diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index cf70988..7b7127c 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 **/node_modules
+.env
diff --git a/ingester.dockerfile b/ingester.dockerfile
index a0b524a..ecbc5d6 100644
--- a/ingester.dockerfile
+++ b/ingester.dockerfile
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ WORKDIR /app
 # Copy ingester files
 COPY ingesters ./ingesters
 
-# Copy .env file for configuration
-COPY .env ./.env
 
 # Copy ingester files generated from python
 COPY python/src/scripts/summarizer/generated ./python/src/scripts/summarizer/generated
diff --git a/ingesters/src/config/settings.ts b/ingesters/src/config/settings.ts
index 96a5aec..9d04d6f 100644
--- a/ingesters/src/config/settings.ts
+++ b/ingesters/src/config/settings.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 import { type VectorStoreConfig } from '../types';
 import dotenv from 'dotenv';
 import { getRepoPath } from '../utils/paths';
+import { existsSync } from 'fs';
 
-dotenv.config({ path: getRepoPath('.env') });
+// Load .env from repo root if present; otherwise rely on runtime env vars.
+const envPath = getRepoPath('.env');
+if (existsSync(envPath)) {
+  dotenv.config({ path: envPath });
+} else {
+  dotenv.config();
+}
 
 // API Keys from environment variables only
 export const getOpenaiApiKey = () => process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
diff --git a/ingesters/src/utils/paths.ts b/ingesters/src/utils/paths.ts
index 5ac591d..0d8212f 100644
--- a/ingesters/src/utils/paths.ts
+++ b/ingesters/src/utils/paths.ts
@@ -2,18 +2,16 @@ import path from 'path';
 import { existsSync } from 'fs';
 
 /**
- * Find the repository root by looking for .git directory
+ * Find the repository root by looking for package.json and going up the directory tree
  */
 function findRepoRoot(): string {
   let currentDir = import.meta.dir; // Bun's way to get current directory
 
-  // Walk up the directory tree looking for .env
+  // Walk up the directory tree looking for package.json
   while (currentDir !== '/') {
-    if (
-      existsSync(path.join(currentDir, '.env')) ||
-      existsSync(path.join(currentDir, '.git'))
-    ) {
-      return currentDir;
+    if (existsSync(path.join(currentDir, 'package.json'))) {
+      // Go one level up from the package.json location
+      return path.dirname(currentDir);
     }
     currentDir = path.dirname(currentDir);
   }