diff --git a/backend/migrate.php b/backend/migrate.php
index 299eae4..e3e8863 100644
--- a/backend/migrate.php
+++ b/backend/migrate.php
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 <?php
 
-require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
+// 1. Load application bootstrap (loads .env from all server paths + PSR-4 autoloading)
+require_once __DIR__ . '/app/bootstrap.php';
+if (file_exists(__DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php')) {
+    require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
+}
 
 use App\Core\Database;
 
@@ -33,7 +37,7 @@ try {
         echo "📦 Executing safe schema migrations...\n";
     }
 
-    // Execute multiple queries in transaction / batch
+    // Execute multiple queries in batch
     $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, true);
     $pdo->exec($sql);
 
@@ -42,7 +46,6 @@ try {
     // Output Table Status
     $tables = Database::select("SHOW TABLES");
     $dbName = getenv('DB_DATABASE') ?: 'saqelDB';
-    $colName = "Tables_in_" . $dbName;
 
     echo "📊 Current Tables in Database [{$dbName}]:\n";
     echo "--------------------------------------------------------\n";