diff --git a/server/src/config.ts b/server/src/config.ts
index 983eba22..6943af7a 100644
--- a/server/src/config.ts
+++ b/server/src/config.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { readConfigFile } from "./config-file.js";
-import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
+import { existsSync, realpathSync } from "node:fs";
+import { resolve } from "node:path";
 import { config as loadDotenv } from "dotenv";
 import { resolvePaperclipEnvPath } from "./paths.js";
 import {
@@ -27,6 +28,14 @@ if (existsSync(PAPERCLIP_ENV_FILE_PATH)) {
   loadDotenv({ path: PAPERCLIP_ENV_FILE_PATH, override: false, quiet: true });
 }
 
+const CWD_ENV_PATH = resolve(process.cwd(), ".env");
+const isSameFile = existsSync(CWD_ENV_PATH) && existsSync(PAPERCLIP_ENV_FILE_PATH)
+  ? realpathSync(CWD_ENV_PATH) === realpathSync(PAPERCLIP_ENV_FILE_PATH)
+  : CWD_ENV_PATH === PAPERCLIP_ENV_FILE_PATH;
+if (!isSameFile && existsSync(CWD_ENV_PATH)) {
+  loadDotenv({ path: CWD_ENV_PATH, override: false, quiet: true });
+}
+
 type DatabaseMode = "embedded-postgres" | "postgres";
 
 export interface Config {