diff --git a/server/config.py b/server/config.py
index 1a10c1b..db7a238 100644
--- a/server/config.py
+++ b/server/config.py
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
-from os import environ
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+from os import getenv
 
 
-def getenv(env, default=None):
-    envar = environ.get(env, default)
-    if envar is None:
-        raise ValueError('envvar %s is missing' % env)
-    return envar
+load_dotenv()
 
 
 DEBUG = True if getenv('FLASK_DEBUG') == 'True' else False
diff --git a/server/requirements.txt b/server/requirements.txt
index 608b84b..d124800 100644
--- a/server/requirements.txt
+++ b/server/requirements.txt
@@ -6,5 +6,6 @@ Flask-Mail==0.9.1
 itsdangerous==1.1.0
 Jinja2==2.11.1
 MarkupSafe==1.1.1
+python-dotenv==0.12.0
 six==1.14.0
 Werkzeug==1.0.1