diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml
index cedf04a40d6..0044c2f2b88 100644
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ body:
         <!-- Include the commands (e.g., curl) and their full output, screenshots, or a screen recording demonstrating that the bug happens
              The proof must be completely e2e with no mocks, against a live proxy you ran yourself (e.g., litellm --config config.yaml --detailed_debug on localhost:4000), hitting real LLM provider APIs and costing real $ where the bug involves a provider call. `pytest` commands are not enough
              Show exactly what the end user sees or does, matching the User Flow above step for step
-             Start with the config.yaml (or SDK setup) and any env vars the proxy ran with, then the exact version or commit hash the proof was captured at, so a maintainer can stand up the same proxy before running your commands. Give env var names with their values redacted, and never paste a real API key, virtual key, or other secret, here or anywhere else in the issue
+             Start with the config.yaml (or SDK setup) and any env vars the proxy ran with, then the exact version or commit hash the proof was captured at, so a maintainer can stand up the same proxy before running your commands. Keep the real values for env vars that aren't sensitive, they are often the reason the bug happens, and redact only the secrets: never paste a real API key, virtual key, database URL, or other credential, here or anywhere else in the issue
              If the bug applies to more than one of the LLM endpoints (/v1/responses, /v1/chat/completions, /v1/messages), include proof for every one of them, not just one
              For UI bugs: include screenshots and the page URLs you were on. Scrub keys and tokens out of screenshots too, they show up in headers, request panels, and the Admin UI -->