diff --git a/pipeline/tasks/phases/evaluate.yaml b/pipeline/tasks/phases/evaluate.yaml
index a50eff96..827346c0 100644
--- a/pipeline/tasks/phases/evaluate.yaml
+++ b/pipeline/tasks/phases/evaluate.yaml
@@ -1661,22 +1661,13 @@ spec:
         - secretRef:
             name: $(params.openshell-oidc-secret)
             optional: true
-        - secretRef:
-            name: inference
-            optional: false
       env:
         - name: HOME
           value: /tmp/openshell-home
         - name: INFERENCE_API_KEY
-          valueFrom:
-            secretKeyRef:
-              name: inference
-              key: api_key
+          value: "$(params.llm-api-key)"
         - name: OPENAI_API_KEY
-          valueFrom:
-            secretKeyRef:
-              name: inference
-              key: api_key
+          value: "$(params.llm-api-key)"
         - name: AGENT_EVAL_RUNS_DIR
           value: $(workspaces.source.path)/reports
         - name: OPENSHELL_GATEWAY_ENDPOINT
diff --git a/tests/test_openshell_pipeline_profile.py b/tests/test_openshell_pipeline_profile.py
index f2a6f9ef..b44f222e 100644
--- a/tests/test_openshell_pipeline_profile.py
+++ b/tests/test_openshell_pipeline_profile.py
@@ -61,6 +61,25 @@ def test_evaluate_openshell_step_logs_mlflow(self):
         assert uri_note in openshell
         assert openshell.find(uri_note) < openshell.find("scripts/run_aeh.py")
 
+    def test_openshell_eval_uses_llm_param_instead_of_inference_secret(self):
+        task = _load(REPO / "pipeline" / "tasks" / "phases" / "evaluate.yaml")
+        openshell = next(step for step in task["spec"]["steps"] if step["name"] == "aeh-openshell-eval")
+
+        env_from_secret_names = {
+            source["secretRef"]["name"] for source in openshell.get("envFrom", []) if "secretRef" in source
+        }
+        env_secret_names = {
+            env["valueFrom"]["secretKeyRef"]["name"]
+            for env in openshell.get("env", [])
+            if "secretKeyRef" in env.get("valueFrom", {})
+        }
+        assert "inference" not in env_from_secret_names | env_secret_names
+
+        for name in ("INFERENCE_API_KEY", "OPENAI_API_KEY"):
+            env = next(item for item in openshell["env"] if item["name"] == name)
+            assert env["value"] == "$(params.llm-api-key)"
+            assert "valueFrom" not in env
+
     def test_harbor_profiles_still_include_test(self):
         for path in (CI, CI_DEV):
             names = _task_names(_load(path)["spec"])