diff --git a/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml b/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml
index f5e454c3fcf04df38d480191dbe6136e376002e2..7ddb871503cccb0c15a25a89e3acb592860cee75 100644
--- a/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml
+++ b/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml
@@ -154,11 +154,13 @@ spec:
                 secretKeyRef:
                   name: runpod
                   key: api_key
+                  optional: true
             - name: RUNPOD_API_SUMMARY_URL
               valueFrom:
                 secretKeyRef:
                   name: runpod
                   key: summary
+                  optional: true
             - name: BLOB_STORE_ACCESS_KEY
               valueFrom:
                 secretKeyRef: