diff --git a/scripts/generate-public-pdfs.js b/scripts/generate-public-pdfs.js
index 014515ba..f7b6ed59 100644
--- a/scripts/generate-public-pdfs.js
+++ b/scripts/generate-public-pdfs.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
  * Uses Puppeteer (headless Chrome) for PDF generation
  */
 
+require('dotenv').config();
 const { MongoClient } = require('mongodb');
 const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
 const fs = require('fs').promises;