diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index ce4e421..5a01a31 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,15 +1,20 @@
-psutil~=6.0.0
-requests~=2.32.3
-numpy<3.0.0
-torch~=2.4.0
-sentencepiece~=0.2.0
+# System Monitoring
 PyYAML~=6.0.2
+psutil~=6.0.0
 pynvml~=11.5.3
+# GUI Library
 PySide6~=6.7.2
-python-dotenv~=1.0.1
+# llama.cpp tools (external)
 safetensors~=0.4.4
+numpy<3.0.0
+torch~=2.4.0
+sentencepiece~=0.2.0
+# PyPI build
 setuptools~=74.0.0
+# HuggingFace Download/Upload
 huggingface-hub~=0.24.6
+# AutoFP8 (external)
 transformers~=4.44.2
+# Local Server
 fastapi~=0.112.2
 uvicorn~=0.30.6
diff --git a/src/AutoGGUF.py b/src/AutoGGUF.py
index af93d3f..527a5e8 100644
--- a/src/AutoGGUF.py
+++ b/src/AutoGGUF.py
@@ -2,15 +2,15 @@
 import json
 import re
 import shutil
+import urllib.request
+import urllib.error
 from datetime import datetime
 from functools import partial
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Tuple
 
-import requests
 from PySide6.QtCore import *
 from PySide6.QtGui import *
 from PySide6.QtWidgets import *
-from dotenv import load_dotenv
 
 import lora_conversion
 import presets
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def __init__(self, args: List[str]) -> None:
         self.setGeometry(100, 100, width, height)
         self.setWindowFlag(Qt.FramelessWindowHint)
 
-        load_dotenv()  # Loads the .env file
+        self.load_dotenv()  # Loads the .env file
 
         # Configuration
         self.model_dir_name = os.environ.get("AUTOGGUF_MODEL_DIR_NAME", "models")
@@ -805,6 +805,41 @@ def __init__(self, args: List[str]) -> None:
 
         self.logger.info(AUTOGGUF_INITIALIZATION_COMPLETE)
 
+    def load_dotenv(self):
+        if not os.path.isfile(".env"):
+            self.logger.warning(".env file not found.")
+            return
+
+        try:
+            with open(".env") as f:
+                for line in f:
+                    # Strip leading/trailing whitespace
+                    line = line.strip()
+
+                    # Ignore comments and empty lines
+                    if not line or line.startswith("#"):
+                        continue
+
+                    # Match key-value pairs (unquoted and quoted values)
+                    match = re.match(r"^([^=]+)=(.*)$", line)
+                    if not match:
+                        self.logger.warning(f"Could not parse line: {line}")
+                        continue
+
+                    key, value = match.groups()
+
+                    # Remove any surrounding quotes from the value
+                    if value.startswith(("'", '"')) and value.endswith(("'", '"')):
+                        value = value[1:-1]
+
+                    # Decode escape sequences
+                    value = bytes(value, "utf-8").decode("unicode_escape")
+
+                    # Set the environment variable
+                    os.environ[key.strip()] = value.strip()
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.logger.error(f"Error loading .env: {e}")
+
     def load_plugins(self) -> Dict[str, Dict[str, Any]]:
         plugins = {}
         plugin_dir = "plugins"
@@ -881,17 +916,22 @@ def apply_plugins(self) -> None:
 
     def check_for_updates(self) -> None:
         try:
-            response = requests.get(
-                "https://api.github.com/repos/leafspark/AutoGGUF/releases/latest"
-            )
-            response.raise_for_status()  # Raise an exception for bad status codes
+            url = "https://api.github.com/repos/leafspark/AutoGGUF/releases/latest"
+            req = urllib.request.Request(url)
+
+            with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as response:
+                if response.status != 200:
+                    raise urllib.error.HTTPError(
+                        url, response.status, "HTTP Error", response.headers, None
+                    )
+
+                latest_release = json.loads(response.read().decode("utf-8"))
+                latest_version = latest_release["tag_name"].replace("v", "")
 
-            latest_release = response.json()
-            latest_version = latest_release["tag_name"].replace("v", "")
+                if latest_version > AUTOGGUF_VERSION.replace("v", ""):
+                    self.prompt_for_update(latest_release)
 
-            if latest_version > AUTOGGUF_VERSION.replace("v", ""):
-                self.prompt_for_update(latest_release)
-        except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
+        except urllib.error.URLError as e:
             self.logger.warning(f"{ERROR_CHECKING_FOR_UPDATES} {e}")
 
     def prompt_for_update(self, release) -> None:
diff --git a/src/DownloadThread.py b/src/DownloadThread.py
index 2157c94..2d56fa8 100644
--- a/src/DownloadThread.py
+++ b/src/DownloadThread.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import os
+import urllib.request
+import urllib.error
 import zipfile
-
-import requests
 from PySide6.QtCore import QThread, Signal
 
 
@@ -17,19 +17,28 @@ def __init__(self, url, save_path) -> None:
 
     def run(self) -> None:
         try:
-            response = requests.get(self.url, stream=True)
-            response.raise_for_status()
-            total_size = int(response.headers.get("content-length", 0))
-            block_size = 8192
-            downloaded = 0
-
-            with open(self.save_path, "wb") as file:
-                for data in response.iter_content(block_size):
-                    size = file.write(data)
-                    downloaded += size
-                    if total_size:
-                        progress = int((downloaded / total_size) * 100)
-                        self.progress_signal.emit(progress)
+            req = urllib.request.Request(self.url)
+
+            with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as response:
+                if response.status != 200:
+                    raise urllib.error.HTTPError(
+                        self.url, response.status, "HTTP Error", response.headers, None
+                    )
+
+                total_size = int(response.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
+                block_size = 8192
+                downloaded = 0
+
+                with open(self.save_path, "wb") as file:
+                    while True:
+                        data = response.read(block_size)
+                        if not data:
+                            break
+                        size = file.write(data)
+                        downloaded += size
+                        if total_size:
+                            progress = int((downloaded / total_size) * 100)
+                            self.progress_signal.emit(progress)
 
             # Extract the downloaded zip file
             extract_dir = os.path.splitext(self.save_path)[0]