diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0dc92f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+GUSI_FRAMEWORK_ENCRYPTION_KEY=YourEncryptionKey
+GUSI_FRAMEWORK_DB_USER=YourDatabaseUser
+GUSI_FRAMEWORK_DB_PASSWORD=YourDatabasePassword
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8881db8..6ec03c1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Ignore .env files
+.env
+
 # Ignore .log debug files in App/Logs/Debug
 App/Logs/Debug/*.log
 
diff --git a/.htaccess b/.htaccess
index 0a29bf1..e786efa 100644
--- a/.htaccess
+++ b/.htaccess
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@
     AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
 </IfModule>
 
+<FilesMatch "^\.env$">
+    Order allow,deny
+    Deny from all
+</FilesMatch>
+
 Options -Indexes
 RewriteEngine On
 
diff --git a/App/Core/Application/App.php b/App/Core/Application/App.php
index 2c7123c..0ef1a16 100644
--- a/App/Core/Application/App.php
+++ b/App/Core/Application/App.php
@@ -46,9 +46,32 @@ public function __construct()
 	private function init()
 	{
 		$this->loadModules();
+		$this->loadEnvironmentVariables();
 		Router::getInstance()->handleRequest();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Loads environment variables from the .env file.
+	 */
+	private function loadEnvironmentVariables(){
+		if (file_exists('.env')) {
+			$envData = file_get_contents('.env');
+			$envLines = explode("\n", $envData);
+			foreach ($envLines as $line) {
+				$line = trim($line);
+				if (empty($line) || strpos($line, '#') === 0) {
+					continue;
+				}
+				$parts = explode('=', $line, 2);
+				if (count($parts) === 2) {
+					$key = trim($parts[0]);
+					$value = trim($parts[1]);
+					putenv("$key=$value");
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Loads modules from the App/Modules directory.
 	 */