diff --git a/.claude/settings.local.json b/.claude/settings.local.json
index 5dc4fa2..96ddcc4 100644
--- a/.claude/settings.local.json
+++ b/.claude/settings.local.json
@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@
       "Bash(/c/Users/b.peck/.local/bin/claude mcp:*)",
       "mcp__obsidian__obsidian_update_note",
       "mcp__obsidian__obsidian_list_notes",
-      "mcp__obsidian__obsidian_read_note"
+      "mcp__obsidian__obsidian_read_note",
+      "Bash(pip install:*)",
+      "Bash(python3 -m pip install requests python-dotenv)",
+      "Bash(python3 -c \"import sys; print\\(sys.executable\\)\")",
+      "Bash(python -c \"import sys; print\\(sys.executable\\)\")"
     ]
   }
 }
diff --git a/scripts/install-hooks.sh b/scripts/install-hooks.sh
index 9a19fba..3a80a5c 100644
--- a/scripts/install-hooks.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-hooks.sh
@@ -20,10 +20,13 @@ cat > "$POST_PUSH" << 'EOF'
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # post-push hook — sync markdown files to WikiJS after every push.
 cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
-if command -v python3 &>/dev/null; then
-    python3 tools/publish_docs.py || echo "[wikijs] publish failed — run manually: python3 tools/publish_docs.py"
+PYTHON=$(command -v python3 2>/dev/null || command -v python 2>/dev/null || true)
+if [[ -z "$PYTHON" ]]; then
+    echo "[wikijs] python not found — skipping doc sync"
+elif ! "$PYTHON" -c "import requests" &>/dev/null; then
+    echo "[wikijs] requests not installed — skipping doc sync (run: $PYTHON -m pip install requests python-dotenv)"
 else
-    echo "[wikijs] python3 not found — skipping doc sync"
+    "$PYTHON" tools/publish_docs.py || echo "[wikijs] publish failed — run manually: $PYTHON tools/publish_docs.py"
 fi
 EOF
 
diff --git a/tools/publish_docs.py b/tools/publish_docs.py
index 1f9f652..25d5d39 100644
--- a/tools/publish_docs.py
+++ b/tools/publish_docs.py
@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ from dotenv import load_dotenv
 
 REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent
 
-# Load secrets from docker/.env (symlink to ~/.config/ignition-dev/secrets.env)
+# Load secrets — try docker/.env symlink first, then the canonical secrets file
 load_dotenv(REPO_ROOT / "docker" / ".env")
+load_dotenv(Path.home() / ".config" / "ignition-dev" / "secrets.env")
 
 WIKIJS_URL = os.environ.get("WIKIJS_URL", "https://wikijs.primecontrols-dev.com")
 WIKIJS_API_KEY = os.environ["WIKIJS_API_KEY"]  # loud failure if missing