diff --git a/bookwyrm/settings.py b/bookwyrm/settings.py
index 84d17f54c..653adbc6e 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/settings.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/settings.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 # pylint: disable=line-too-long
 
 env = Env()
-env.read_env()
+env.read_env("/etc/bookwyrm/config.env", recurse=False)
 DOMAIN = env("DOMAIN")
 
 with open("VERSION", encoding="utf-8") as f: