diff --git a/backend/.environment b/backend/.environment
index ee8b761..eff3b86 100644
--- a/backend/.environment
+++ b/backend/.environment
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 export BASE_URL=$(echo $PLATFORM_ROUTES | base64 -d | jq -r 'to_entries[] | select(.value.id == "backend") | .key' | sed 's:/*$::')
+export GITHUB_BRANCH=$(echo $PLATFORM_BRANCH)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/region.routes.ts b/backend/src/routes/region.routes.ts
index 03507db..c6cb421 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/region.routes.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/region.routes.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   HostRegionsList
 } from '../schemas/region.schema.js';
 import { HeaderAcceptSchema, ErrorDetailsSchema } from '../schemas/api.schema.js';
-import { withSelfLinkArray } from '../utils/api.schema.js';
+import { withSelfLink } from '../utils/api.schema.js';
 
 const TAG = 'Regions';
 const PATH = '/regions';
@@ -76,14 +76,14 @@ regionRouter.route({
       const safeZone = zone ? escapeHtml(zone) : undefined;
       const safeCountryCode = country_code ? escapeHtml(country_code) : undefined;
 
-      // Get regions list
-      let regions = await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json');
+      // Get regions record
+      let regionsRecord: Record<string, any> = await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json');
 
       // Apply filters
       if (name) {
-        const region = regions.find((r: any) => r.name === name);
-        if (!region) {
-          const availableRegions = regions.map((r: any) => r.name);
+        const entry = Object.entries(regionsRecord).find(([, r]) => r.name === name);
+        if (!entry) {
+          const availableRegions = Object.values(regionsRecord).map((r: any) => r.name);
           apiLogger.warn({ region: safeName }, 'Region not found');
           return sendErrorFormatted(res, {
             title: `Region '${safeName}' not found`,
@@ -95,12 +95,12 @@ regionRouter.route({
       }
 
       if (provider) {
-        regions = regions.filter(
-          (r: any) => r.provider?.name?.toLowerCase() === provider.toLowerCase()
+        const filtered = Object.fromEntries(
+          Object.entries(regionsRecord).filter(([, r]) => r.provider?.name?.toLowerCase() === provider.toLowerCase())
         );
-        if (regions.length === 0) {
+        if (Object.keys(filtered).length === 0) {
           const availableProviders = [...new Set(
-            (await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json'))
+            Object.values(regionsRecord)
               .map((r: any) => r.provider?.name)
               .filter(Boolean)
           )];
@@ -112,15 +112,16 @@ regionRouter.route({
             extra: { availableProviders }
           });
         }
+        regionsRecord = filtered;
       }
 
       if (zone) {
-        regions = regions.filter(
-          (r: any) => r.zone && r.zone.toLowerCase() === zone.toLowerCase()
+        const filtered = Object.fromEntries(
+          Object.entries(regionsRecord).filter(([, r]) => r.zone && r.zone.toLowerCase() === zone.toLowerCase())
         );
-        if (regions.length === 0) {
+        if (Object.keys(filtered).length === 0) {
           const availableZones = [...new Set(
-            (await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json'))
+            Object.values(regionsRecord)
               .map((r: any) => r.zone)
               .filter((z: string) => z)
           )];
@@ -132,15 +133,16 @@ regionRouter.route({
             extra: { availableZones }
           });
         }
+        regionsRecord = filtered;
       }
 
       if (country_code) {
-        regions = regions.filter(
-          (r: any) => r.country_code?.toLowerCase() === country_code.toLowerCase()
+        const filtered = Object.fromEntries(
+          Object.entries(regionsRecord).filter(([, r]) => r.country_code?.toLowerCase() === country_code.toLowerCase())
         );
-        if (regions.length === 0) {
+        if (Object.keys(filtered).length === 0) {
           const availableCountryCodes = [...new Set(
-            (await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json'))
+            Object.values(regionsRecord)
               .map((r: any) => r.country_code)
               .filter(Boolean)
           )];
@@ -152,12 +154,13 @@ regionRouter.route({
             extra: { availableCountryCodes }
           });
         }
+        regionsRecord = filtered;
       }
 
-      // Return list
-      const regionSafe = HostRegionsListSchema.parse(regions);
+      // Return record with self links
+      const parsed = HostRegionsListSchema.parse(regionsRecord);
       const baseUrl = `${config.server.BASE_URL}`;
-      const regionsWithLinks = withSelfLinkArray(regionSafe, (id) => `${baseUrl}${PATH}/${encodeURIComponent(id)}`);
+      const regionsWithLinks = withSelfLink(parsed, (id) => `${baseUrl}${PATH}/${encodeURIComponent(id)}`);
 
       sendFormatted<HostRegionsList>(res, regionsWithLinks);
 
@@ -204,14 +207,14 @@ regionRouter.route({
       const { id } = req.params as { id: string };
       const safeId = escapeHtml(id);
 
-      // Get regions list
-      let regions = await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json');
+      // Get regions record and look up by key
+      const regionsRecord = await resourceManager.getResource('host/regions.json');
 
       // Apply filters
       if (id) {
-        const region = regions.find((r: any) => r.id === id);
+        const region = regionsRecord[id] ?? Object.values(regionsRecord).find((r: any) => r.id === id);
         if (!region) {
-          const availableRegions = regions.map((r: any) => r.id);
+          const availableRegions = Object.keys(regionsRecord);
           apiLogger.warn({ region: safeId }, 'Region not found');
           return sendErrorFormatted(res, {
             title: `Region '${safeId}' not found`,
diff --git a/backend/src/schemas/region.schema.ts b/backend/src/schemas/region.schema.ts
index 93090a2..71d1bd2 100644
--- a/backend/src/schemas/region.schema.ts
+++ b/backend/src/schemas/region.schema.ts
@@ -128,11 +128,23 @@ export const HostRegionSchema = z.object({
   description: 'Detailed host region metadata mirrored from resources/host/regions.json',
 });
 
-export const HostRegionsListSchema = z.array(HostRegionSchema.omit({ private: true, note: true, datacenter: true }))
-  .openapi('HostRegionList', {
-    description: 'Complete list of host region metadata entries'
+export const HostRegionListItemSchema = HostRegionSchema.omit({ private: true, note: true, datacenter: true })
+  .openapi('HostRegionListItem', {
+    description: 'Region metadata entry without internal fields'
   });
 
+// export const HostRegionsListSchema = z.array(HostRegionListItemSchema)
+//   .openapi('HostRegionList', {
+//     description: 'Complete list of host region metadata entries'
+//   });
+
+export const HostRegionsListSchema = z.record(
+  z.string(),
+  HostRegionSchema
+).openapi('HostRegionsFile', {
+  description: 'Raw regions.json file structure: a record of region ID to full region object'
+});
+
 const providerFilterValues = ['AWS', 'Azure', 'Google', 'OVH', 'none'] as const;
 const zoneFilterValues = ['Australia', 'Europe', 'North America'] as const;
 const countryCodeFilterValues = ['AU', 'CA', 'CH', 'DE', 'FR', 'GB', 'IE', 'SE', 'US', 'none'] as const;
diff --git a/resources/host/regions.json b/resources/host/regions.json
index e40dec5..b00fc63 100644
--- a/resources/host/regions.json
+++ b/resources/host/regions.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-[
-  {
+{
+  "au": {
     "id": "au",
     "label": "Australia (au)",
     "name": "au.platform.sh",
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "au-2": {
     "id": "au-2",
     "label": "Australia (au-2)",
     "name": "au-2.platform.sh",
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "ca-1": {
     "id": "ca-1",
     "label": "Canada (ca-1)",
     "name": "ca-1.platform.sh",
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@
     "update_date": "2025-10-09T16:18:04.260Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "ch-1": {
     "id": "ch-1",
     "label": "Switzerland (ch-1)",
     "name": "ch-1.platform.sh",
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "de-2": {
     "id": "de-2",
     "label": "Germany (de-2)",
     "name": "de-2.platform.sh",
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "eu": {
     "id": "eu",
     "label": "Europe - Ireland (eu)",
     "name": "eu.platform.sh",
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "eu-5": {
     "id": "eu-5",
     "label": "Europe - Sweden (eu-5)",
     "name": "eu-5.platform.sh",
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "fr-3": {
     "id": "fr-3",
     "label": "France (fr-3)",
     "name": "fr-3.platform.sh",
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "fr-4": {
     "id": "fr-4",
     "label": "France (fr-4)",
     "name": "fr-4.platform.sh",
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "uk-1": {
     "id": "uk-1",
     "label": "United Kingdom (uk-1)",
     "name": "uk-1.platform.sh",
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "us": {
     "id": "us",
     "label": "United States - East (us)",
     "name": "us.platform.sh",
@@ -458,7 +458,7 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "us-2": {
     "id": "us-2",
     "label": "United States - East (us-2)",
     "name": "us-2.platform.sh",
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@
     "update_date": "2025-08-09T07:05:33.080Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "us-3": {
     "id": "us-3",
     "label": "United States - West (us-3)",
     "name": "us-3.platform.sh",
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@
     "update_date": "2025-10-09T16:15:09.555Z",
     "eol_date": null
   },
-  {
+  "us-4": {
     "id": "us-4",
     "label": "United States - East (us-4)",
     "name": "us-4.platform.sh",
@@ -584,4 +584,4 @@
     "update_date": "2024-10-21T16:09:17.273Z",
     "eol_date": null
   }
-]
+}