diff --git a/default.nix b/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3659a0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:
+let
+in
+  pkgs.mkShell {
+    buildInputs = [
+      pkgs.nodejs_20
+    ];
+
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e91f11a..49c2123 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     "dev": "npm run dev:frontend && npm run dev:server",
     "pm": "dotenv -e .env -- npx prisma migrate dev && prisma generate",
     "dev:frontend": "vite ./frontend",
-    "dev:server": "chcp 65001 && nodemon ./server/index.ts | pino-pretty",
+    "dev:server": "nodemon ./server/index.ts | pino-pretty",
     "build": "npm i && npm run build:frontend && npm run build:server",
     "build:frontend": "vue-tsc -p ./frontend/tsconfig.json --noEmit && vite build ./frontend --emptyOutDir",
     "build:server": "npx tsc -p ./server/tsconfig.json",
diff --git a/server/app.ts b/server/app.ts
index 50b8651..8a3baed 100644
--- a/server/app.ts
+++ b/server/app.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,15 @@ import health from "./routes/health.route";
 import { checkauth } from "./controllers/auth.controller";
 import auth from "./routes/auth.route";
 import { getSavePath } from "./utils/helpers";
+import { randomBytes } from "crypto";
 
 const startApp = async (): Promise<Router> => {
+    if(process.env.API_KEY === undefined || process.env.API_KEY === "") {
+        logger.warn("API_KEY has not been set. Generating one ourselves. WATCH OUT: this changes on every restart")
+        process.env.API_KEY = randomBytes(48).toString('hex')
+        logger.warn(`api key is '${process.env.API_KEY}'`)
+    }
+    
     const router = Router();
     const app = express();
 
diff --git a/server/email.ts b/server/email.ts
index 902217a..f20fcae 100644
--- a/server/email.ts
+++ b/server/email.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ export const startEmail = () => {
     let emailPort = parseInt(process.env?.EMAIL_PORT || "25");
 
     if (process.env.ALLOWED_FROM === undefined || process.env.ALLOWED_TO === undefined) {
-        logger.error("Env variables are not set correctly");
+        logger.error("Env variables are not set correctly, please check 'ALLOWED_FROM' & 'ALLOWED_TO'");
         process.exit(1);
     }
 
diff --git a/server/frontend.ts b/server/frontend.ts
index e2c4423..35c4852 100644
--- a/server/frontend.ts
+++ b/server/frontend.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,16 @@
 import express, { static as _static, Request, Response, Router } from "express";
 import { logger } from "./utils/logger";
 import { resolve } from "path";
+import { randomBytes } from "crypto";
 
 const startFrontend = (): void => {
     const router = Router();
     const app = express();
 
+    // Check if we have a api key otherwise we set it here
+    // TODO: can we always just set it here?
+    process.env.VITE_PUBLIC_KEY = randomBytes(48).toString('hex')
+    
     router.get("/env.js", (req: Request, res: Response) => {
         res.set({ "Content-Type": "text/javascript" }).send(
             `window.VITE_PUBLIC_KEY = "${process.env.VITE_PUBLIC_KEY}"`
diff --git a/server/utils/helpers.ts b/server/utils/helpers.ts
index e78267a..550f4a7 100644
--- a/server/utils/helpers.ts
+++ b/server/utils/helpers.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ import { join } from "path";
 import { logger } from "./logger";
 
 export const getSavePath = (filename: string): string => {
-    if (process.env.UPLOAD_PATH === undefined) {
-        logger.error("Environmental variable upload path has not been set");
-        return "";
+    if (process.env.UPLOAD_PATH === undefined || process.env.UPLOAD_PATH === "") {
+        logger.warn("Environmental variable upload path has not been set, defaulting to /tmp");
+        process.env.UPLOAD_PATH = "/tmp"
     }
     const path: string = process.env.UPLOAD_PATH;