diff --git a/scripts/apply-migrations.ts b/scripts/apply-migrations.ts
index f4bcc18e..9f2484ba 100644
--- a/scripts/apply-migrations.ts
+++ b/scripts/apply-migrations.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import "./load-env";
 import { readdirSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
diff --git a/scripts/jobs-worker.ts b/scripts/jobs-worker.ts
index 9567d797..c89d137d 100644
--- a/scripts/jobs-worker.ts
+++ b/scripts/jobs-worker.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import "./load-env";
 import { Cron } from "croner";
 import { lt, sql } from "drizzle-orm";
 import { env } from "../src/env";
diff --git a/scripts/load-env.ts b/scripts/load-env.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..99740d85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/load-env.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const ROOT = resolve(__dirname, "..");
+
+// Standalone scripts (tsx) don't auto-load .env like Next.js does, so the
+// deploy step symlinks ${LIVE}/.env into the stage but nothing ever read it.
+// Node's loadEnvFile() never overrides already-set variables, so real shell
+// env wins; we load .env.local first so it takes precedence over .env.
+function loadEnvFile(): void {
+	for (const name of [".env.local", ".env"]) {
+		const file = resolve(ROOT, name);
+		if (existsSync(file)) process.loadEnvFile(file);
+	}
+}
+
+loadEnvFile();