diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1abaa97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import consola from "consola";
+import { config as configDotenv } from 'dotenv';
+
+configDotenv();
+export const config = {
+    internal_port: parseInt(process.env.APP_PORT) || 4010,
+    development: process.env.NODE_ENV === "production",
+    version: process.env.VERSION || require('../package.json').version,
+    api_key: getApiKey(),
+    app_url: process.env.APP_URL || "http://localhost:8080",
+    mail_server: process.env.MAIL_SERVER,
+    mail_port: Number(process.env.MAIL_PORT) || 25,
+    mail_user: process.env.MAIL_USER,
+    mail_password: process.env.MAIL_PASSWORD,
+    mail_from: process.env.MAIL_FROM,
+    privacy_url: process.env.PRIVACY_URL || "/privacy",
+    imprint_url: process.env.IMPRINT_URL || "/imprint"
+}
+let errors = 0
+if (typeof config.internal_port !== "number") {
+    errors++
+}
+if (typeof config.development !== "boolean") {
+    errors++
+}
+
+function getApiKey(): string {
+    const key = process.env.API_KEY;
+    if (!key) {
+        consola.info("No API key set - generating a random one...");
+        let result = '';
+        const characters = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789';
+        const charactersLength = characters.length;
+        for (var i = 0; i < 64; i++) {
+            result += characters.charAt(Math.floor(Math.random() * charactersLength));
+        }
+        consola.info(`API KEY: ${result}`)
+        return result;
+    }
+    if (key.length < 64) {
+        consola.error(`API key is too short - minimum: 64, current: ${key.length}`)
+        throw new Error("API_KEY too short.")
+    }
+    return key
+}
+export let e = errors
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