diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/ApiCall.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/ApiCall.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0eb216b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/ApiCall.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package com.plainstudio.stackcasino.data
+
+import android.util.Log
+
+/**
+ * Runs a remote [block] behind the two guards every API-backed
+ * repository shares:
+ *
+ *   1. A blank credential short-circuits to a failed [Result] without
+ *      touching the network, logging [blankKeyMessage] under [tag].
+ *   2. Any exception thrown by [block] is folded into [Result.failure]
+ *      and logged under [tag] with its full stack trace, so a developer
+ *      reading logcat can tell a bad key from a network error at a
+ *      glance instead of seeing only the UI's generic failure copy.
+ *
+ * The function is `inline` so [block] can call suspend functions from
+ * the calling repository's own suspend context.
+ */
+internal inline fun <T> guardedApiCall(
+    apiKey: String,
+    tag: String,
+    blankKeyMessage: String,
+    failureMessage: String,
+    block: () -> T,
+): Result<T> {
+    if (apiKey.isBlank()) {
+        Log.w(tag, blankKeyMessage)
+        return Result.failure(IllegalStateException(blankKeyMessage))
+    }
+    return runCatching(block).onFailure { throwable ->
+        Log.w(tag, failureMessage, throwable)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/assistant/GeminiAssistantRepository.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/assistant/GeminiAssistantRepository.kt
index cd4b650..eef2f3a 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/assistant/GeminiAssistantRepository.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/assistant/GeminiAssistantRepository.kt
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package com.plainstudio.stackcasino.data.assistant
 
-import android.util.Log
 import com.google.ai.client.generativeai.GenerativeModel
 import com.google.ai.client.generativeai.type.Content
 import com.google.ai.client.generativeai.type.content
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.BuildConfig
+import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.data.guardedApiCall
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.domain.assistant.AssistantRepository
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.domain.assistant.ChatTurn
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.domain.assistant.Role
@@ -35,20 +35,18 @@ class GeminiAssistantRepository
         override suspend fun sendMessage(
             history: List<ChatTurn>,
             userMessage: String,
-        ): Result<String> {
-            if (BuildConfig.GEMINI_API_KEY.isBlank()) {
-                Log.w(TAG, "GEMINI_API_KEY is empty; aborting before hitting the SDK.")
-                return Result.failure(IllegalStateException("GEMINI_API_KEY missing"))
-            }
-            return runCatching {
+        ): Result<String> =
+            guardedApiCall(
+                apiKey = BuildConfig.GEMINI_API_KEY,
+                tag = TAG,
+                blankKeyMessage = "GEMINI_API_KEY is blank; skipping the Gemini call.",
+                failureMessage = "Nep request failed",
+            ) {
                 val chat = model.startChat(history = history.toGeminiHistory())
                 val response = chat.sendMessage(userMessage)
                 response.text?.takeIf { it.isNotBlank() }
                     ?: error("Gemini returned an empty response.")
-            }.onFailure { throwable ->
-                Log.w(TAG, "Nep request failed", throwable)
             }
-        }
 
         private fun List<ChatTurn>.toGeminiHistory(): List<Content> =
             map { turn ->
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/news/NewsRepositoryImpl.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/news/NewsRepositoryImpl.kt
index 82a2629..403bc9c 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/news/NewsRepositoryImpl.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/plainstudio/stackcasino/data/news/NewsRepositoryImpl.kt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package com.plainstudio.stackcasino.data.news
 
-import android.util.Log
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.BuildConfig
+import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.data.guardedApiCall
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.domain.news.NewsArticle
 import com.plainstudio.stackcasino.domain.news.NewsRepository
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap
@@ -29,12 +29,13 @@ class NewsRepositoryImpl
     ) : NewsRepository {
         private val cache = ConcurrentHashMap<String, NewsArticle>()
 
-        override suspend fun refresh(): Result<List<NewsArticle>> {
-            if (BuildConfig.NEWSAPI_KEY.isBlank()) {
-                Log.w(TAG, "NEWSAPI_KEY is empty; refusing to hit NewsAPI.")
-                return Result.failure(IllegalStateException("NEWSAPI_KEY missing"))
-            }
-            return runCatching {
+        override suspend fun refresh(): Result<List<NewsArticle>> =
+            guardedApiCall(
+                apiKey = BuildConfig.NEWSAPI_KEY,
+                tag = TAG,
+                blankKeyMessage = "NEWSAPI_KEY is blank; skipping the NewsAPI call.",
+                failureMessage = "NewsAPI refresh failed",
+            ) {
                 val response = service.fetchEverything(query = NEWSAPI_CASINO_QUERY)
                 if (response.status != "ok") {
                     error("NewsAPI returned ${response.status}: ${response.code} ${response.message}")
@@ -43,10 +44,7 @@ class NewsRepositoryImpl
             }.onSuccess { articles ->
                 cache.clear()
                 articles.forEach { cache[it.id] = it }
-            }.onFailure { throwable ->
-                Log.w(TAG, "NewsAPI refresh failed", throwable)
             }
-        }
 
         override fun findById(id: String): NewsArticle? = cache[id]