diff --git a/scripts/release-sign.js b/scripts/release-sign.js
index c082541..f30c631 100644
--- a/scripts/release-sign.js
+++ b/scripts/release-sign.js
@@ -8,6 +8,36 @@ const path = require('path');
 const { execSync } = require('child_process');
 
 const root = path.join(__dirname, '..');
+
+// Auto-load .env if present (no dependency on dotenv)
+(() => {
+  try {
+    const envPath = path.join(root, '.env');
+    if (fs.existsSync(envPath)) {
+      const content = fs.readFileSync(envPath, 'utf8');
+      for (const rawLine of content.split(/\r?\n/)) {
+        const line = rawLine.trim();
+        if (!line || line.startsWith('#')) continue;
+        const cleaned = line.startsWith('export ')
+          ? line.slice('export '.length).trim()
+          : line;
+        const eq = cleaned.indexOf('=');
+        if (eq === -1) continue;
+        const key = cleaned.slice(0, eq).trim();
+        let val = cleaned.slice(eq + 1).trim();
+        if ((val.startsWith('"') && val.endsWith('"')) || (val.startsWith("'") && val.endsWith("'"))) {
+          val = val.slice(1, -1);
+        }
+        if (!(key in process.env)) process.env[key] = val;
+      }
+      // Do not log secrets; just note that .env was processed
+      console.log('Loaded environment from .env');
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.warn('Warning: Failed to load .env:', e.message);
+  }
+})();
+
 const pkg = require(path.join(root, 'package.json'));
 const manifest = require(path.join(root, 'manifest.json'));
 
@@ -60,4 +90,3 @@ try {
   console.error('Release signing failed:', err.message);
   process.exit(1);
 }
-