diff --git a/pilot/configs/__init__.py b/pilot/configs/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..909f8bf4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pilot/configs/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import os
+import random
+import sys
+
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+
+if "pytest" in sys.argv or "pytest" in sys.modules or os.getenv("CI"):
+    print("Setting random seed to 42")
+    random.seed(42)
+
+# Load the users .env file into environment variables
+load_dotenv(verbose=True, override=True)
+
+del load_dotenv
diff --git a/pilot/model/loader.py b/pilot/model/loader.py
index 531080314..bd31bae0a 100644
--- a/pilot/model/loader.py
+++ b/pilot/model/loader.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from typing import Optional
 from pilot.model.compression import compress_module 
 from pilot.model.adapter import get_llm_model_adapter
 from pilot.utils import get_gpu_memory
+from pilot.configs.model_config import DEVICE
 from pilot.model.llm.monkey_patch import replace_llama_attn_with_non_inplace_operations
 
 def raise_warning_for_incompatible_cpu_offloading_configuration(
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ class ModelLoader(metaclass=Singleton):
     def __init__(self, 
                  model_path) -> None:
         
-        self.device = "cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"
+        self.device = DEVICE
         self.model_path = model_path 
         self.kwargs = {
             "torch_dtype": torch.float16,