diff --git a/.env b/.env.sample
similarity index 100%
rename from .env
rename to .env.sample
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3a9963e3d61..9a569b66ceb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@
 /libpeerconnection.log
 npm-debug.log
 testem.log
+.env
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 05bcc08dcc0..5ad7d56184d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "conduit-static 0.7.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "conduit-test 0.7.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "curl 0.2.16 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "dotenv 0.8.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "env_logger 0.3.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "flate2 0.2.11 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "git2 0.3.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -252,6 +253,14 @@ dependencies = [
  "pkg-config 0.3.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dotenv"
+version = "0.8.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+dependencies = [
+ "regex 0.1.46 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "env_logger"
 version = "0.3.2"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 32aefa0b65d..20f307a8ec2 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ log = "0.3"
 env_logger = "0.3"
 rustc-serialize = "0.3"
 license-exprs = "^1.1"
+dotenv = "0.8.0"
 
 conduit = "0.7"
 conduit-conditional-get = "0.7"
diff --git a/src/bin/delete-crate.rs b/src/bin/delete-crate.rs
index 520f4dd235b..3ef72fb22b2 100644
--- a/src/bin/delete-crate.rs
+++ b/src/bin/delete-crate.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::io;
 use std::io::prelude::*;
 
-use cargo_registry::Crate;
+use cargo_registry::{Crate, env};
 
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 fn main() {
@@ -30,13 +30,6 @@ fn main() {
     }
 }
 
-fn env(s: &str) -> String {
-    match env::var(s).ok() {
-        Some(s) => s,
-        None => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
-    }
-}
-
 fn delete(tx: &postgres::Transaction) {
     let name = match env::args().nth(1) {
         None => { println!("needs a crate-name argument"); return }
diff --git a/src/bin/delete-version.rs b/src/bin/delete-version.rs
index 6434d771236..e3bb7ffba30 100644
--- a/src/bin/delete-version.rs
+++ b/src/bin/delete-version.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::io;
 use std::io::prelude::*;
 
-use cargo_registry::{Crate, Version};
+use cargo_registry::{Crate, Version, env};
 
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 fn main() {
@@ -30,13 +30,6 @@ fn main() {
     }
 }
 
-fn env(s: &str) -> String {
-    match env::var(s).ok() {
-        Some(s) => s,
-        None => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
-    }
-}
-
 fn delete(tx: &postgres::Transaction) {
     let name = match env::args().nth(1) {
         None => { println!("needs a crate-name argument"); return }
diff --git a/src/bin/migrate.rs b/src/bin/migrate.rs
index 02ea5c61da4..c873e776e06 100644
--- a/src/bin/migrate.rs
+++ b/src/bin/migrate.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::collections::HashSet;
 use migrate::Migration;
 
+use cargo_registry::env;
 use cargo_registry::krate::Crate;
 use cargo_registry::model::Model;
 
@@ -23,13 +24,6 @@ fn main() {
     } else {
         apply(conn.transaction().unwrap(), migrations).unwrap();
     }
-
-    fn env(s: &str) -> String {
-        match env::var(s).ok() {
-            Some(s) => s,
-            None => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
-        }
-    }
 }
 
 fn apply(tx: postgres::Transaction,
diff --git a/src/bin/populate.rs b/src/bin/populate.rs
index ce41a7bc159..44cc64db495 100644
--- a/src/bin/populate.rs
+++ b/src/bin/populate.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ use std::env;
 use time::Duration;
 use rand::{StdRng, Rng};
 
+use cargo_registry::env;
+
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 fn main() {
     let conn = postgres::Connection::connect(&env("DATABASE_URL")[..],
@@ -27,13 +29,6 @@ fn main() {
     }
 }
 
-fn env(s: &str) -> String {
-    match env::var(s).ok() {
-        Some(s) => s,
-        None => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
-    }
-}
-
 fn update(tx: &postgres::Transaction) -> postgres::Result<()> {
     let ids = env::args().skip(1).filter_map(|arg| {
         arg.parse::<i32>().ok()
diff --git a/src/bin/server.rs b/src/bin/server.rs
index 483d708c344..3c6ebd2c134 100644
--- a/src/bin/server.rs
+++ b/src/bin/server.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ extern crate civet;
 extern crate git2;
 extern crate env_logger;
 
+use cargo_registry::env;
 use civet::Server;
 use std::env;
 use std::fs::{self, File};
@@ -78,10 +79,3 @@ fn main() {
     let (_tx, rx) = channel::<()>();
     rx.recv().unwrap();
 }
-
-fn env(s: &str) -> String {
-    match env::var(s).ok() {
-        Some(s) => s,
-        None => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
-    }
-}
diff --git a/src/bin/update-downloads.rs b/src/bin/update-downloads.rs
index b5886b66276..a0325c62dfd 100644
--- a/src/bin/update-downloads.rs
+++ b/src/bin/update-downloads.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::time::Duration;
 
-use cargo_registry::{VersionDownload, Version, Model};
+use cargo_registry::{VersionDownload, Version, Model, env};
 
 static LIMIT: i64 = 1000;
 
@@ -31,13 +31,6 @@ fn main() {
     }
 }
 
-fn env(s: &str) -> String {
-    match env::var(s).ok() {
-        Some(s) => s,
-        None => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
-    }
-}
-
 fn update(conn: &postgres::GenericConnection) -> postgres::Result<()> {
     let mut max = 0;
     loop {
@@ -148,10 +141,10 @@ mod test {
     use postgres;
     use semver;
 
-    use cargo_registry::{Version, Crate, User, Model};
+    use cargo_registry::{Version, Crate, User, Model, env};
 
     fn conn() -> postgres::Connection {
-        postgres::Connection::connect(&::env("TEST_DATABASE_URL")[..],
+        postgres::Connection::connect(&env("TEST_DATABASE_URL")[..],
                                       postgres::SslMode::None).unwrap()
     }
 
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 093434ab022..3d01759d200 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 extern crate postgres as pg;
 extern crate rustc_serialize;
 extern crate curl;
+extern crate dotenv;
 extern crate flate2;
 extern crate git2;
 extern crate license_exprs;
@@ -188,3 +189,11 @@ pub fn now() -> time::Timespec {
 pub fn encode_time(ts: time::Timespec) -> String {
     time::at_utc(ts).rfc3339().to_string()
 }
+
+pub fn env(s: &str) -> String {
+    dotenv::dotenv().ok();
+    match ::std::env::var(s) {
+        Ok(s) => s,
+        Err(_) => panic!("must have `{}` defined", s),
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/tests/all.rs b/src/tests/all.rs
index bb07703a37a..a74cf472d8e 100755
--- a/src/tests/all.rs
+++ b/src/tests/all.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ extern crate conduit;
 extern crate conduit_middleware;
 extern crate conduit_test;
 extern crate curl;
+extern crate dotenv;
 extern crate git2;
 extern crate postgres;
 extern crate rustc_serialize;
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ mod version;
 mod team;
 
 fn app() -> (record::Bomb, Arc<App>, conduit_middleware::MiddlewareBuilder) {
+    dotenv::dotenv().ok();
     static INIT: Once = ONCE_INIT;
     git::init();