diff --git a/pyninja/auth.py b/pyninja/auth.py
index 8b289d9..18613f1 100644
--- a/pyninja/auth.py
+++ b/pyninja/auth.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ async def authenticator(token: HTTPBasicCredentials = Depends(SECURITY)) -> None
     auth = token.model_dump().get("credentials", "")
     if auth.startswith("\\"):
         auth = bytes(auth, "utf-8").decode(encoding="unicode_escape")
-    if secrets.compare_digest(auth, squire.settings.apikey):
+    if secrets.compare_digest(auth, squire.env.apikey):
         return
     raise exceptions.APIResponse(
         status_code=HTTPStatus.UNAUTHORIZED.real, detail=HTTPStatus.UNAUTHORIZED.phrase
diff --git a/pyninja/main.py b/pyninja/main.py
index 2589a08..464ac46 100644
--- a/pyninja/main.py
+++ b/pyninja/main.py
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 
 def start(env_file: str = None) -> None:
     """Starter function for the API, which uses uvicorn server as trigger."""
-    squire.settings = squire.Settings().from_env_file(
-        env_file=env_file
+    squire.env = squire.env_loader(
+        env_file
         or os.environ.get("env_file")
         or os.environ.get("ENV_FILE")
         or ".env"
@@ -19,6 +19,4 @@ def start(env_file: str = None) -> None:
         routes=router.routes,
         title=f"Service monitor for {platform.uname().node}",
     )
-    uvicorn.run(
-        host=squire.settings.monitor_host, port=squire.settings.monitor_port, app=app
-    )
+    uvicorn.run(host=squire.env.monitor_host, port=squire.env.monitor_port, app=app)
diff --git a/pyninja/squire.py b/pyninja/squire.py
index 19b5c48..8860954 100644
--- a/pyninja/squire.py
+++ b/pyninja/squire.py
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
+import json
+import os
+import pathlib
 import socket
 from typing import Optional
 
+import yaml
 from pydantic import BaseModel, PositiveInt
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
 
@@ -17,7 +21,7 @@ class ServiceStatus(BaseModel):
     description: str
 
 
-class Settings(BaseSettings):
+class EnvConfig(BaseSettings):
     """Object to load environment variables.
 
     >>> Settings
@@ -30,7 +34,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     apikey: str
 
     @classmethod
-    def from_env_file(cls, env_file: Optional[str]) -> "Settings":
+    def from_env_file(cls, env_file: Optional[str]) -> "EnvConfig":
         """Create Settings instance from environment file.
 
         Args:
@@ -48,4 +52,35 @@ class Config:
         extra = "ignore"
 
 
-settings = Settings
+def env_loader(filename: str | os.PathLike) -> EnvConfig:
+    """Loads environment variables based on filetypes.
+
+    Args:
+        filename: Filename from where env vars have to be loaded.
+
+    Returns:
+        config.EnvConfig:
+        Returns a reference to the ``EnvConfig`` object.
+    """
+    env_file = pathlib.Path(filename)
+    if env_file.suffix.lower() == ".json":
+        with open(env_file) as stream:
+            env_data = json.load(stream)
+        return EnvConfig(**{k.lower(): v for k, v in env_data.items()})
+    elif env_file.suffix.lower() in (".yaml", ".yml"):
+        with open(env_file) as stream:
+            env_data = yaml.load(stream, yaml.FullLoader)
+        return EnvConfig(**{k.lower(): v for k, v in env_data.items()})
+    elif not env_file.suffix or env_file.suffix.lower() in (
+        ".text",
+        ".txt",
+        "",
+    ):
+        return EnvConfig.from_env_file(env_file)
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "\n\tUnsupported format for 'env_file', can be one of (.json, .yaml, .yml, .txt, .text, or null)"
+        )
+
+
+env = EnvConfig
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 854a933..2b5ff42 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ keywords = ["service-monitor", "PyNinja"]
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 
 [tool.setuptools]
-packages = ["monitor"]
+packages = ["pyninja"]
 
 [tool.setuptools.dynamic]
 version = {attr = "pyninja.version"}
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 009f065..1e1826f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ fastapi==0.112.0
 psutil==6.0.0
 pydantic==2.8.2
 pydantic-settings==2.4.0
+PyYaml==6.0.2
 uvicorn==0.30.5