diff --git a/app/api/files/[...key]/route.ts b/app/api/files/[...key]/route.ts
index de5d2ec..8f9e69d 100644
--- a/app/api/files/[...key]/route.ts
+++ b/app/api/files/[...key]/route.ts
@@ -45,25 +45,23 @@ export async function GET(
     return new NextResponse("Forbidden", { status: 403 });
   }
 
-  // ── Hetzner first, local disk fallback ───────────────────────────────────
-  // Check object storage first (all new uploads go there directly; migrated
-  // files live there too). Each try/catch is isolated so a Hetzner error
-  // never prevents local files from being served.
-  try {
-    if (await hetznerKeyExists(relativePath)) {
-      const hetznerUrl = await generateHetznerStreamUrl(relativePath, 3600);
-      return NextResponse.redirect(hetznerUrl, 302);
-    }
-  } catch {
-    // Hetzner unavailable or misconfigured — fall through to local disk
-  }
-
-  // Local disk fallback (unmigrated files, or if Hetzner is unreachable)
+  // ── Local disk first, Hetzner fallback ───────────────────────────────────
+  // Serve from local disk if the file exists there (covers unmigrated files).
+  // If not found locally, redirect to Hetzner object storage.
+  // Note: "Hetzner first" was attempted but caused 400s from Hetzner on
+  // presigned URLs — likely a bucket policy/CORS issue to investigate
+  // separately before re-enabling that path.
   let stat: fs.Stats;
   try {
     stat = fs.statSync(filePath);
   } catch {
-    return new NextResponse("Not found", { status: 404 });
+    // Not on local disk — try Hetzner
+    try {
+      const hetznerUrl = await generateHetznerStreamUrl(relativePath, 3600);
+      return NextResponse.redirect(hetznerUrl, 302);
+    } catch {
+      return new NextResponse("Not found", { status: 404 });
+    }
   }
 
   // Guard against directory traversal that resolves to a directory