diff --git a/cmd/goose/main.go b/cmd/goose/main.go
index 1ec5c0430..6f08df112 100644
--- a/cmd/goose/main.go
+++ b/cmd/goose/main.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"text/tabwriter"
 	"text/template"
 
+	"github.com/joho/godotenv"
 	"github.com/pressly/goose/v3"
 	"github.com/pressly/goose/v3/internal/cfg"
 	"github.com/pressly/goose/v3/internal/migrationstats"
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ var (
 	sslkey       = flags.String("ssl-key", "", "file path to SSL key in pem format (only support on mysql)")
 	noVersioning = flags.Bool("no-versioning", false, "apply migration commands with no versioning, in file order, from directory pointed to")
 	noColor      = flags.Bool("no-color", false, "disable color output (NO_COLOR env variable supported)")
+	envFile      = flags.String("env-file", ".env", "file path to a file of environment variables")
 )
 
 var version string
@@ -75,6 +77,9 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
+	// read the `.env` or whichever file is pointed, skipping any error
+	godotenv.Load(*envFile)
+
 	// The -dir option has not been set, check whether the env variable is set
 	// before defaulting to ".".
 	if *dir == cfg.DefaultMigrationDir && cfg.GOOSEMIGRATIONDIR != "" {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 931d9a985..b62f76005 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/ClickHouse/clickhouse-go/v2 v2.14.2
 	github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql v1.7.1
 	github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.4.3
+	github.com/joho/godotenv v1.5.1
 	github.com/microsoft/go-mssqldb v1.6.0
 	github.com/ory/dockertest/v3 v3.10.0
 	github.com/vertica/vertica-sql-go v1.3.3
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 0c34e9ce7..12247ad13 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ github.com/jackc/pgx/v5 v5.4.3/go.mod h1:Ig06C2Vu0t5qXC60W8sqIthScaEnFvojjj9dSlj
 github.com/jessevdk/go-flags v1.4.0/go.mod h1:4FA24M0QyGHXBuZZK/XkWh8h0e1EYbRYJSGM75WSRxI=
 github.com/joeshaw/multierror v0.0.0-20140124173710-69b34d4ec901 h1:rp+c0RAYOWj8l6qbCUTSiRLG/iKnW3K3/QfPPuSsBt4=
 github.com/joeshaw/multierror v0.0.0-20140124173710-69b34d4ec901/go.mod h1:Z86h9688Y0wesXCyonoVr47MasHilkuLMqGhRZ4Hpak=
+github.com/joho/godotenv v1.5.1 h1:7eLL/+HRGLY0ldzfGMeQkb7vMd0as4CfYvUVzLqw0N0=
+github.com/joho/godotenv v1.5.1/go.mod h1:f4LDr5Voq0i2e/R5DDNOoa2zzDfwtkZa6DnEwAbqwq4=
 github.com/kballard/go-shellquote v0.0.0-20180428030007-95032a82bc51 h1:Z9n2FFNUXsshfwJMBgNA0RU6/i7WVaAegv3PtuIHPMs=
 github.com/kballard/go-shellquote v0.0.0-20180428030007-95032a82bc51/go.mod h1:CzGEWj7cYgsdH8dAjBGEr58BoE7ScuLd+fwFZ44+/x8=
 github.com/kisielk/errcheck v1.5.0/go.mod h1:pFxgyoBC7bSaBwPgfKdkLd5X25qrDl4LWUI2bnpBCr8=