diff --git a/pydatalab/pydatalab/main.py b/pydatalab/pydatalab/main.py
index c4c43989a..cde58fcc8 100644
--- a/pydatalab/pydatalab/main.py
+++ b/pydatalab/pydatalab/main.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import pathlib
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
+from dotenv import dotenv_values
 from flask import Flask, redirect, request, url_for
 from flask_compress import Compress
 from flask_cors import CORS
@@ -145,6 +146,8 @@ def create_app(
         for key in mail_settings:
             app.config[key] = mail_settings[key]
 
+    app.config.update(dotenv_values(dotenv_path=env_file))
+
     LOGGER.info("Starting app with Flask app.config: %s", app.config)
     _check_feature_flags(app)