diff --git a/agent/config.py b/agent/config.py
index 892bdbf..c29d390 100644
--- a/agent/config.py
+++ b/agent/config.py
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
 
+PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent
+
 
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
     anthropic_api_key: str
@@ -7,4 +11,8 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     safedir: str = "./workspace"
     max_tokens: int = 500
 
-    model_config = {"env_file": ".env"}
+    model_config = {"env_file": PROJECT_ROOT / ".env"}
+
+
+# create singleton instance, causes validation
+settings = Settings()
diff --git a/agent/loop.py b/agent/loop.py
index b685cc5..ec56dcf 100644
--- a/agent/loop.py
+++ b/agent/loop.py
@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ import asyncio
 
 from anthropic import AsyncAnthropic
 
-from agent.config import Settings
-
-settings = Settings()
+from agent.config import settings
 
 client = AsyncAnthropic(api_key=settings.anthropic_api_key)