Move load_dotenv() call before all app.* imports in main.py to fix the
import-time environment variable loading issue.
Problem:
- Previously, load_dotenv() was called AFTER importing app.* modules
- When app.api.client was imported, it read BACKEND_URL at import time
- At that moment, .env was not yet loaded, so it used the hardcoded default
- This caused the bot to connect to wrong backend port even when .env was
correctly configured
Solution:
- Move load_dotenv() to line 20-21, immediately after standard library imports
- This ensures .env is loaded BEFORE any app.* modules are imported
- Now all modules see the correct environment variables from .env file
- Also updated BACKEND_URL default from 8001 to 8000 for consistency
Flow now:
1. Import standard libraries (os, Path, dotenv, etc.)
2. Load .env file (line 20-21) ✅
3. Import app.* modules (which can now read env vars correctly) ✅
4. Import telegram-python-bot and other dependencies
5. Start application
This follows Python best practices for environment variable loading and
ensures reliable configuration loading in Windows Service deployments.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Marius Mutu
20f6c52785