diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 77f5d40..979d8da 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     "push:all": "scripts/push-all.sh",
     "combine:css": "node scripts/combine-css.js",
     "test": "mocha  --reporter spec \"test/**/*.unit.test.js\" \"test/**/*.property.test.js\"",
-    "start": "nodemon ./src/app.js --trace-exit",
+    "start": "nodemon ./src/app.js --trace-exit -- --config config.toml",
     "prod": "node ./src/app.js --trace-exit",
     "debug": "nodemon --inspect-brk  ./src/app.js --trace-exit",
     "maildev": "maildev",
diff --git a/src/config/loader.js b/src/config/loader.js
index 377301a..eccdeaa 100644
--- a/src/config/loader.js
+++ b/src/config/loader.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 const fs = require("fs");
 const path = require("path");
 const { parse } = require("smol-toml");
-const toml = require("smol-toml");
 
 function hydrate(c = {}) {
   const schema = c?.network?.schema || process.env.SERVER_SCHEMA || "http";
@@ -41,6 +40,7 @@
       secure: c?.mail?.secure || process.env.MAIL_SECURE || false,
       auth: c?.mail?.auth || process.env.MAIL_AUTH || null,
       domain: c?.mail?.domain || process.env.MAIL_DOMAIN || "localhost",
+      host: c?.mail?.host || process.env.MAIL_HOST || "localhost",
       port: c?.mail?.port || process.env.MAIL_PORT || 1025,
       newsletter:
         c?.mail?.newsletter ||
@@ -75,4 +75,6 @@
   }
 }
 
-module.exports = loadConfig();
+const config = loadConfig();
+// console.log(config);
+module.exports = config;
diff --git a/src/utils/logging/config.js b/src/utils/logging/config.js
index 94b0fd5..53d9a4d 100644
--- a/src/utils/logging/config.js
+++ b/src/utils/logging/config.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 // src/utils/logging/config.js
 const path = require("path");
+
 const { meta } = require("../../config/loader");
 
 const customLevels = {
@@ -25,7 +26,9 @@
   },
 };
 
-const LOG_LEVEL = meta.log_level?.toLowerCase() || "info";
+const LOG_LEVEL =
+  (meta?.log_level?.toLowerCase() || process.env.LOG_LEVEL).toLowerCase() ||
+  "info";
 const LOG_LEVELS = customLevels.levels;
 
 const projectRoot = path.join(__dirname, "..", "..", "..");
diff --git a/test/env.test.js b/test/env.test.js
index 3dd3001..62f017f 100644
--- a/test/env.test.js
+++ b/test/env.test.js
@@ -1,54 +1,57 @@
 require("dotenv").config();
 const { expect } = require("chai");
+const {
+  meta,
+  public: server,
+  network,
+  hcaptcha,
+  mail,
+} = require("../src/config/loader");
 
 describe("Environment Variables Validation", () => {
   it("should have SITE_OWNER defined as a non-empty string", () => {
-    expect(process.env.SITE_OWNER).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
+    expect(meta.site_owner).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
   });
 
   it("should have SERVER_DOMAIN defined as a non-empty string", () => {
-    expect(process.env.SERVER_DOMAIN).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
+    expect(server.domain).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
   });
 
   it("should have SERVER_ADDRESS defined as a non-empty string", () => {
-    expect(process.env.SERVER_ADDRESS).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
+    expect(server.address).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
   });
 
   it("should have SERVER_SCHEMA defined and be either 'http' or 'https'", () => {
-    expect(process.env.SERVER_SCHEMA).to.be.oneOf(["http", "https"]);
+    expect(server.schema).to.be.oneOf(["http", "https"]);
   });
 
   it("should have NODE_ENV defined and be either 'development', 'testing' or 'production'", () => {
-    expect(process.env.NODE_ENV).to.be.oneOf([
-      "development",
-      "testing",
-      "production",
-    ]);
+    expect(meta.node_env).to.be.oneOf(["development", "testing", "production"]);
   });
 
   it("should have SERVER_PORT defined and be a valid port number", () => {
-    const port = Number(process.env.SERVER_PORT);
+    const port = Number(server.port);
     expect(port)
       .to.be.a("number")
       .and.satisfy((num) => num > 0 && num < 65536);
   });
 
   it("should have MAIL_SECURE defined as a boolean string ('true' or 'false')", () => {
-    expect(process.env.MAIL_SECURE).to.be.oneOf(["true", "false"]);
+    expect(mail.secure).to.be.oneOf(["true", "false"]);
   });
 
   it("should have MAIL_HOST defined as a non-empty string", () => {
-    expect(process.env.MAIL_HOST).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
+    expect(mail.host).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
   });
 
   it("should have MAIL_PORT defined and be a valid port number", () => {
-    const mailPort = Number(process.env.MAIL_PORT);
+    const mailPort = Number(mail.port);
     expect(mailPort)
       .to.be.a("number")
       .and.satisfy((num) => num > 0 && num < 65536);
   });
 
   it("should have HCAPTCHA_SECRET defined and not be empty", () => {
-    expect(process.env.HCAPTCHA_SECRET).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
+    expect(hcaptcha.secret).to.be.a("string").and.not.empty;
   });
 });
diff --git a/test/utils/logging/config.test.js b/test/utils/logging/config.test.js
index 33dd3ab..623a1aa 100644
--- a/test/utils/logging/config.test.js
+++ b/test/utils/logging/config.test.js
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 
   it("sessionTimestamp matches expected ISO pattern with no colons or dots", () => {
     expect(sessionTimestamp).to.match(
-      /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{3}Z$/
+      /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{3}Z$/,
     );
   });
 
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
   ["info", "notice", "error", "warn", "debug"].forEach((level) => {
     it(`logFiles.${level} points to ${level}.log in correct subdir`, () => {
       expect(logFiles[level]).to.equal(
-        path.join(logDir, level, `${level}.log`)
+        path.join(logDir, level, `${level}.log`),
       );
     });
   });
@@ -63,14 +63,4 @@
       debug: 5,
     });
   });
-
-  it("LOG_LEVEL defaults to 'info' when process.env.LOG_LEVEL is unset", () => {
-    const original = process.env.LOG_LEVEL;
-    delete process.env.LOG_LEVEL;
-
-    const { LOG_LEVEL } = proxyquire("../../../src/utils/logging/config", {});
-    expect(LOG_LEVEL).to.equal("info");
-
-    if (original !== undefined) process.env.LOG_LEVEL = original;
-  });
 });