diff --git a/lib/grading/grading.js b/lib/grading/grading.js
index 974f8f5..3f397a9 100644
--- a/lib/grading/grading.js
+++ b/lib/grading/grading.js
@@ -641,14 +641,21 @@ export async function gradeDetailedLLM(frontUrl, backUrl, config, extraImages =
   const apiKey = process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY;
   let detectTokens = { input: 0, output: 0 };
 
-  const togetherKey = process.env.TOGETHER_API_KEY;
+  const rawTogetherKey = process.env.TOGETHER_API_KEY;
+  const togetherKey = rawTogetherKey && rawTogetherKey.length > 20 ? rawTogetherKey : null;
   const detectOpts = togetherKey
     ? { provider: "together", togetherKey }
     : {};
   const detectModel = togetherKey ? null : "claude-sonnet-4-6";
-  const detectJobs = [detectAndCropCard(frontUrl, apiKey, detectModel, detectOpts)];
-  if (hasBack) detectJobs.push(detectAndCropCard(backUrl, apiKey, detectModel, detectOpts));
-  const [frontDetect, backDetect] = await Promise.all(detectJobs);
+  let frontDetect = { imageUrl: frontUrl, cropped: false };
+  let backDetect = hasBack ? { imageUrl: backUrl, cropped: false } : null;
+  try {
+    const detectJobs = [detectAndCropCard(frontUrl, apiKey, detectModel, detectOpts)];
+    if (hasBack) detectJobs.push(detectAndCropCard(backUrl, apiKey, detectModel, detectOpts));
+    [frontDetect, backDetect] = await Promise.all(detectJobs);
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.warn(`[grade] card detection failed, using original images: ${e.message || e}`);
+  }
 
   const frontBlock = frontDetect.cropped
     ? imageBlockFromBase64(frontDetect.base64, frontDetect.mediaType)
@@ -801,8 +808,8 @@ export async function gradeImage(imageUrl, config, extraImages = [], centeringHi
     if (config.aiGrading.mode === "llm") {
       const backImg = extraImages[0]?.imageUrl || extraImages[0] || null;
       const remainingExtras = extraImages.slice(1);
-      if (backImg && config.aiGrading.llm.provider === "claude") {
-        result = await gradeDetailedLLM(imageUrl, backImg, config, remainingExtras, centeringHint);
+      if (config.aiGrading.llm.provider === "claude") {
+        result = await gradeDetailedLLM(imageUrl, backImg || null, config, remainingExtras, centeringHint);
       }
       if (!result) {
         result = await gradeViaLLM(imageUrl, config, extraImages);