diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d5d1627..7cbb7c3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ Your photos and every pipeline artifact live in the directory where you run it,
 
 The `init` wizard is idempotent — re-run it anytime to check status or add keys you skipped. It prompts for the credentials below (hidden input, saved to a `.env` it creates with owner-only permissions) and offers the one-time Playwright Chromium download. Prefer doing it by hand? Copy [.env.example](.env.example) beside your data, fill it in, and run `playwright install chromium` yourself.
 
-Secrets live in environment variables only, never in config files, code, or logs. `.env` is gitignored. If you use [direnv](https://direnv.net/), the committed `.envrc` loads `.env` automatically after a one-time `direnv allow`; otherwise export the variables yourself (e.g. `set -a; source .env; set +a`).
+Secrets live in environment variables only, never in config files, code, or logs, and `.env` is gitignored. Every `bggpipe` command loads `.env` from the working directory by itself — real environment variables always win over the file, so [direnv](https://direnv.net/) users and CI overrides keep working unchanged.
 
 | Variable | Used by | What it is |
 |---|---|---|
diff --git a/src/bggpipe/cli.py b/src/bggpipe/cli.py
index 7c51ba3..6a8cc6a 100644
--- a/src/bggpipe/cli.py
+++ b/src/bggpipe/cli.py
@@ -14,6 +14,17 @@ app = typer.Typer(
     no_args_is_help=True,
 )
 
+
+@app.callback()
+def _load_dotenv() -> None:
+    # credentials live in ./.env (written by init); load them so a fresh
+    # directory works without direnv or manual sourcing. Real environment
+    # variables always take precedence over the file.
+    from bggpipe.init_wizard import load_env_file
+
+    load_env_file(Path(".env"))
+
+
 ConfigOpt = Annotated[
     Path | None,
     typer.Option("--config", help="Path to config.toml (default: ./config.toml)"),
diff --git a/src/bggpipe/init_wizard.py b/src/bggpipe/init_wizard.py
index f898d72..93b53bc 100644
--- a/src/bggpipe/init_wizard.py
+++ b/src/bggpipe/init_wizard.py
@@ -91,6 +91,31 @@ class InitReport:
     warnings: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
 
 
+def load_env_file(env_path: Path) -> list[str]:
+    """Export .env values into this process's environment — only keys the
+    environment doesn't already set (a real env var always wins). Returns
+    the keys loaded. Same parsing rules as _env_file_keys; values go
+    straight into os.environ and are never printed or logged."""
+    if not env_path.exists():
+        return []
+    loaded = []
+    for line in env_path.read_text().splitlines():
+        line = line.strip()
+        if "=" not in line or line.startswith("#"):
+            continue
+        key, _, value = line.partition("=")
+        key = key.strip()
+        if key.startswith("export "):
+            key = key.removeprefix("export ").strip()
+        value = value.strip()
+        if len(value) >= 2 and value[0] == value[-1] and value[0] in "'\"":
+            value = value[1:-1]
+        if key and value and not os.environ.get(key):
+            os.environ[key] = value
+            loaded.append(key)
+    return loaded
+
+
 def _env_file_keys(env_path: Path) -> set[str]:
     """Key names with non-empty values in .env. Handles `export KEY=v` and
     quoted values; a quoted-empty value ("" / '') counts as NOT set. Values
diff --git a/tests/test_init.py b/tests/test_init.py
index 62775a6..4f452c0 100644
--- a/tests/test_init.py
+++ b/tests/test_init.py
@@ -190,3 +190,31 @@ def test_fresh_config_template_carries_both_vision_blocks(tmp_path, monkeypatch)
     cfg = load_config(tmp_path / "config.toml")
     assert cfg.vision_provider == "anthropic"
     assert cfg.model == "claude-sonnet-5"  # active block applied cleanly
+
+
+def test_load_env_file_exports_without_overriding(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """A fresh directory must work straight after init: the CLI loads .env
+    itself. A real environment variable always outranks the file."""
+    from bggpipe.init_wizard import load_env_file
+
+    env = tmp_path / ".env"
+    env.write_text(
+        "# comment\n"
+        'export BGG_USERNAME="someone"\n'
+        "BGG_API_TOKEN=tok-123\n"
+        "EMPTY=''\n"
+        "BGG_PASSWORD=from-file\n"
+    )
+    monkeypatch.delenv("BGG_USERNAME", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("BGG_API_TOKEN", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("EMPTY", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("BGG_PASSWORD", "from-environment")
+
+    loaded = load_env_file(env)
+    assert set(loaded) == {"BGG_USERNAME", "BGG_API_TOKEN"}
+    assert os.environ["BGG_USERNAME"] == "someone"
+    assert os.environ["BGG_API_TOKEN"] == "tok-123"
+    assert "EMPTY" not in os.environ  # quoted-empty means NOT set
+    assert os.environ["BGG_PASSWORD"] == "from-environment"  # env wins
+
+    assert load_env_file(tmp_path / "absent.env") == []