diff --git a/env.template b/env.template
index 730699f..43ff8df 100644
--- a/env.template
+++ b/env.template
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# copy this to env and it will be sourced by the appropriate services 
+# copy this to .env and it will be sourced by the appropriate services 
 
 # domain your services will be running on
 DOMAIN=localhost
diff --git a/services/auth.yaml b/services/auth.yaml
index e650254..494e6ef 100644
--- a/services/auth.yaml
+++ b/services/auth.yaml
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ services:
   zitadel:
     restart: 'unless-stopped'
     image: 'ghcr.io/zitadel/zitadel:latest'
-    env_file: ../env
     environment:
       ZITADEL_DATABASE_COCKROACH_HOST: crdb
       ZITADEL_EXTERNALSECURE: true
diff --git a/services/backup.yaml b/services/backup.yaml
index b3c6d18..78d785f 100644
--- a/services/backup.yaml
+++ b/services/backup.yaml
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ services:
       generate-secrets:
         condition: 'service_completed_successfully'
     secrets: [B2_APPLICATION_KEY, B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID, BUCKET_NAME, PASSPHRASE]
-    env_file: ../env
     environment:
       HOSTNAME: ${DOMAIN}
       TZ: America/New_York
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ services:
 #    restart: unless-stopped
 #    depends_on: [secrets]
 #    secrets: [B2_APPLICATION_KEY, B2_APPLICATION_KEY_ID, BUCKET_NAME, PASSPHRASE]
-#    env_file: ../env
 #    environment:
 #      HOSTNAME: ${DOMAIN}
 #      TZ: America/New_York
diff --git a/services/mail.yaml b/services/mail.yaml
index 95c1211..bd608f5 100644
--- a/services/mail.yaml
+++ b/services/mail.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       generate-secrets:
         condition: 'service_completed_successfully'
-    env_file: ../env
     environment:
       - MADDY_HOSTNAME=mx.mail.${DOMAIN}
       - MADDY_DOMAIN=mail.${DOMAIN}
@@ -41,7 +40,6 @@ services:
 
   roundcube:
     image: roundcube/roundcubemail:1.6.x-apache
-    env_file: ../env
     environment:
       ROUNDCUBEMAIL_DEFAULT_HOST: ssl://mx.mail.${DOMAIN}
       ROUNDCUBEMAIL_DEFAULT_PORT: 993