diff --git a/public/assets/images/kevin-brown.webp b/public/assets/images/kevin-brown.webp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cf918db2
Binary files /dev/null and b/public/assets/images/kevin-brown.webp differ
diff --git a/src/pages/api/social-card/__tests__/index.spec.ts b/src/pages/api/social-card/__tests__/index.spec.ts
index 2c975c42..824e6d44 100644
--- a/src/pages/api/social-card/__tests__/index.spec.ts
+++ b/src/pages/api/social-card/__tests__/index.spec.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,6 @@
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 import { GET } from '@pages/api/social-card'
-
-vi.mock('@assets/images/avatars/kevin-brown.webp', () => ({
-  default: {
-    src: '/_astro/kevin-brown.test.webp',
-    fsPath: '/virtual/assets/kevin-brown.webp',
-  },
-}))
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 
 type CollectionFixture = Array<{
   id: string
@@ -73,6 +67,10 @@ const seedCollections = () => {
 }
 
 describe('Social Card API - GET /api/social-card', () => {
+  const expectedAvatarPath = fileURLToPath(
+    new URL('../../../../assets/images/avatars/kevin-brown.webp', import.meta.url)
+  )
+
   beforeEach(() => {
     generateOpenGraphImageMock.mockReset()
     generateOpenGraphImageMock.mockResolvedValue(Buffer.from('mock-image'))
@@ -133,7 +131,7 @@ describe('Social Card API - GET /api/social-card', () => {
     expect(generateOpenGraphImageMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
       expect.objectContaining({
         logo: expect.objectContaining({
-          path: '/virtual/assets/kevin-brown.webp',
+          path: expectedAvatarPath,
         }),
       })
     )
diff --git a/src/pages/api/social-card/index.ts b/src/pages/api/social-card/index.ts
index 11c22dd1..cc63069b 100644
--- a/src/pages/api/social-card/index.ts
+++ b/src/pages/api/social-card/index.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,20 @@
 import type { APIRoute } from 'astro'
 import { getCollection } from 'astro:content'
 import { generateOpenGraphImage } from 'astro-og-canvas'
-import kevinBrownAvatar from '@assets/images/avatars/kevin-brown.webp'
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 import { buildApiErrorResponse, handleApiFunctionError } from '@pages/api/_utils/errors'
 import { createApiFunctionContext } from '@pages/api/_utils/requestContext'
 
 export const prerender = false
 
 const ROUTE = '/api/social-card'
+const AVATAR_FILE_PATH = fileURLToPath(
+  new URL('../../../assets/images/avatars/kevin-brown.webp', import.meta.url)
+)
 const DEFAULT_TITLE = 'Platform Engineering by Kevin Brown'
 const DEFAULT_DESCRIPTION =
   'Platform engineer helping teams harden delivery, modernize cloud platforms, and improve developer experience.'
 
-type ImageMetadataWithFsPath = typeof kevinBrownAvatar & {
-  fsPath?: string
-}
-
 type CollectionKey = 'articles' | 'caseStudies' | 'services' | 'downloads'
 type PaletteKey = 'articles' | 'case-studies' | 'services' | 'downloads' | 'default'
 
@@ -60,16 +59,6 @@ const gradientPalette: Record<PaletteKey, [number, number, number][]> = {
   ],
 }
 
-const getAvatarFilePath = (): string => {
-  const avatarFilePath = (kevinBrownAvatar as ImageMetadataWithFsPath).fsPath
-
-  if (!avatarFilePath) {
-    throw new Error('Kevin Brown avatar asset is missing a local file path')
-  }
-
-  return avatarFilePath
-}
-
 /** Normalize slug parameters to a consistent format */
 const normalizeSlug = (value: string | null): string => {
   if (!value) return 'home'
@@ -133,7 +122,6 @@ export const GET: APIRoute = async ({ request, clientAddress, cookies }) => {
     const slug = normalizeSlug(url.searchParams.get('slug'))
     const titleOverride = url.searchParams.get('title')
     const descriptionOverride = url.searchParams.get('description')
-    const avatarPath = getAvatarFilePath()
 
     const contentIndex = await buildContentIndex()
     const matchedEntry = contentIndex[slug]
@@ -153,7 +141,7 @@ export const GET: APIRoute = async ({ request, clientAddress, cookies }) => {
       bgGradient: gradientPalette[palette],
       padding: 80,
       logo: {
-        path: avatarPath,
+        path: AVATAR_FILE_PATH,
         size: [140, 140],
       },
       font: {