diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f6421fad8..47ee01e2c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1103,15 +1103,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "termcolor",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "envy"
-version = "0.4.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3f47e0157f2cb54f5ae1bd371b30a2ae4311e1c028f575cd4e81de7353215965"
-dependencies = [
- "serde",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "event-listener"
 version = "2.5.1"
@@ -1964,7 +1955,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "comrak",
  "deser-hjson",
  "diesel",
- "envy",
  "futures",
  "http",
  "itertools",
diff --git a/crates/utils/Cargo.toml b/crates/utils/Cargo.toml
index 44218060d..50a41fb7b 100644
--- a/crates/utils/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/utils/Cargo.toml
@@ -34,4 +34,3 @@ diesel = "1.4.5"
 http = "0.2.3"
 jsonwebtoken = "7.2.0"
 deser-hjson = "0.1.12"
-envy = "0.4"
diff --git a/crates/utils/src/settings/environment.rs b/crates/utils/src/settings/environment.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89ae2866f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/utils/src/settings/environment.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+use crate::settings::structs_opt::{
+  CaptchaConfigOpt,
+  DatabaseConfigOpt,
+  EmailConfigOpt,
+  FederationConfigOpt,
+  RateLimitConfigOpt,
+  SettingsOpt,
+  SetupOpt,
+};
+use std::{env, str::FromStr};
+
+pub(in crate::settings) fn parse_from_env() -> SettingsOpt {
+  SettingsOpt {
+    hostname: env_var("HOSTNAME"),
+    bind: env_var("BIND"),
+    port: env_var("PORT"),
+    tls_enabled: env_var("TLS_ENABLED"),
+    jwt_secret: env_var("JWT_SECRET"),
+    pictrs_url: env_var("PICTRS_URL"),
+    iframely_url: env_var("IFRAMELY_URL"),
+    rate_limit: Some(RateLimitConfigOpt {
+      message: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__MESSAGE"),
+      message_per_second: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__MESSAGE_PER_SECOND"),
+      post: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__POST"),
+      post_per_second: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__POST_PER_SECOND"),
+      register: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__REGISTER"),
+      register_per_second: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__REGISTER_PER_SECOND"),
+      image: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__IMAGE"),
+      image_per_second: env_var("RATE_LIMIT__IMAGE_PER_SECOND"),
+    }),
+    email: Some(EmailConfigOpt {
+      smtp_server: env_var("EMAIL__SMTP_SERVER"),
+      smtp_login: Some(env_var("EMAIL__SMTP_LOGIN")),
+      smtp_password: Some(env_var("EMAIL__SMTP_PASSWORD")),
+      smtp_from_address: env_var("EMAIL__SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS"),
+      use_tls: env_var("EMAIL__USE_TLS"),
+    }),
+    federation: Some(FederationConfigOpt {
+      enabled: env_var("FEDERATION__ENABLED"),
+      allowed_instances: env_var("FEDERATION__ALLOWED_INSTANCES"),
+      blocked_instances: env_var("FEDERATION__BLOCKED_INSTANCES"),
+    }),
+    captcha: Some(CaptchaConfigOpt {
+      enabled: env_var("CAPTCHA__ENABLED"),
+      difficulty: env_var("CAPTCHA__DIFFICULTY"),
+    }),
+    setup: Some(SetupOpt {
+      admin_username: env_var("SETUP__ADMIN_USERNAME"),
+      admin_password: env_var("SETUP__ADMIN_PASSWORD"),
+      admin_email: Some(env_var("SETUP__ADMIN_EMAIL")),
+      site_name: env_var("SETUP__ADMIN_SITE_NAME"),
+    }),
+    database: Some(DatabaseConfigOpt {
+      user: env_var("DATABASE__USER"),
+      password: env_var("DATABASE__PASSWORD"),
+      host: env_var("DATABASE__HOST"),
+      port: env_var("DATABASE__PORT"),
+      database: env_var("DATABASE__DATABASE"),
+      pool_size: env_var("DATABASE__POOL_SIZE"),
+    }),
+  }
+}
+
+fn env_var<T>(name: &str) -> Option<T>
+where
+  T: FromStr,
+  <T as FromStr>::Err: std::fmt::Debug,
+{
+  // TODO: probably remove the unwrap
+  env::var(format!("LEMMY_{}", name))
+    .ok()
+    .map(|v| T::from_str(&v).unwrap())
+}
diff --git a/crates/utils/src/settings/mod.rs b/crates/utils/src/settings/mod.rs
index 4345d4f16..2111213ae 100644
--- a/crates/utils/src/settings/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/utils/src/settings/mod.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 use crate::{
   location_info,
-  settings::{merge::Merge, structs::Settings, structs_opt::SettingsOpt},
+  settings::{
+    environment::parse_from_env,
+    merge::Merge,
+    structs::Settings,
+    structs_opt::SettingsOpt,
+  },
   LemmyError,
 };
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Context};
@@ -8,6 +13,7 @@ use deser_hjson::from_str;
 use std::{env, fs, io::Error, sync::RwLock};
 
 pub mod defaults;
+mod environment;
 mod merge;
 pub mod structs;
 mod structs_opt;
@@ -36,7 +42,7 @@ impl Settings {
     config.merge(from_str::<SettingsOpt>(&Self::read_config_file()?)?);
 
     // Read env vars
-    config.merge(envy::prefixed("LEMMY_").from_env::<SettingsOpt>()?);
+    config.merge(parse_from_env());
 
     if config.hostname == Settings::default().hostname {
       return Err(anyhow!("Hostname variable is not set!").into());