diff --git a/mpcontribs-client/mpcontribs/client/__init__.py b/mpcontribs-client/mpcontribs/client/__init__.py
index 5e83250e6..5fffdcd67 100644
--- a/mpcontribs-client/mpcontribs/client/__init__.py
+++ b/mpcontribs-client/mpcontribs/client/__init__.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
 from plotly.express._chart_types import line as line_chart
 from cachetools import cached, LRUCache
 from cachetools.keys import hashkey
+from pymatgen.core import SETTINGS
 
 RETRIES = 3
 MAX_WORKERS = 3
@@ -886,7 +887,9 @@ def __init__(
             host = os.environ.get("MPCONTRIBS_API_HOST", DEFAULT_HOST)
 
         if not apikey:
-            apikey = os.environ.get("MPCONTRIBS_API_KEY")
+            apikey = os.environ.get("MPCONTRIBS_API_KEY", SETTINGS.get("PMG_MAPI_KEY"))
+            if apikey and len(apikey) != 32:
+                raise MPContribsClientError(f"Invalid API key: {apikey}")
 
         if apikey and headers:
             apikey = None