diff --git a/backend/marketing_engine/telegram_scraper.php b/backend/marketing_engine/telegram_scraper.php
index 7484b4ef..82ca0bc2 100644
--- a/backend/marketing_engine/telegram_scraper.php
+++ b/backend/marketing_engine/telegram_scraper.php
@@ -4,9 +4,28 @@ if (php_sapi_name() !== 'cli') {
     die("This script must be run from the command line (Terminal).\n");
 }
 
-// Load core bootstrap (which handles .env, dependencies, database, etc.)
-require_once __DIR__ . '/../core/bootstrap.php';
+// Load .env for CLI
+$envPaths = [__DIR__ . '/../.env', __DIR__ . '/../../.env'];
+foreach ($envPaths as $envPath) {
+    if (file_exists($envPath)) {
+        $lines = file($envPath, FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES);
+        foreach ($lines as $line) {
+            $line = trim($line);
+            if (empty($line) || strpos($line, '#') === 0) continue;
+            $parts = explode('=', $line, 2);
+            if (count($parts) === 2) {
+                $key = trim($parts[0]);
+                $val = trim(trim($parts[1]), "\"'");
+                putenv("$key=$val");
+                $_ENV[$key] = $val;
+            }
+        }
+        break;
+    }
+}
+
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../core/Services/SiroGeminiService.php';
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../core/Database/Database.php';
 
 if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . '/madeline.php')) {
     die("Error: madeline.php not found. Please run telegram_setup.php first.\n");