diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c2bfde1..abfe2db 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -5060,6 +5060,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "axum",
  "axum-extra",
  "chrono",
+ "dotenvy",
  "fluent-templates",
  "include_dir",
  "insta",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d16be96..af50745 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ sea-orm = { version = "1.1", features = [
 ] }
 chrono = { version = "0.4" }
 time = { version = "0.3" }
+dotenvy = { version = "0.15" }
 validator = { version = "0.20" }
 uuid = { version = "1.6", features = ["v4"] }
 include_dir = { version = "0.7" }
diff --git a/src/app.rs b/src/app.rs
index 2ab714f..7c431fc 100644
--- a/src/app.rs
+++ b/src/app.rs
@@ -43,10 +43,16 @@ impl Hooks for App {
         create_app::<Self, Migrator>(mode, environment, config).await
     }
 
+    async fn load_config(environment: &Environment) -> Result<Config> {
+        dotenvy::dotenv().ok();
+        environment.load()
+    }
+
     async fn initializers(_ctx: &AppContext) -> Result<Vec<Box<dyn Initializer>>> {
-        Ok(vec![Box::new(
-            initializers::view_engine::ViewEngineInitializer,
-        )])
+        Ok(vec![
+            Box::new(initializers::view_engine::ViewEngineInitializer),
+            Box::new(initializers::admin_seeder::AdminSeeder),
+        ])
     }
 
     fn routes(_ctx: &AppContext) -> AppRoutes {
diff --git a/src/initializers/admin_seeder.rs b/src/initializers/admin_seeder.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4d4620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/initializers/admin_seeder.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+use async_trait::async_trait;
+use loco_rs::prelude::*;
+
+use crate::models::users::{self, RegisterParams};
+
+pub struct AdminSeeder;
+
+#[async_trait]
+impl Initializer for AdminSeeder {
+    fn name(&self) -> String {
+        "admin-seeder".to_string()
+    }
+
+    async fn before_run(&self, ctx: &AppContext) -> Result<()> {
+        let email = std::env::var("ADMIN_EMAIL").unwrap_or_default();
+        let password = std::env::var("ADMIN_PASSWORD").unwrap_or_default();
+        let name = std::env::var("ADMIN_NAME").unwrap_or_else(|_| "Admin".to_string());
+
+        if email.is_empty() || password.is_empty() {
+            tracing::warn!("ADMIN_EMAIL / ADMIN_PASSWORD not set in .env; admin not seeded");
+        } else if users::Model::find_by_email(&ctx.db, &email).await.is_err() {
+            users::Model::create_with_password(
+                &ctx.db,
+                &RegisterParams {
+                    email: email.clone(),
+                    password,
+                    name,
+                },
+            )
+            .await?;
+            tracing::info!(admin = %email, "admin user seeded");
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/initializers/mod.rs b/src/initializers/mod.rs
index cbe3470..a5780a7 100644
--- a/src/initializers/mod.rs
+++ b/src/initializers/mod.rs
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+pub mod admin_seeder;
 pub mod view_engine;