diff --git a/src/server/routes/containers.ts b/src/server/routes/containers.ts
index dec9bf1..5cb1190 100644
--- a/src/server/routes/containers.ts
+++ b/src/server/routes/containers.ts
@@ -787,6 +787,46 @@ function getInspectWorkingDir(inspect: unknown) {
   return null;
 }
 
+export function getProjectEnvRuntimeCandidatePaths(
+  inspect: unknown,
+  mounts: DockerInspectMount[],
+  processWorkingDirs: string[] = [],
+) {
+  const candidates = new Set<string>();
+  const workingDir = getInspectWorkingDir(inspect);
+
+  processWorkingDirs.forEach((path) => {
+    if (isUsableMountPath(path)) {
+      candidates.add(pathPosix.join(normalizeRemotePath(path), ".env"));
+    }
+  });
+
+  if (workingDir) {
+    candidates.add(pathPosix.join(normalizeRemotePath(workingDir), ".env"));
+  }
+
+  mounts.forEach((mount) => {
+    if (isUsableMountPath(mount.Destination)) {
+      candidates.add(
+        pathPosix.join(normalizeRemotePath(mount.Destination!), ".env"),
+      );
+    }
+  });
+
+  [
+    "/app",
+    "/workspace",
+    "/var/www/html",
+    "/bitnami/laravel",
+    "/laravel/laravel",
+    "/srv/app",
+  ].forEach((path) => {
+    candidates.add(pathPosix.join(path, ".env"));
+  });
+
+  return Array.from(candidates).slice(0, 12);
+}
+
 function redactSecret(message: string, secret?: string | null) {
   if (!secret) return message;
   return message.split(secret).join("[REDACTED]");
@@ -1967,8 +2007,9 @@ export async function containerRoutes(app: FastifyInstance) {
       const runtimeId = container.dockerId || container.name;
 
       try {
-        const containerCandidatePaths = new Set<string>();
+        const checkedContainerPaths: string[] = [];
         let inspect: unknown = null;
+        const processWorkingDirs: string[] = [];
         let projectMounts = parseStoredVolumeMounts(container.volumes);
 
         try {
@@ -1977,27 +2018,57 @@ export async function containerRoutes(app: FastifyInstance) {
           // Keep stored deployment candidates and common fallback paths.
         }
 
-        if (inspect) {
-          projectMounts = [...getInspectMounts(inspect), ...projectMounts];
-          const workingDir = getInspectWorkingDir(inspect);
-          if (workingDir) {
-            containerCandidatePaths.add(pathPosix.join(workingDir, ".env"));
+        if (container.status === "RUNNING") {
+          const mainProcessWorkingDir =
+            await ssh.getContainerMainProcessWorkingDirectory(
+              container.server,
+              runtimeId,
+            );
+
+          if (mainProcessWorkingDir) {
+            processWorkingDirs.push(mainProcessWorkingDir);
           }
         }
 
-        projectMounts.forEach((mount) => {
-          if (isUsableMountPath(mount.Destination)) {
-            containerCandidatePaths.add(
-              pathPosix.join(normalizeRemotePath(mount.Destination!), ".env"),
-            );
+        if (inspect) {
+          projectMounts = [...getInspectMounts(inspect), ...projectMounts];
+        }
+
+        const containerCandidatePaths = getProjectEnvRuntimeCandidatePaths(
+          inspect,
+          projectMounts,
+          processWorkingDirs,
+        );
+
+        if (container.status === "RUNNING") {
+          for (const candidatePath of containerCandidatePaths) {
+            checkedContainerPaths.push(candidatePath);
+            try {
+              const file = await ssh.readContainerFile(
+                container.server,
+                runtimeId,
+                candidatePath,
+              );
+
+              return reply.send({
+                success: true,
+                data: {
+                  found: true,
+                  path: file.path,
+                  content: file.content,
+                  checkedPaths: checkedContainerPaths,
+                  source: "container",
+                  message:
+                    "Project .env file loaded from the active container filesystem.",
+                },
+              });
+            } catch {
+              // Try the next runtime project path.
+            }
           }
-        });
+        }
 
-        containerCandidatePaths.add("/app/.env");
-        containerCandidatePaths.add("/workspace/.env");
-        containerCandidatePaths.add("/var/www/html/.env");
-
-        const mountCandidatePaths = Array.from(containerCandidatePaths)
+        const mountCandidatePaths = containerCandidatePaths
           .map((path) =>
             resolveContainerPathToHostMountPath(path, projectMounts),
           )
@@ -2020,46 +2091,11 @@ export async function containerRoutes(app: FastifyInstance) {
           });
         }
 
-        const checkedContainerPaths: string[] = [];
-        if (container.status === "RUNNING") {
-          for (const candidatePath of containerCandidatePaths) {
-            checkedContainerPaths.push(candidatePath);
-            try {
-              const file = await ssh.readContainerFile(
-                container.server,
-                runtimeId,
-                candidatePath,
-              );
-
-              return reply.send({
-                success: true,
-                data: {
-                  found: true,
-                  path: file.path,
-                  content: file.content,
-                  checkedPaths: [
-                    ...data.checkedPaths,
-                    ...checkedContainerPaths,
-                  ],
-                  source: "container",
-                  message:
-                    "Project .env file loaded from container filesystem.",
-                },
-              });
-            } catch {
-              // Try the next common app path.
-            }
-          }
-        }
-
         return reply.send({
           success: true,
           data: {
             ...data,
-            checkedPaths: [
-              ...data.checkedPaths,
-              ...checkedContainerPaths,
-            ],
+            checkedPaths: [...data.checkedPaths, ...checkedContainerPaths],
             source: "missing",
             message:
               "No project .env file was found at the checked deployment, mounted project, or container paths.",
diff --git a/src/server/services/ssh-services/docker-containers.ts b/src/server/services/ssh-services/docker-containers.ts
index 9635c91..f26d2ce 100644
--- a/src/server/services/ssh-services/docker-containers.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/ssh-services/docker-containers.ts
@@ -1140,6 +1140,35 @@ export async function listContainerFiles(
   };
 }
 
+export async function getContainerMainProcessWorkingDirectory(
+  server: Server,
+  containerId: string,
+): Promise<string | null> {
+  const script = [
+    'CWD=$(readlink -f /proc/1/cwd 2>/dev/null || true)',
+    'if [ -z "$CWD" ] || [ ! -d "$CWD" ]; then exit 0; fi',
+    'CWD_B64=$(printf "%s" "$CWD" | base64 | tr -d "\\n")',
+    'printf "__CWD__\t%s\n" "$CWD_B64"',
+  ].join("\n");
+
+  try {
+    const stdout = await execContainerShell(
+      server,
+      containerId,
+      script,
+      DOCKER_FILE_LIST_TIMEOUT_MS,
+    );
+    const line = stdout
+      .split("\n")
+      .find((entry) => entry.startsWith("__CWD__\t"));
+    const encodedPath = line?.split("\t")[1];
+
+    return encodedPath ? decodeBase64Value(encodedPath) : null;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 export async function readContainerFile(
   server: Server,
   containerId: string,
diff --git a/tests/backend/container-metrics-cache.test.ts b/tests/backend/container-metrics-cache.test.ts
index de7286a..2eb9391 100644
--- a/tests/backend/container-metrics-cache.test.ts
+++ b/tests/backend/container-metrics-cache.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import test from "node:test";
 
 import {
   clearContainerMetricsCacheForTest,
+  getProjectEnvRuntimeCandidatePaths,
   invalidateContainerMetricsCache,
   parseStoredVolumeMounts,
   readContainerMetricsWithCache,
@@ -174,3 +175,42 @@ test("project env path resolver can use stored container volume bindings", () =>
   );
   assert.equal(mounts[0]?.Destination, "/bitnami/laravel");
 });
+
+test("project env runtime candidates prefer inspect paths before common fallbacks", () => {
+  const mounts = parseStoredVolumeMounts([
+    "/srv/project:/runtime/project",
+  ]);
+  const paths = getProjectEnvRuntimeCandidatePaths(
+    {
+      Config: {
+        WorkingDir: "/runtime/project",
+      },
+    },
+    mounts,
+  );
+
+  assert.deepEqual(paths.slice(0, 4), [
+    "/runtime/project/.env",
+    "/app/.env",
+    "/workspace/.env",
+    "/var/www/html/.env",
+  ]);
+});
+
+test("project env runtime candidates prefer the main process working directory", () => {
+  const paths = getProjectEnvRuntimeCandidatePaths(
+    {
+      Config: {
+        WorkingDir: "/image/default",
+      },
+    },
+    [],
+    ["/app"],
+  );
+
+  assert.deepEqual(paths.slice(0, 3), [
+    "/app/.env",
+    "/image/default/.env",
+    "/workspace/.env",
+  ]);
+});