diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e368c668..2a5666f1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,14 +37,17 @@ This is a one-time setup. The bootstrap script creates the S3 bucket (with a ran
 ```bash
 export AWS_PROFILE=<your-profile-name>
 export REGION=<your-region>
-./scripts/bootstrap.sh <your-profile-name>
+export ENVIRONMENT=dev    # or: prod
+./scripts/bootstrap.sh $ENVIRONMENT
 ```
 
+> Keep these three variables exported in your shell for the remaining steps.
+
 ### 2. Configure Terraform Variables
 
 ```bash
-cp terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example terraform/environments/<your-profile-name>.tfvars
-# Edit dev.tfvars with your desired region, etc.
+cp terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example terraform/environments/$ENVIRONMENT.tfvars
+# Edit only if you need to override defaults; region comes from $REGION.
 ```
 
 ### 3. Deploy Infrastructure
@@ -52,7 +55,7 @@ cp terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example terraform/environments/<your-profil
 This builds all Lambda packages and provisions the full AWS stack (VPC, Neptune, DynamoDB, Cognito, API Gateway, ECS, S3, CloudFront, etc.):
 
 ```bash
-./scripts/deploy-terraform.sh <your-profile-name>
+./scripts/deploy-terraform.sh $ENVIRONMENT
 ```
 
 After deployment, agent workers authenticate with Kiro CLI via device flow. Check the agent pool DynamoDB table or ECS logs for the auth URL and device code.
@@ -79,7 +82,7 @@ Create users in the Cognito User Pool. The User Pool ID is available via `terraf
 ### 6. Deploy Frontend
 
 ```bash
-./scripts/deploy-frontend.sh <your-profile-name>
+./scripts/deploy-frontend.sh $ENVIRONMENT
 ```
 
 The application is available at the CloudFront domain:
diff --git a/scripts/bootstrap.sh b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
index 1cdb4dbc..d054255e 100755
--- a/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/scripts/bootstrap.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ ENVIRONMENT=${1:-dev}
 SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
 ROOT_DIR="$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")"
 PROJECT_NAME="collaborative-ai-dlc"
-REGION="us-east-1"
+REGION="${REGION:-us-east-1}"
 
 if [[ "$ENVIRONMENT" != "dev" && "$ENVIRONMENT" != "prod" ]]; then
     echo "Usage: $0 [dev|prod]"
diff --git a/scripts/deploy-frontend.sh b/scripts/deploy-frontend.sh
index 38a9ea9e..c08d2780 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy-frontend.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy-frontend.sh
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ fi
 
 # Build frontend
 cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/../frontend"
+echo "Installing frontend dependencies..."
+npm ci
+
 echo "Building frontend..."
 npm run build
 
diff --git a/scripts/deploy-terraform.sh b/scripts/deploy-terraform.sh
index 7cc52b61..ddbef876 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy-terraform.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy-terraform.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ fi
 
 echo "Deploying environment: $ENVIRONMENT"
 
+# Pass $REGION through to Terraform's aws_region variable so the bootstrap region,
+# AWS CLI region, and provider region all stay in sync from a single env var.
+export TF_VAR_aws_region="${REGION:-us-east-1}"
+
 echo "Installing root npm dependencies..."
 (cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && npm ci)
 
diff --git a/scripts/destroy.sh b/scripts/destroy.sh
index b527d97d..4a48a0a1 100755
--- a/scripts/destroy.sh
+++ b/scripts/destroy.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ fi
 
 cd "$TF_DIR"
 
+# Match deploy-terraform.sh: derive aws_region from $REGION so destroy targets
+# the same region the stack was deployed to.
+export TF_VAR_aws_region="${REGION:-us-east-1}"
+
 # Ensure we're initialised against the right backend
 terraform init -reconfigure -backend-config="environments/${ENVIRONMENT}.s3.tfbackend"
 
diff --git a/terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example b/terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example
index 3b5e6c73..f931098d 100644
--- a/terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example
+++ b/terraform/environments/dev.tfvars.example
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 environment = "dev"
-aws_region  = "us-east-1"
+
+# aws_region is sourced from the REGION env var (via TF_VAR_aws_region in
+# deploy-terraform.sh). Uncomment below only to override that.
+# aws_region = "us-east-1"
 
 # Bedrock model pinning (for claude and opencode drivers)
 bedrock_model = "us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-6"