diff --git a/apps/dashboard/next.config.js b/apps/dashboard/next.config.js
index f01c278..5fb1195 100644
--- a/apps/dashboard/next.config.js
+++ b/apps/dashboard/next.config.js
@@ -96,10 +96,6 @@ const nextConfig = {
   async rewrites() {
     const apiOrigin = (process.env.API_INTERNAL_URL ?? process.env.API_URL ?? 'http://localhost:4000').replace(/\/api\/v1\/?$/, '')
     return [
-      {
-        source: '/api/:path*',
-        destination: `${apiOrigin}/api/:path*`,
-      },
       {
         source: '/storage/:path*',
         destination: `${apiOrigin}/storage/:path*`,
diff --git a/apps/dashboard/src/app/api/v1/[...path]/route.test.ts b/apps/dashboard/src/app/api/v1/[...path]/route.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1402c30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/dashboard/src/app/api/v1/[...path]/route.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  vi.restoreAllMocks()
+  delete process.env.API_INTERNAL_URL
+  delete process.env.API_URL
+  delete process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL
+})
+
+describe('dashboard API proxy route', () => {
+  it('forwards dashboard API requests to the configured API origin', async () => {
+    process.env.API_INTERNAL_URL = 'http://api:4000/api/v1'
+    const fetchMock = vi.fn(async () => new Response(JSON.stringify({ data: { ok: true } }), {
+      status: 200,
+      headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
+    }))
+    Object.defineProperty(globalThis, 'fetch', { configurable: true, value: fetchMock })
+
+    const { GET } = await import('./route')
+    const response = await GET(
+      new Request('https://rentaldrivego.ma/dashboard/api/v1/auth/employee/me?fresh=1', {
+        headers: { cookie: 'employee_session=token-123' },
+      }),
+      { params: { path: ['auth', 'employee', 'me'] } },
+    )
+
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(new URL('http://api:4000/api/v1/auth/employee/me?fresh=1'), expect.objectContaining({
+      method: 'GET',
+      cache: 'no-store',
+      headers: expect.any(Headers),
+    }))
+    const forwardedInit = (fetchMock as any).mock.calls[0][1] as RequestInit
+    expect((forwardedInit.headers as Headers).get('cookie')).toBe('employee_session=token-123')
+    await expect(response.json()).resolves.toEqual({ data: { ok: true } })
+  })
+
+  it('rewrites upstream session cookies for the dashboard host', async () => {
+    process.env.API_URL = 'https://api.rentaldrivego.ma'
+    const headers = new Headers({ 'content-type': 'application/json' })
+    headers.append('set-cookie', 'employee_session=token-123; Path=/; Domain=api.rentaldrivego.ma; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=Lax')
+    const fetchMock = vi.fn(async () => new Response(JSON.stringify({ data: { employee: { id: 'emp_1' } } }), {
+      status: 200,
+      headers,
+    }))
+    Object.defineProperty(globalThis, 'fetch', { configurable: true, value: fetchMock })
+
+    const { POST } = await import('./route')
+    const response = await POST(
+      new Request('https://rentaldrivego.ma/dashboard/api/v1/auth/employee/login', {
+        method: 'POST',
+        headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
+        body: JSON.stringify({ email: 'owner@example.com', password: 'secret' }),
+      }),
+      { params: Promise.resolve({ path: ['auth', 'employee', 'login'] }) },
+    )
+
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(new URL('https://api.rentaldrivego.ma/api/v1/auth/employee/login'), expect.objectContaining({
+      method: 'POST',
+    }))
+    expect(response.headers.get('set-cookie')).toBe('employee_session=token-123; Path=/; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=Lax')
+  })
+
+  it('falls back to the public API origin when the internal API origin is unavailable', async () => {
+    process.env.API_INTERNAL_URL = 'http://api:4000/api/v1'
+    process.env.API_URL = 'https://api.rentaldrivego.ma'
+    const fetchMock = vi.fn()
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND api'))
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(new Response(JSON.stringify({ error: 'unauthenticated' }), {
+        status: 401,
+        headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
+      }))
+    Object.defineProperty(globalThis, 'fetch', { configurable: true, value: fetchMock })
+
+    const { GET } = await import('./route')
+    const response = await GET(
+      new Request('https://rentaldrivego.ma/dashboard/api/v1/auth/employee/me'),
+      { params: { path: ['auth', 'employee', 'me'] } },
+    )
+
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(1, new URL('http://api:4000/api/v1/auth/employee/me'), expect.any(Object))
+    expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(2, new URL('https://api.rentaldrivego.ma/api/v1/auth/employee/me'), expect.any(Object))
+    expect(response.status).toBe(401)
+    await expect(response.json()).resolves.toEqual({ error: 'unauthenticated' })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/apps/dashboard/src/app/api/v1/[...path]/route.ts b/apps/dashboard/src/app/api/v1/[...path]/route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19f2aa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/dashboard/src/app/api/v1/[...path]/route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
+
+type RouteContext = {
+  params: Promise<{ path?: string[] }> | { path?: string[] }
+}
+
+const HOP_BY_HOP_HEADERS = new Set([
+  'connection',
+  'content-encoding',
+  'content-length',
+  'host',
+  'keep-alive',
+  'proxy-authenticate',
+  'proxy-authorization',
+  'set-cookie',
+  'te',
+  'trailer',
+  'transfer-encoding',
+  'upgrade',
+])
+
+function normalizeApiOrigin(value: string): string {
+  return value.replace(/\/+$/, '').replace(/\/api(?:\/v1)?$/, '')
+}
+
+function resolveApiOrigins(): string[] {
+  return Array.from(new Set([
+    process.env.API_INTERNAL_URL,
+    process.env.API_URL,
+    process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL,
+    'http://localhost:4000',
+  ]
+    .filter((value): value is string => Boolean(value))
+    .map(normalizeApiOrigin)))
+}
+
+function rewriteCookieForDashboard(cookie: string): string {
+  return cookie
+    .replace(/;\s*Domain=[^;]*/gi, '')
+    .replace(/;\s*SameSite=None/gi, '; SameSite=Lax')
+}
+
+function getSetCookieHeaders(headers: Headers): string[] {
+  const withGetter = headers as Headers & { getSetCookie?: () => string[] }
+  if (typeof withGetter.getSetCookie === 'function') return withGetter.getSetCookie()
+
+  const cookie = headers.get('set-cookie')
+  return cookie ? [cookie] : []
+}
+
+function copyRequestHeaders(request: Request): Headers {
+  const headers = new Headers()
+  request.headers.forEach((value, key) => {
+    if (!HOP_BY_HOP_HEADERS.has(key.toLowerCase())) headers.set(key, value)
+  })
+  return headers
+}
+
+function copyResponseHeaders(upstream: Response): Headers {
+  const headers = new Headers()
+  upstream.headers.forEach((value, key) => {
+    if (!HOP_BY_HOP_HEADERS.has(key.toLowerCase())) headers.set(key, value)
+  })
+  return headers
+}
+
+async function proxyDashboardApi(request: Request, context: RouteContext) {
+  const params = await Promise.resolve(context.params)
+  const path = (params.path ?? []).map(encodeURIComponent).join('/')
+  const requestUrl = new URL(request.url)
+  const method = request.method.toUpperCase()
+  const hasBody = method !== 'GET' && method !== 'HEAD'
+  const body = hasBody ? await request.arrayBuffer() : undefined
+  const headers = copyRequestHeaders(request)
+  let lastError: unknown = null
+  let upstream: Response | null = null
+
+  for (const origin of resolveApiOrigins()) {
+    const upstreamUrl = new URL(`/api/v1/${path}${requestUrl.search}`, origin)
+    try {
+      upstream = await fetch(upstreamUrl, {
+        method,
+        headers,
+        body,
+        cache: 'no-store',
+      })
+      break
+    } catch (error) {
+      lastError = error
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (!upstream) {
+    const message = lastError instanceof Error ? lastError.message : 'API proxy request failed'
+    return NextResponse.json({ error: 'api_proxy_unavailable', message }, { status: 502 })
+  }
+
+  const response = new NextResponse(await upstream.arrayBuffer(), {
+    status: upstream.status,
+    statusText: upstream.statusText,
+    headers: copyResponseHeaders(upstream),
+  })
+
+  for (const cookie of getSetCookieHeaders(upstream.headers)) {
+    response.headers.append('set-cookie', rewriteCookieForDashboard(cookie))
+  }
+
+  return response
+}
+
+export const runtime = 'nodejs'
+export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic'
+
+export async function GET(request: Request, context: RouteContext) {
+  return proxyDashboardApi(request, context)
+}
+
+export async function POST(request: Request, context: RouteContext) {
+  return proxyDashboardApi(request, context)
+}
+
+export async function PUT(request: Request, context: RouteContext) {
+  return proxyDashboardApi(request, context)
+}
+
+export async function PATCH(request: Request, context: RouteContext) {
+  return proxyDashboardApi(request, context)
+}
+
+export async function DELETE(request: Request, context: RouteContext) {
+  return proxyDashboardApi(request, context)
+}