diff --git a/src/llm_openai.c b/src/llm_openai.c
index fe18de3..84d896d 100644
--- a/src/llm_openai.c
+++ b/src/llm_openai.c
@@ -22,6 +22,45 @@
 #define ERRBODY_MAX 4096
 #define LLM_MAX_RETRIES 3
 
+/* Point libcurl at a CA bundle on Windows.
+ *
+ * An OpenSSL-based libcurl keeps the path it was built with -- MSYS2's is
+ * "/mingw64/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt", which resolves to nothing once the
+ * binary runs outside an MSYS2 shell, and that build ignores CURL_CA_BUNDLE.
+ * Every HTTPS request then dies with CURLE_SSL_CACERT_BADFILE (77).
+ *
+ * Order: $CST_CA_BUNDLE, then ca-bundle.crt beside the executable. If neither
+ * exists nothing is set, so a libcurl linked against Schannel (the Windows
+ * certificate store) behaves exactly as before. */
+static void llm_apply_ca_bundle(CURL *curl) {
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+  static char ca[OS_PATH_MAX];
+  static int checked;
+  if (!checked) {
+    checked = 1;
+    const char *env = getenv("CST_CA_BUNDLE");
+    if (env && env[0]) {
+      snprintf(ca, sizeof(ca), "%s", env);
+    } else {
+      char dir[OS_PATH_MAX];
+      if (os_exe_dir(dir, sizeof(dir)) == 0)
+        os_path_join(ca, sizeof(ca), dir, "ca-bundle.crt");
+    }
+    if (ca[0]) {
+      FILE *f = fopen(ca, "rb");
+      if (f)
+        fclose(f);
+      else
+        ca[0] = '\0';
+    }
+  }
+  if (ca[0])
+    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CAINFO, ca);
+#else
+  (void)curl;
+#endif
+}
+
 /* --- wire body ----------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 static size_t wire_tool_cap(const cst_llm_request_t *req) {
@@ -621,6 +660,7 @@ int cst_llm_chat_stream(const cst_llm_request_t *req, char *err,
       ret = -1;
       break;
     }
+    llm_apply_ca_bundle(curl);
     sse_reset(&s);
     s.curl = curl;
     if (rec_dir && rec_dir[0]) {
@@ -765,10 +805,11 @@ int cst_llm_list_models(const char *api_base, const char *api_key,
   }
   CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
   if (!curl) {
-    snprintf(err, err_sz, "curl init failed");
-    return -1;
-  }
-  char url[1024];
+      snprintf(err, err_sz, "curl init failed");
+      return -1;
+    }
+    llm_apply_ca_bundle(curl);
+    char url[1024];
   size_t bl = strlen(api_base);
   while (bl && api_base[bl - 1] == '/')
     bl--;