diff --git a/test/tap/tap/Makefile b/test/tap/tap/Makefile
index 00db2a3e2..6ca93576e 100644
--- a/test/tap/tap/Makefile
+++ b/test/tap/tap/Makefile
@@ -14,11 +14,15 @@ SQLITE3_DIR=$(DEPS_PATH)/sqlite3/sqlite3
 SQLITE3_IDIR=$(SQLITE3_DIR)
 SQLITE3_LDIR=$(SQLITE3_DIR)
 
+DOTENV_DIR=./cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv
+DOTENV_IDIR=$(DOTENV_DIR)/include
+DOTENV_LDIR=$(DOTENV_DIR)
+
 IDIR=../../../include
 LDIR=../../../lib
 
 LIBPROXYSQLAR=$(LDIR)/libproxysql.a
-INCLUDEDIRS=-I$(IDIR) -I$(JSON_IDIR) -I$(MARIADB_IDIR) -I${CURL_IDIR} -I${SQLITE3_IDIR}
+INCLUDEDIRS=-I$(IDIR) -I$(JSON_IDIR) -I$(MARIADB_IDIR) -I${CURL_IDIR} -I${SQLITE3_IDIR} -I$(DOTENV_IDIR)
 
 .PHONY: all
 all: libtap.a
@@ -26,12 +30,20 @@ all: libtap.a
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
 	rm -f *.o libtap.a || true
+	find cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv/ -name '*.o' -or -name '*.a' -delete || true
 
 OPT=-O2
 
 debug: OPT = -O0 -DDEBUG -ggdb
 debug: libtap.a
 
-libtap.a: tap.cpp tap.h command_line.cpp command_line.h utils.cpp utils.h
+libtap.a: tap.cpp tap.h command_line.cpp command_line.h utils.cpp utils.h cpp-dotenv
 	g++ -c tap.cpp command_line.cpp utils.cpp -std=c++11 $(INCLUDEDIRS) $(OPT)
-	ar rcs libtap.a tap.o command_line.o utils.o
+	ar rcs libtap.a tap.o command_line.o utils.o $$(find $(DOTENV_DIR)/ -name '*.o')
+
+cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv/libcpp_dotenv.a:
+	cd cpp-dotenv && rm -rf cpp-dotenv-*/ || true
+	cd cpp-dotenv && tar -zxf cpp-dotenv-*.tar.gz
+	cd cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv && cmake . -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
+	cd cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv && CC=${CC} CXX=${CXX} ${MAKE}
+cpp-dotenv: cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv/libcpp_dotenv.a
diff --git a/test/tap/tap/command_line.cpp b/test/tap/tap/command_line.cpp
index 85e77151e..811f876eb 100644
--- a/test/tap/tap/command_line.cpp
+++ b/test/tap/tap/command_line.cpp
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@
 #include "command_line.h"
 #include "json.hpp"
 
+#include "dotenv.h"
+
 using nlohmann::json;
+using dotenv::env;
+//using namespace dotenv;
 
 CommandLine::CommandLine() {}
 
@@ -100,6 +104,25 @@ int CommandLine::getEnv() {
 		*field = strdup(value);
 	};
 
+	{
+//		char dir_name[256]
+//		getcwd(dir_name, sizeof(dir_name);
+//		strcat(dir_name,".env")
+//		env.load_dotenv(".env", true).load_dotenv(dir_name, true);
+
+		char temp[PATH_MAX];
+		std::string dir_name = getcwd(temp, sizeof(temp)) ? std::string( temp ) : std::string("");
+		env.load_dotenv(".env", true);
+		env.load_dotenv((dir_name.substr(dir_name.find_last_of('/') + 1) + ".env").c_str(), true);
+		fprintf(stdout, ">>> %s %s <<<\n", (dir_name + ".env").c_str(), (dir_name.substr(dir_name.find_last_of('/') + 1) + ".env").c_str());
+
+		std::string exe_name;
+		std::ifstream("/proc/self/comm") >> exe_name;
+		env.load_dotenv((exe_name + ".env").c_str(), true);
+		env.load_dotenv((exe_name.substr(0, exe_name.size() - 2) + ".env").c_str(), true);
+		fprintf(stdout, ">>> %s %s <<<\n", (exe_name + ".env").c_str(), (exe_name.substr(0, exe_name.size() - 2) + ".env").c_str());
+	}
+
 	value=getenv("TAP_HOST");
 	if(!value) return -1;
 	replace_str_field(&this->host, value);
diff --git a/test/tap/tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv b/test/tap/tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..fcdbe8d2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tap/tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+cpp-dotenv-1.0.0-alpha
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/tap/tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv-v1.0.0-alpha.tar.gz b/test/tap/tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv-v1.0.0-alpha.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..025be1138
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/tap/tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv-v1.0.0-alpha.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/test/tap/tap/utils.cpp b/test/tap/tap/utils.cpp
index e0cdd364f..41b6d8b56 100644
--- a/test/tap/tap/utils.cpp
+++ b/test/tap/tap/utils.cpp
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 
-#include <mysql.h>
+#include "mysql.h"
 
 #include "tap.h"
 #include "utils.h"
diff --git a/test/tap/tests/.env b/test/tap/tests/.env
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c2bab0e82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tap/tests/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+TAP_ENV_VAR1=.env
diff --git a/test/tap/tests/Makefile b/test/tap/tests/Makefile
index 7c6c72cbe..72807857a 100644
--- a/test/tap/tests/Makefile
+++ b/test/tap/tests/Makefile
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ COREDUMPER_DIR=$(DEPS_PATH)/coredumper/coredumper
 COREDUMPER_IDIR=$(COREDUMPER_DIR)/include
 COREDUMPER_LDIR=$(COREDUMPER_DIR)/src
 
+DOTENV_DIR=../tap/cpp-dotenv/cpp-dotenv
+DOTENV_IDIR=$(DOTENV_DIR)/include
+DOTENV_LDIR=$(DOTENV_DIR)
+
 IDIR=../../../include
 LDIR=../../../lib
 TAP_LIBDIR=../tap
@@ -77,7 +81,7 @@ EXECUTABLE=proxysql
 
 OBJ=../../../src/obj/proxysql_global.o ../../../src/obj/main.o ../../../src/obj/proxy_tls.o
 
-INCLUDEDIRS=-I../tap -I$(RE2_PATH) -I$(IDIR) -I$(JEMALLOC_IDIR) -I$(SQLITE3_DIR) -I$(MICROHTTPD_IDIR) -I$(LIBHTTPSERVER_IDIR) -I$(CURL_IDIR) -I$(DAEMONPATH_IDIR) -I$(MARIADB_IDIR) -I$(SSL_IDIR) -I$(JSON_IDIR) -I$(LIBCONFIG_IDIR) -I$(PROMETHEUS_IDIR) -I$(EV_IDIR)
+INCLUDEDIRS=-I../tap -I$(RE2_PATH) -I$(IDIR) -I$(JEMALLOC_IDIR) -I$(SQLITE3_DIR) -I$(MICROHTTPD_IDIR) -I$(LIBHTTPSERVER_IDIR) -I$(CURL_IDIR) -I$(DAEMONPATH_IDIR) -I$(MARIADB_IDIR) -I$(SSL_IDIR) -I$(JSON_IDIR) -I$(LIBCONFIG_IDIR) -I$(PROMETHEUS_IDIR) -I$(EV_IDIR) -I$(DOTENV_IDIR)
 LDIRS=-L$(TAP_LIBDIR) -L$(LDIR) -L$(JEMALLOC_LDIR) $(LIBCONFIG_LDIR) -L$(RE2_PATH)/obj -L$(MARIADB_LDIR) -L$(DAEMONPATH_LDIR) -L$(PCRE_LDIR) -L$(MICROHTTPD_LDIR) -L$(LIBHTTPSERVER_LDIR) -L$(LIBINJECTION_LDIR) -L$(CURL_LDIR) -L$(EV_LDIR) -L$(SSL_LDIR) -L$(PROMETHEUS_LDIR)
 
 UNAME_S := $(shell uname -s)
diff --git a/test/tap/tests/envvars-t.cpp b/test/tap/tests/envvars-t.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f18697a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tap/tests/envvars-t.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <cstring>
+
+#include "tap.h"
+#include "command_line.h"
+
+int main() {
+	CommandLine cl;
+
+	char* value = NULL;
+
+	// this test checks the env file loading mechanism implemented in tap/command_line.cpp:CommandLine::getEnv()
+	// foldername/foldername.env - enviroment vars for whole folder
+	// foldername/testname-t.env - enviroment vars only for testname-t 
+
+	// create
+	// echo 'TAP_ENV_VAR1=.env' > .env
+	// echo 'TAP_ENV_VAR2=tests.env' > tests.env
+	// echo 'TAP_ENV_VAR3=envvars-t.env' > envvars-t.env
+	// echo 'TAP_ENV_VAR4=envvars.env' > envvars.env
+
+//	if (cl.getEnv()) {
+//		diag("Failed to get the required environmental variables.");
+//		return -1;
+//	}
+	cl.getEnv();
+
+	plan(4);
+
+	value = getenv("TAP_ENV_VAR1");
+	ok((value != NULL) and (strcmp(value, ".env") == 0), "Env variable 'TAP_ENV_VAR1' from '.env' Expected: '.env' Actual: '%s'", value); // ok_1
+
+	value = getenv("TAP_ENV_VAR2");
+	ok((value != NULL) and (strcmp(value, "tests.env") == 0), "Env variable 'TAP_ENV_VAR2' from 'tests.env' Expected: 'tests.env' Actual: '%s'", value); // ok_2
+
+	value = getenv("TAP_ENV_VAR3");
+	ok((value != NULL) and (strcmp(value, "envvars-t.env") == 0), "Env variable 'TAP_ENV_VAR3' from 'envvars-t.env' Expected: 'envvars-t.env' Actual: '%s'", value); // ok_3
+
+	value = getenv("TAP_ENV_VAR4");
+	ok((value != NULL) and (strcmp(value, "envvars.env") == 0), "Env variable 'TAP_ENV_VAR4' from 'envvars.env' Expected: 'envvars.env' Actual: '%s'", value); // ok_4
+
+	return exit_status();
+}
+
diff --git a/test/tap/tests/envvars-t.env b/test/tap/tests/envvars-t.env
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e90aa8d32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tap/tests/envvars-t.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+TAP_ENV_VAR3=envvars-t.env
diff --git a/test/tap/tests/envvars.env b/test/tap/tests/envvars.env
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59e84fa64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tap/tests/envvars.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+TAP_ENV_VAR4=envvars.env
diff --git a/test/tap/tests/tests.env b/test/tap/tests/tests.env
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..348efc54d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tap/tests/tests.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+TAP_ENV_VAR2=tests.env