diff --git a/frontend/api_client.py b/frontend/api_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87cdb3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/api_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# api_client.py - httpx async
+
+import httpx
+from config import BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL
+
+TIMEOUT_HEALTH  = 5
+TIMEOUT_UPLOAD  = 3600
+TIMEOUT_DEFAULT = 15
+
+
+async def check_health() -> dict:
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        r = await client.get(f"{BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL}/health", timeout=TIMEOUT_HEALTH)
+        r.raise_for_status()
+        return r.json()
+
+
+async def upload_file(filename: str, data: bytes) -> dict:
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        r = await client.post(
+            f"{BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL}/upload",
+            files={"file": (filename, data)},
+            timeout=TIMEOUT_UPLOAD,
+        )
+        if r.status_code != 200:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Erreur backend ({r.status_code}) : {r.text}")
+        return r.json()
+
+
+async def get_debug(pc_id: str) -> dict:
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        r = await client.get(
+            f"{BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL}/debug/{pc_id}", timeout=TIMEOUT_DEFAULT
+        )
+        r.raise_for_status()
+        return r.json()
+
+
+async def list_pointclouds() -> list[dict]:
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        r = await client.get(f"{BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL}/list", timeout=TIMEOUT_DEFAULT)
+        r.raise_for_status()
+        data = r.json()
+        return data.get("pointclouds", []) if data else []
+
+
+async def delete_pointcloud(pc_id: str) -> dict:
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        r = await client.delete(
+            f"{BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL}/delete/{pc_id}", timeout=TIMEOUT_DEFAULT
+        )
+        r.raise_for_status()
+        return r.json()
+
+
+async def crop_pointcloud(pc_id: str, payload: dict) -> dict:
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        r = await client.post(
+            f"{BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL}/crop/{pc_id}",
+            json=payload,
+            timeout=TIMEOUT_UPLOAD,
+        )
+        if r.status_code != 200:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Erreur crop ({r.status_code}) : {r.text}")
+        return r.json()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/config.py b/frontend/config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fc9a84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import os
+ 
+BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL = os.getenv(
+    "BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL", "http://backend_entwine:8000"
+).strip().rstrip("/")
+ 
+SUPPORTED_EXTENSIONS = [".las", ".laz", ".ply", ".xyz", ".pts"]
+ 
\ No newline at end of file