diff --git a/app/core/config.py b/app/core/config.py
index 6f294b2..22ff37f 100644
--- a/app/core/config.py
+++ b/app/core/config.py
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ from typing import List
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
 from pathlib import Path
 
+# Create DB directory outside the model
+DB_DIR = Path("/app") / "storage" / "db"
+DB_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
     API_V1_STR: str = "/api/v1"
@@ -9,13 +12,12 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     ALLOWED_ORIGINS: List[str] = ["*"]
     
     # Database settings
-    DB_DIR = Path("/app") / "storage" / "db"
-    DB_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     DATABASE_URL: str = f"sqlite:///{DB_DIR}/db.sqlite"
 
-    class Config:
-        env_file = ".env"
-        case_sensitive = True
+    model_config = {
+        "env_file": ".env",
+        "case_sensitive": True
+    }
 
 
 settings = Settings()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/db/session.py b/app/db/session.py
index e82ae29..fea13ad 100644
--- a/app/db/session.py
+++ b/app/db/session.py
@@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
-from pathlib import Path
+from app.core.config import settings
 
-
-# Create db directory if it doesn't exist
-DB_DIR = Path("/app") / "storage" / "db"
-DB_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-
-SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = f"sqlite:///{DB_DIR}/db.sqlite"
+# Use the SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL from settings
+SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = settings.DATABASE_URL
 
 engine = create_engine(
     SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL,
diff --git a/test_config.py b/test_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b9c9a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+from app.core.config import settings
+
+print("Settings loaded successfully")
+print(f"API_V1_STR: {settings.API_V1_STR}")
+print(f"DATABASE_URL: {settings.DATABASE_URL}")
\ No newline at end of file