diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 2f27e69..a01dc2d 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -1 +1 @@
-DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:password@192.168.1.204:5432/fuelprices 
\ No newline at end of file
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@192.168.1.204:5432/fuelprices
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6cf5f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+__pycache__/
+*.pyc
+.env
diff --git a/database.py b/database.py
index c42961f..15dd316 100644
--- a/database.py
+++ b/database.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
 
 # --- Database Configuration ---
-DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://postgres:password@192.168.1.204:5432/fuelprices"
+DATABASE_URL = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", "postgresql://postgres:password@192.168.1.204:5432/fuelprices")
 # Ensure this DATABASE_URL is correct for your setup (e.g., 'db' for Docker Compose,
 # 'host.docker.internal' or an IP for external DBs)
 # For your error, it seems you are trying to connect to 192.164.1.204