diff --git a/ingest.py b/ingest.py
index 2a9a161..79434b3 100644
--- a/ingest.py
+++ b/ingest.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
 from langchain.document_loaders import TextLoader, PDFMinerLoader, CSVLoader
 from langchain.text_splitter import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter
 from langchain.vectorstores import Chroma
@@ -6,6 +7,8 @@ from langchain.embeddings import LlamaCppEmbeddings
 from constants import PERSIST_DIRECTORY
 from constants import CHROMA_SETTINGS
 
+load_dotenv()
+
 def main():
     llama_embeddings_model = os.environ.get('LLAMA_EMBEDDINGS_MODEL')
     persist_directory = os.environ.get('PERSIST_DIRECTORY')
@@ -30,4 +33,4 @@ def main():
     db = None
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    main()
\ No newline at end of file
+    main()