..09c661876 100644
--- a/app/Providers/CaptchaServiceProvider.php
+++ b/app/Providers/CaptchaServiceProvider.php
@@ -17,10 +17,42 @@ class CaptchaServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
 
     public function boot(): void
     {
+        $this->hydrateHcaptchaConfig();
         $this->registerValidationRule();
         $this->registerBladeDirectives();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The buzz/laravel-h-captcha package reads its config at the TOP LEVEL of
+     * the "captcha" config (captcha.secret, captcha.sitekey, captcha.http_client,
+     * captcha.options, captcha.attributes) via the plain config repository — it
+     * does not consult the DB-backed config cache.
+     *
+     * We keep all hCaptcha config under captcha.hcaptcha.*, so hydrate the
+     * top-level keys the package expects here. Secret/sitekey use config_cache()
+     * so admin-panel values (not just .env) are honored; the static widget
+     * options come straight from the config file.
+     */
+    private function hydrateHcaptchaConfig(): void
+    {
+        $secret = config_cache('captcha.hcaptcha.secret');
+        $sitekey = config_cache('captcha.hcaptcha.sitekey');
+
+        if (! empty($secret)) {
+            config(['captcha.secret' => $secret]);
+        }
+
+        if (! empty($sitekey)) {
+            config(['captcha.sitekey' => $sitekey]);
+        }
+
+        config([
+            'captcha.http_client' => config('captcha.hcaptcha.http_client'),
+            'captcha.options' => config('captcha.hcaptcha.options'),
+            'captcha.attributes' => config('captcha.hcaptcha.attributes'),
+        ]);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Driver-agnostic validation rule.
      *
diff --git a/app/Services/Captcha/CapDriver.php b/app/Services/Captcha/CapDriver.php
index 998f148b9..6829d46da 100644
--- a/app/Services/Captcha/CapDriver.php
+++ b/app/Services/Captcha/CapDriver.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ use LaravelCap\Cap;
  * Cap driver (self-hosted proof-of-work CAPTCHA).
  *
  * Wraps the oliweb/laravel-cap package for verification, and renders the
+ *
  * @cap.js/widget from the jsDelivr CDN.
  *
  * The full API endpoint the widget and verifier talk to is composed from a base
diff --git a/config/captcha.php b/config/captcha.php
index 1f8cb0966..c4f536c43 100644
--- a/config/captcha.php
+++ b/config/captcha.php
@@ -24,27 +24,24 @@ return [
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
     | hCaptcha
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-    | Canonical, provider-namespaced credentials used throughout the app.
+    | Canonical, provider-namespaced hCaptcha config used throughout the app.
+    |
+    | The buzz/laravel-h-captcha package reads these values at the top level of
+    | the "captcha" config (captcha.secret, captcha.sitekey, captcha.http_client,
+    | captcha.options, captcha.attributes). CaptchaServiceProvider hydrates those
+    | top-level keys from this block at boot, so everything lives here.
     */
     'hcaptcha' => [
-        'secret' => env('CAPTCHA_SECRET', 'default_secret'),
-        'sitekey' => env('CAPTCHA_SITEKEY', 'default_sitekey'),
-    ],
-
-    /*
-    | The top-level secret/sitekey keys below are what the buzz/laravel-h-captcha
-    | package reads internally (config('captcha.secret') / config('captcha.sitekey')).
-    | They mirror captcha.hcaptcha.* and are kept in sync when settings are saved.
-    */
-    'secret' => env('CAPTCHA_SECRET', 'default_secret'),
-    'sitekey' => env('CAPTCHA_SITEKEY', 'default_sitekey'),
-    'http_client' => HttpClient::class,
-    'options' => [
-        'multiple' => false,
-        'lang' => app()->getLocale(),
-    ],
-    'attributes' => [
-        'theme' => 'light',
+        'secret' => env('CAPTCHA_H_SECRET', 'default_secret'),
+        'sitekey' => env('CAPTCHA_H_SITEKEY', 'default_sitekey'),
+        'http_client' => HttpClient::class,
+        'options' => [
+            'multiple' => false,
+            'lang' => app()->getLocale(),
+        ],
+        'attributes' => [
+            'theme' => 'light',
+        ],
     ],
 
     /*
diff --git a/tests/Feature/CaptchaHydrationTest.php b/tests/Feature/CaptchaHydrationTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..25eddcd6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Feature/CaptchaHydrationTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tests\Feature;
+
+use App\Providers\CaptchaServiceProvider;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\Test;
+use Tests\TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * The buzz/laravel-h-captcha package reads config('captcha.secret') and
+ * config('captcha.sitekey') via the plain config repository (not the DB config
+ * cache). CaptchaServiceProvider::boot() must hydrate those runtime values from
+ * the admin-managed captcha.hcaptcha.* keys so admin-panel credentials work.
+ *
+ * Note: the test env sets ENABLE_CONFIG_CACHE=false, so config_cache() reads
+ * straight from config(), which is what we seed here.
+ */
+class CaptchaHydrationTest extends TestCase
+{
+    private function bootProvider(): void
+    {
+        (new CaptchaServiceProvider($this->app))->boot();
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_hydrates_buzz_config_from_admin_managed_hcaptcha_keys(): void
+    {
+        config([
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.secret' => 'admin-saved-secret',
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.sitekey' => 'admin-saved-sitekey',
+            // Stale/.env-only values the buzz package would otherwise read.
+            'captcha.secret' => 'default_secret',
+            'captcha.sitekey' => 'default_sitekey',
+        ]);
+
+        $this->bootProvider();
+
+        $this->assertSame('admin-saved-secret', config('captcha.secret'));
+        $this->assertSame('admin-saved-sitekey', config('captcha.sitekey'));
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_hydrates_widget_options_from_the_hcaptcha_block(): void
+    {
+        config([
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.http_client' => 'Some\\Custom\\Client',
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.options' => ['multiple' => true, 'lang' => 'fr'],
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.attributes' => ['theme' => 'dark'],
+            // Ensure the top-level keys start out different.
+            'captcha.http_client' => null,
+            'captcha.options' => null,
+            'captcha.attributes' => null,
+        ]);
+
+        $this->bootProvider();
+
+        $this->assertSame('Some\\Custom\\Client', config('captcha.http_client'));
+        $this->assertSame(['multiple' => true, 'lang' => 'fr'], config('captcha.options'));
+        $this->assertSame(['theme' => 'dark'], config('captcha.attributes'));
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_leaves_buzz_config_untouched_when_hcaptcha_keys_are_empty(): void
+    {
+        config([
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.secret' => '',
+            'captcha.hcaptcha.sitekey' => null,
+            'captcha.secret' => 'env_secret',
+            'captcha.sitekey' => 'env_sitekey',
+        ]);
+
+        $this->bootProvider();
+
+        // Nothing to hydrate -> the existing (env/config-file) values remain.
+        $this->assertSame('env_secret', config('captcha.secret'));
+        $this->assertSame('env_sitekey', config('captcha.sitekey'));
+    }
+}