diff --git a/cloudbuild.yaml b/cloudbuild.yaml
index 809f6379..ef203c62 100644
--- a/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ steps:
       '--max-instances', '4',
       '--memory', '256M',
       '--cpu', '1',
-      '--update-secrets', '/app/.env=mle_django_settings:latest'
+      '--update-secrets', '/app/envs/.env=mle_django_settings:latest'
   ]
 
 images:
diff --git a/config/settings/base.py b/config/settings/base.py
index 333b6c46..15060cec 100644
--- a/config/settings/base.py
+++ b/config/settings/base.py
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@
 ROOT_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve(strict=True).parent.parent.parent
 # pepfar_mle/
 APPS_DIR = ROOT_DIR / "pepfar_mle"
+ENVS_DIR = ROOT_DIR / "envs"
+ENV_PATH = os.path.join(ENVS_DIR, ".env")
+
 env = environ.Env()
+env.read_env(ENV_PATH)
 
 if os.environ.get("GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT", None):
     project_id = os.environ.get("GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT")
diff --git a/envs/.gitkeep b/envs/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b