diff --git a/backend/app/api/elements.py b/backend/app/api/elements.py
index 388309c..357fa61 100644
--- a/backend/app/api/elements.py
+++ b/backend/app/api/elements.py
@@ -67,4 +67,3 @@ async def get_element(element_id: UUID, db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_db)):
         raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Element not found")
 
     return element
-i
diff --git a/backend/app/config.py b/backend/app/config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36748ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+"""Application configuration via environment variables."""
+
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
+
+
+class Settings(BaseSettings):
+    database_url: str = "postgresql+asyncpg://bim:bim@localhost:5432/bim"
+    upload_dir: str = "/data/uploads"
+    max_upload_size_mb: int = 100
+
+    model_config = {"env_file": ".env"}
+
+
+settings = Settings()
+