diff --git a/week-12/12.1 Relations/solution/src/config.js b/week-12/12.1 Relations/solution/src/config.js
index 9a8a435ece..baadd4bcea 100644
--- a/week-12/12.1 Relations/solution/src/config.js	
+++ b/week-12/12.1 Relations/solution/src/config.js	
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
-module.exports = {
+const dotenv = require('dotenv');
+dotenv.config(); // Load environment variables from a .env file if available
+
+const config = {
+  env: process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development',
   port: process.env.PORT || 3000,
   db: {
-    url: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
+    url: process.env.DATABASE_URL || 'postgres://localhost:5432/defaultdb',
   },
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
+
+// Error handling for missing critical environment variables
+if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
+  console.warn('Warning: DATABASE_URL is not set, using default local database');
+}
+
+module.exports = config;