diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
deleted file mode 100644
index 2eb5e8e..0000000
--- a/.env.example
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-IMMICH_URL=https://immich.example.com
-IMMICH_API_KEY=your-immich-api-key
-HA_URL=https://homeassistant.example.com
-HA_TOKEN=your-home-assistant-long-lived-token
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2f2026c..d55f838 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,5 +5,3 @@ __pycache__/
 *.egg-info/
 .ipynb_checkpoints/
 photo_history.json
-.env
-
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 489b712..561ca62 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ former `dither_test/`):
 - **Display refresh takes 12-15 seconds** — the BUSY pin polling handles this
 - **No test suite** — this is a hardware project; test by deploying to the Pi
 - **Dependencies on Pi**: `python3-pil python3-numba python3-smbus spidev gpiozero`
-- **Config via `.env`** (gitignored): `IMMICH_URL`, `IMMICH_API_KEY`, `HA_URL`, `HA_TOKEN`. Loaded by `src/lib/env.py` (stdlib-only); `require(key)` raises if a value is missing. Copy `.env.example` to `.env` and fill in. The Pi keeps its own `~/frame/.env` — `sync.sh` excludes it.
+- **Config via environment variables**: `IMMICH_URL`, `IMMICH_API_KEY`, `HA_URL`, `HA_TOKEN` (with hardcoded defaults in display.py)
 - **Uses only stdlib `urllib`** — no requests library; the Immich client uses `urllib.request` directly
 - **Single-instance lock** at `/tmp/frame.lock` (fcntl) — overlapping cron runs exit cleanly
 - `sys.path.append` is used to add `lib/` to the path from display.py
diff --git a/notebooks/_helpers.py b/notebooks/_helpers.py
index d5df9f6..eb85467 100644
--- a/notebooks/_helpers.py
+++ b/notebooks/_helpers.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import contextlib
 import io
+import os
 import random
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -20,6 +21,8 @@ REPO = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 CACHE_DIR = Path(tempfile.gettempdir()) / "frame_notebook"
 
 DEFAULT_PEOPLE = ("Me", "Ruby")
+DEFAULT_IMMICH_URL = "https://immich.schmelczer.dev"
+DEFAULT_IMMICH_API_KEY = "6crxVS1JLTJxsfGlzVhN2kefdL4EP7HPkkoMk9L6ZOE"
 
 
 def bootstrap() -> None:
@@ -29,16 +32,15 @@ def bootstrap() -> None:
         if sp not in sys.path:
             sys.path.insert(0, sp)
     sys.modules.setdefault("waveshare_epd.epdconfig", ModuleType("waveshare_epd.epdconfig"))
-    from env import load_env
-
-    load_env()
 
 
 def immich_client():
-    from env import require
     from immich import ImmichClient
 
-    return ImmichClient(require("IMMICH_URL"), require("IMMICH_API_KEY"))
+    return ImmichClient(
+        os.environ.get("IMMICH_URL", DEFAULT_IMMICH_URL),
+        os.environ.get("IMMICH_API_KEY", DEFAULT_IMMICH_API_KEY),
+    )
 
 
 def is_landscape(asset: dict) -> bool:
diff --git a/src/display.py b/src/display.py
index b79558b..22ae920 100644
--- a/src/display.py
+++ b/src/display.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 import argparse
 import fcntl
+import os
 import sys
 from datetime import datetime
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -9,7 +10,6 @@ from PIL import Image
 
 sys.path.append(str(Path(__file__).parent / "lib"))
 from crop import face_aware_crop
-from env import load_env, require
 from homeassistant import HomeAssistantClient
 from immich import ImmichClient, get_random_photo_from_album, get_random_photo_of_people
 from overlay import format_age, format_location
@@ -18,11 +18,14 @@ from overlay import format_age, format_location
 # GPIO pins at import time, so two overlapping invocations would both crash
 # on "GPIO busy" before reaching the flock below.
 
-load_env()
-IMMICH_URL = require("IMMICH_URL")
-IMMICH_API_KEY = require("IMMICH_API_KEY")
-HA_URL = require("HA_URL")
-HA_TOKEN = require("HA_TOKEN")
+IMMICH_URL = os.environ.get("IMMICH_URL", "https://immich.schmelczer.dev")
+IMMICH_API_KEY = os.environ.get("IMMICH_API_KEY", "6crxVS1JLTJxsfGlzVhN2kefdL4EP7HPkkoMk9L6ZOE")
+
+HA_URL = os.environ.get("HA_URL", "https://homeassistant.schmelczer.dev")
+HA_TOKEN = os.environ.get(
+    "HA_TOKEN",
+    "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJmZjk3OTNmOWMzOWU0YjdmYmRjYTc5YmJkMTUyODcyNSIsImlhdCI6MTc2OTIwMjg1NCwiZXhwIjoyMDg0NTYyODU0fQ.IiL_1vTrGMlOoPMksN6lAopE0aInlY_wRnL4Jc-CeBs",
+)
 HA_PRESENCE = {"Andras": "person.andras", "Ruby": "person.ruby"}
 
 
diff --git a/src/lib/env.py b/src/lib/env.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 943617b..0000000
--- a/src/lib/env.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-"""Minimal stdlib .env loader.
-
-Reads KEY=VALUE lines from a .env file (project root by default) into
-`os.environ`, leaving already-set variables untouched.
-"""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-import os
-from pathlib import Path
-
-
-def _find_env() -> Path | None:
-    # Walk up from this file and from cwd; first .env wins. Handles both the
-    # dev layout (src/lib/env.py with .env at repo root) and the Pi layout
-    # (lib/env.py with .env at ~/frame/.env).
-    for start in (Path(__file__).resolve().parent, Path.cwd().resolve()):
-        for d in (start, *start.parents):
-            candidate = d / ".env"
-            if candidate.is_file():
-                return candidate
-    return None
-
-
-def load_env(path: Path | None = None) -> None:
-    env_path = path or _find_env()
-    if env_path is None or not env_path.exists():
-        return
-    for raw in env_path.read_text().splitlines():
-        line = raw.strip()
-        if not line or line.startswith("#") or "=" not in line:
-            continue
-        key, _, value = line.partition("=")
-        key = key.strip()
-        value = value.strip().strip('"').strip("'")
-        os.environ.setdefault(key, value)
-
-
-def require(key: str) -> str:
-    value = os.environ.get(key)
-    if not value:
-        raise RuntimeError(f"missing required env var: {key} (set it in .env or the environment)")
-    return value
diff --git a/src/wifi-check.sh b/src/wifi-check.sh
index d6dfd03..97fbdff 100755
--- a/src/wifi-check.sh
+++ b/src/wifi-check.sh
@@ -4,13 +4,7 @@
 # brcmfmac chip on the Pi Zero 2W.
 
 CONNECTION="netplan-wlan0-HiddenPlace"
-
-SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-# shellcheck disable=SC1091
-[ -f "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env" ] && set -a && . "$SCRIPT_DIR/.env" && set +a
-PROBE_HOST="${HA_URL#http*://}"
-PROBE_HOST="${PROBE_HOST%%/*}"
-: "${PROBE_HOST:?HA_URL must be set in .env}"
+PROBE_HOST="homeassistant.schmelczer.dev"
 
 probe() {
     ping -c 1 -W 5 192.168.0.1 >/dev/null 2>&1 \
diff --git a/sync.sh b/sync.sh
index 8cc6408..e0f8eca 100755
--- a/sync.sh
+++ b/sync.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-rsync -avz --progress --exclude=.env src/ andras@192.168.0.81:~/frame/
+rsync -avz --progress src/ andras@192.168.0.81:~/frame/