diff --git a/back-end/src/app.ts b/back-end/src/app.ts
index dee7341..899ca35 100644
--- a/back-end/src/app.ts
+++ b/back-end/src/app.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+// Load dotenv before any process.env is accessed
+import dotenv from 'dotenv';
+dotenv.config()
+
 import express from 'express';
 import db from './db';