diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 09d568f..8ed2372 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2679,6 +2679,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "rnex-rmc",
  "rnex-util",
  "sentry",
+ "thiserror",
  "tokio",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
diff --git a/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-ds/src/lib.rs b/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-ds/src/lib.rs
index 43a7913..3b2c5f6 100644
--- a/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-ds/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-ds/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #![cfg(feature = "datastore")]
 use std::env;
 
-use rnex_server::{ConnectionInitData, RnexManager, RnexModule};
+use rnex_server::{ConnectionInitData, EnvVarError, RnexManager, RnexModule, env_var};
 use sqlx::PgPool;
 use thiserror::Error;
 
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ pub enum ModuleInitError {
     #[error(transparent)]
     Sqlx(#[from] sqlx::Error),
     #[error(transparent)]
-    Env(#[from] env::VarError),
+    Env(#[from] EnvVarError),
 }
 
 impl RnexModule for DatastoreModule {
@@ -51,12 +51,12 @@ impl RnexModule for DatastoreModule {
         mod_holder: &rnex_server::ModuleHolder,
     ) -> Result<Self::Manager, Self::InitError> {
         Ok(DatastoreManager {
-            db_pool: PgPool::connect(&env::var("RNEX_DATASTORE_DATABASE")?).await?,
+            db_pool: PgPool::connect(&env_var("RNEX_DATASTORE_DATABASE")?).await?,
             s3_presigner: S3Presigner::new(
-                env::var("RNEX_DATASTORE_S3_ENDPOINT")?
+                env_var("RNEX_DATASTORE_S3_ENDPOINT")?
                     .trim_end_matches('/')
                     .to_string(),
-                env::var("RNEX_DATASTORE_S3_BUCKET")?,
+                env_var("RNEX_DATASTORE_S3_BUCKET")?,
             ),
         })
     }
diff --git a/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-fpd/src/lib.rs b/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-fpd/src/lib.rs
index b0b1ad1..b32fdf9 100644
--- a/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-fpd/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-fpd/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ use crate::friends_handler::{FriendsGuest, FriendsUser};
 use nex_account::GUEST_PID;
 use rnex_fpd_protos::RemoteFriendRemote;
 use rnex_rmc::{RmcCallable, RmcPureRemoteObject};
-use rnex_server::{ConnectionInitData, RnexManager, RnexModule, WeakPassthroughInitModule};
+use rnex_server::{
+    ConnectionInitData, RnexManager, RnexModule, WeakPassthroughInitModule, env_var,
+};
 use rnex_util::PID;
 use sqlx::PgPool;
 use std::{
@@ -97,7 +99,7 @@ impl RnexModule for FriendsModule {
     ) -> Result<Self::Manager, Self::InitError> {
         Ok(FriendsManager {
             users: Default::default(),
-            db: PgPool::connect(&env::var("RNEX_DATASTORE_DATABASE")?).await?,
+            db: PgPool::connect(&env_var("RNEX_DATASTORE_DATABASE")?).await?,
         })
     }
 }
diff --git a/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-rk/src/lib.rs b/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-rk/src/lib.rs
index 9e9cc90..0a0e347 100644
--- a/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-rk/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rnex-server-nex-modules/rnex-rk/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::env::{self, VarError};
 
 use rnex_rmc::response::ErrorCode;
-use rnex_server::{ConnectionInitData, RnexManager, RnexModule};
+use rnex_server::{ConnectionInitData, RnexManager, RnexModule, env_var};
 use std::str::FromStr;
 use tracing::error;
 
@@ -79,9 +79,9 @@ impl RnexModule for RankingModule {
         _: &rnex_server::ModuleHolder,
     ) -> Result<Self::Manager, Self::InitError> {
         Ok(RankingManager {
-            rnex_result_votes_get: env::var("RNEX_SPLATOON_RESULTS_VOTES_GET")?,
-            rnex_result_post: env::var("RNEX_SPLATOON_RESULTS_POST")?,
-            rnex_result_get: env::var("RNEX_SPLATOON_RESULTS_GET")?,
+            rnex_result_votes_get: env_var("RNEX_SPLATOON_RESULTS_VOTES_GET")?,
+            rnex_result_post: env_var("RNEX_SPLATOON_RESULTS_POST")?,
+            rnex_result_get: env_var("RNEX_SPLATOON_RESULTS_GET")?,
         })
     }
 }
diff --git a/rnex-server/Cargo.toml b/rnex-server/Cargo.toml
index 00ad54d..c06b650 100644
--- a/rnex-server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rnex-server/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ paste = "1.0.15"
 rnex-rmc = { path = "../rnex-rmc" }
 rnex-util = { path = "../rnex-util" }
 sentry = { version = "0.48.4", features = ["tracing"] }
+thiserror = "2.0.18"
 tokio = { version = "1.52.3", features = ["net"] }
 tracing = "0.1.44"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3.23", features = ["env-filter"] }
diff --git a/rnex-server/src/lib.rs b/rnex-server/src/lib.rs
index b0e5906..4452179 100644
--- a/rnex-server/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rnex-server/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #![allow(async_fn_in_trait)]
+use std::env::VarError;
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 use std::sync::Weak;
 use std::{
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ pub use paste;
 pub use rnex_rmc as rmc;
 use rnex_rmc::{RmcCallable, RmcConnection, RmcSerialize, serialization::RmcSerialize, util::PID};
 pub use rnex_util as util;
+use thiserror::Error;
 pub use tokio;
 pub use tracing;
 use tracing::{Instrument, Level, error, instrument, span};
@@ -334,6 +336,20 @@ pub fn rnex_release() -> String {
     )
 }
 
+#[derive(Error, Debug)]
+#[error("error getting environment variable \"{1}\": {0}")]
+pub struct EnvVarError(VarError, &'static str);
+
+impl EnvVarError {
+    fn err_on(name: &'static str) -> impl Fn(VarError) -> Self {
+        move |e| Self(e, name)
+    }
+}
+
+pub fn env_var(name: &'static str) -> Result<String, EnvVarError> {
+    env::var(name).map_err(EnvVarError::err_on(name))
+}
+
 pub async fn with_setup(f: impl AsyncFnOnce() -> anyhow::Result<()>) {
     println!("setting up logger and dotenv");
     dotenv::dotenv().ok();