diff --git a/client/components/ai/AIChat.tsx b/client/components/ai/AIChat.tsx
index 898523aa..bcc2563e 100644
--- a/client/components/ai/AIChat.tsx
+++ b/client/components/ai/AIChat.tsx
@@ -101,12 +101,22 @@ export const AIChat: React.FC<AIChatProps> = ({
     try {
       const history = messages.filter(m => m.role !== 'model' || messages.indexOf(m) > 0);
       
-      const response = await runChat(
-        content,
-        history,
-        currentPersona.systemInstruction,
-        currentPersona.tools
-      );
+      let response: string;
+      try {
+        response = await runChat(
+          content,
+          history,
+          currentPersona.systemInstruction,
+          currentPersona.tools
+        );
+      } catch (err) {
+        const errorMessage = err instanceof Error ? err.message : 'Unknown error';
+        if (errorMessage.includes('AI service not configured') || errorMessage.includes('not configured')) {
+          response = "The AI service is currently being set up. Please check back soon, or contact the administrator to configure the Gemini API key.";
+        } else {
+          throw err;
+        }
+      }
 
       const modelMessage: ChatMessageType = { 
         role: 'model', 
diff --git a/server/index.ts b/server/index.ts
index acc43283..e746ff25 100644
--- a/server/index.ts
+++ b/server/index.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import { emailService } from "./email";
 import { randomUUID, createHash, createVerify, randomBytes } from "crypto";
 import blogIndexHandler from "../api/blog/index";
 import blogSlugHandler from "../api/blog/[slug]";
+import aiChatHandler from "../api/ai/chat";
+import aiTitleHandler from "../api/ai/title";
 
 // Discord Interactions Handler
 const handleDiscordInteractions = async (
@@ -7104,5 +7106,9 @@ export function createServer() {
     return blogSlugHandler(req, res);
   });
 
+  // AI Chat API routes
+  app.post("/api/ai/chat", aiChatHandler);
+  app.post("/api/ai/title", aiTitleHandler);
+
   return app;
 }