diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 43fe3c3..57379d5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ __pycache
 .DS_Store
 
 # ignore env var files
-.env
+variables.env
 
 # ignore postgresql volumes
 data/db/*
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 61d7b60..49f94e1 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - "./data/db/pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data/"
     env_file:
-      - ./.env
+      - ./variables.env
     restart: always
     networks:
       - internal
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - "./data/pgadmin:/var/lib/pgadmin"
     env_file:
-      - ./.env
+      - ./variables.env
     user: '$UID:$GID'
     ports:
       - 5050:80
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ services:
     ports:
       - 5000:5000
     env_file:
-      - ./.env
+      - ./variables.env
     restart: unless-stopped
     networks:
       - internal
diff --git a/dist.env b/variables.env.dist
similarity index 100%
rename from dist.env
rename to variables.env.dist