diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f1f93d9dab8..ce3ef0f62a7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,19 @@
 
 ## Next release
 
+### cli: add support for .env file
+
+ENV vars can now be read from .env file present at the project root directory. A global flag, `--envfile`, is added so you can explicitly provide the .env filename, which defaults to `.env` filename if no flag is provided.
+
+**Example**:
+
+```
+hasura console --envfile production.env
+```
+The above command will read ENV vars from `production.env` file present at the project root directory.
+
+(close #4129) (#4454)
+
 ### console: allow setting post-update check in update permissions
 
 Along with the check for filtering rows that can be updated, you can now set a post-update permission check that needs to be satisfied by the updated rows after the update is made.
diff --git a/cli/cli.go b/cli/cli.go
index b3eefbc380b..8e317223763 100644
--- a/cli/cli.go
+++ b/cli/cli.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"github.com/subosito/gotenv"
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh/terminal"
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 )
@@ -206,6 +207,8 @@ type ExecutionContext struct {
 
 	// ExecutionDirectory is the directory in which command is being executed.
 	ExecutionDirectory string
+	// Envfile is the .env file to load ENV vars from
+	Envfile string
 	// MigrationDir is the name of directory where migrations are stored.
 	MigrationDir string
 	// MetadataDir is the name of directory where metadata files are stored.
@@ -412,6 +415,11 @@ func (ec *ExecutionContext) Validate() error {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "validating current directory failed")
 	}
 
+	// load .env file
+	err = ec.loadEnvfile()
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "loading .env file failed")
+	}
 	// set names of config file
 	ec.ConfigFile = filepath.Join(ec.ExecutionDirectory, "config.yaml")
 
@@ -588,6 +596,25 @@ func (ec *ExecutionContext) Spin(message string) {
 	}
 }
 
+// loadEnvfile loads .env file
+func (ec *ExecutionContext) loadEnvfile() error {
+	envfile := filepath.Join(ec.ExecutionDirectory, ec.Envfile)
+	err := gotenv.Load(envfile)
+	if err != nil {
+		// return error if user provided envfile name
+		if ec.Envfile != ".env" {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			ec.Logger.Warn(err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err == nil {
+		ec.Logger.Debug("ENV vars read from: ", envfile)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // setupLogger creates a default logger if context does not have one set.
 func (ec *ExecutionContext) setupLogger() {
 	if ec.Logger == nil {
diff --git a/cli/commands/root.go b/cli/commands/root.go
index 59235c04910..85f6dc4d2a9 100644
--- a/cli/commands/root.go
+++ b/cli/commands/root.go
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ func init() {
 	f.StringVar(&ec.ExecutionDirectory, "project", "", "directory where commands are executed (default: current dir)")
 	f.BoolVar(&ec.SkipUpdateCheck, "skip-update-check", false, "Skip automatic update check on command execution")
 	f.BoolVar(&ec.NoColor, "no-color", false, "do not colorize output (default: false)")
+	f.StringVar(&ec.Envfile, "envfile", ".env", ".env filename to load ENV vars from")
 }
 
 // NewDefaultHasuraCommand creates the `hasura` command with default arguments
diff --git a/cli/go.mod b/cli/go.mod
index 396d6d28277..800d822ac1f 100644
--- a/cli/go.mod
+++ b/cli/go.mod
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5
 	github.com/spf13/viper v1.6.1
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.4.0
+	github.com/subosito/gotenv v1.2.0
 	github.com/theplant/cldr v0.0.0-20190423050709-9f76f7ce4ee8 // indirect
 	github.com/theplant/htmltestingutils v0.0.0-20190423050759-0e06de7b6967 // indirect
 	github.com/theplant/testingutils v0.0.0-20190603093022-26d8b4d95c61 // indirect