feat: add support for loading environment variables from a .env file in settings

config/settings.py

@@ -17,6 +17,16 @@ from pathlib import Path
 # Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
 BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 
+# Load environment variables from .env file if it exists
+env_path = BASE_DIR / '.env'
+if env_path.exists():
+    with open(env_path) as f:
+        for line in f:
+            line = line.strip()
+            if line and not line.startswith('#') and '=' in line:
+                k, v = line.split('=', 1)
+                os.environ.setdefault(k.strip(), v.strip())
+
 
 # Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/6.1/howto/deployment/checklist/