diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 020153c2..8ac42484 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Ignore any startup.env file:
+startup.env
+
 # Ignore pdfium library:
 libpdfium.dylib
 libpdfium.so
diff --git a/app/.run/Tauri Dev.run.xml b/app/.run/[1] Start Tauri.run.xml
similarity index 90%
rename from app/.run/Tauri Dev.run.xml
rename to app/.run/[1] Start Tauri.run.xml
index 4dc7c19c..3eb775a5 100644
--- a/app/.run/Tauri Dev.run.xml	
+++ b/app/.run/[1] Start Tauri.run.xml	
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <component name="ProjectRunConfigurationManager">
-  <configuration default="false" name="Tauri Dev" type="ShConfigurationType">
+  <configuration default="false" name="[1] Start Tauri" type="ShConfigurationType">
     <option name="SCRIPT_TEXT" value="cargo tauri dev --no-watch" />
     <option name="INDEPENDENT_SCRIPT_PATH" value="true" />
     <option name="SCRIPT_PATH" value="" />
diff --git a/app/.run/[2] Start .NET Server.run.xml b/app/.run/[2] Start .NET Server.run.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..edf616ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/.run/[2] Start .NET Server.run.xml	
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<component name="ProjectRunConfigurationManager">
+  <configuration default="false" name="[2] Start .NET Server" type="DotNetProject" factoryName=".NET Project">
+    <option name="EXE_PATH" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/MindWork AI Studio/bin/Debug/net9.0/osx-arm64/mindworkAIStudio" />
+    <option name="PROGRAM_PARAMETERS" value="" />
+    <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/MindWork AI Studio" />
+    <option name="PASS_PARENT_ENVS" value="1" />
+    <option name="USE_EXTERNAL_CONSOLE" value="0" />
+    <option name="ENV_FILE_PATHS" value="" />
+    <option name="REDIRECT_INPUT_PATH" value="" />
+    <option name="PTY_MODE" value="Auto" />
+    <option name="USE_MONO" value="0" />
+    <option name="RUNTIME_ARGUMENTS" value="" />
+    <option name="AUTO_ATTACH_CHILDREN" value="0" />
+    <option name="MIXED_MODE_DEBUG" value="0" />
+    <option name="RUNTIME_TYPE" value="coreclr" />
+    <option name="PROJECT_PATH" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/MindWork AI Studio/MindWork AI Studio.csproj" />
+    <option name="PROJECT_EXE_PATH_TRACKING" value="1" />
+    <option name="PROJECT_ARGUMENTS_TRACKING" value="1" />
+    <option name="PROJECT_WORKING_DIRECTORY_TRACKING" value="1" />
+    <option name="PROJECT_KIND" value="DotNetCore" />
+    <option name="PROJECT_TFM" value="net9.0" />
+    <method v="2">
+      <option name="Build" />
+      <option name="RunConfigurationTask" enabled="true" run_configuration_name="Collect I18N content" run_configuration_type="ShConfigurationType" />
+    </method>
+  </configuration>
+</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/MindWork AI Studio/Program.cs b/app/MindWork AI Studio/Program.cs
index a86a143b..1630a7a7 100644
--- a/app/MindWork AI Studio/Program.cs	
+++ b/app/MindWork AI Studio/Program.cs	
@@ -25,14 +25,14 @@ internal sealed class Program
     public static IServiceProvider SERVICE_PROVIDER = null!;
     public static ILoggerFactory LOGGER_FACTORY = null!;
     
-    public static async Task Main(string[] args)
+    public static async Task Main()
     {
-        if(args.Length == 0)
-        {
-            Console.WriteLine("Error: Please provide the port of the runtime API.");
-            return;
-        }
-
+        #if DEBUG
+        // Read the environment variables from the .env file:
+        var envFilePath = Path.Combine("..", "..", "startup.env");
+        await EnvFile.Apply(envFilePath);
+        #endif
+        
         // Read the secret key for the IPC from the AI_STUDIO_SECRET_KEY environment variable:
         var secretPasswordEncoded = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AI_STUDIO_SECRET_PASSWORD");
         if(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(secretPasswordEncoded))
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ internal sealed class Program
             return;
         }
         
+        var rustApiPort = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AI_STUDIO_API_PORT");
+        if(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(rustApiPort))
+        {
+            Console.WriteLine("Error: The AI_STUDIO_API_PORT environment variable is not set.");
+            return;
+        }
+        
         var apiToken = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AI_STUDIO_API_TOKEN");
         if(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(apiToken))
         {
@@ -67,7 +74,6 @@ internal sealed class Program
         
         API_TOKEN = apiToken;
         
-        var rustApiPort = args[0];
         using var rust = new RustService(rustApiPort, certificateFingerprint);
         var appPort = await rust.GetAppPort();
         if(appPort == 0)
diff --git a/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/EnvFile.cs b/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/EnvFile.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ad71cf47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/EnvFile.cs	
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#if DEBUG
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace AIStudio.Tools;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Read environment variables for the application from an .env file.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// We consider this feature a security issue. Therefore, it is only
+/// available in DEBUG mode. To ensure this, we remove the code
+/// from any release build.
+/// </remarks>
+public static class EnvFile
+{
+    public static async Task Apply(string filePath)
+    {
+        if(!File.Exists(filePath))
+        {
+            Console.WriteLine($"Error: The .env file '{filePath}' does not exist.");
+            return;
+        }
+        
+        var lines = await File.ReadAllLinesAsync(filePath, Encoding.UTF8);
+        foreach (var line in lines)
+        {
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(line) || line.Trim().StartsWith('#'))
+                continue;
+
+            var parts = line.Split(['='], 2);
+            if (parts.Length != 2)
+                continue;
+
+            var key = parts[0].Trim();
+            var value = parts[1].Trim();
+
+            Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(key, value);
+        }
+    }
+}
+#endif
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/runtime/src/dotnet.rs b/runtime/src/dotnet.rs
index b0c577bc..26b793f5 100644
--- a/runtime/src/dotnet.rs
+++ b/runtime/src/dotnet.rs
@@ -34,54 +34,65 @@ pub fn dotnet_port(_token: APIToken) -> String {
     format!("{dotnet_server_port}")
 }
 
+/// Creates the startup environment file for the .NET server in the development
+/// environment. The file is created in the root directory of the repository.
+/// Creating that env file on a production environment would be a security
+/// issue, since it contains the secret password and salt in plain text.
+/// Anyone could read that file and decrypt the secret communication
+/// between the .NET server and the Tauri app.
+///
+/// Therefore, we not only create the file in the development environment
+/// but also remove that code from any production build.
+#[cfg(debug_assertions)]
+pub fn create_startup_env_file() {
+
+    // Get the secret password & salt and convert it to a base64 string:
+    let secret_password = BASE64_STANDARD.encode(ENCRYPTION.secret_password);
+    let secret_key_salt = BASE64_STANDARD.encode(ENCRYPTION.secret_key_salt);
+    let api_port = *API_SERVER_PORT;
+
+    warn!(Source = "Bootloader .NET"; "Development environment detected; create the startup env file at '../startup.env'.");
+    let env_file_path = std::path::PathBuf::from("..").join("startup.env");
+    let mut env_file = std::fs::File::create(env_file_path).unwrap();
+    let env_file_content = format!(
+        "AI_STUDIO_SECRET_PASSWORD={secret_password}\n\
+        AI_STUDIO_SECRET_KEY_SALT={secret_key_salt}\n\
+        AI_STUDIO_CERTIFICATE_FINGERPRINT={cert_fingerprint}\n\
+        AI_STUDIO_API_PORT={api_port}\n\
+        AI_STUDIO_API_TOKEN={api_token}",
+
+        cert_fingerprint = CERTIFICATE_FINGERPRINT.get().unwrap(),
+        api_token = API_TOKEN.to_hex_text()
+    );
+
+    std::io::Write::write_all(&mut env_file, env_file_content.as_bytes()).unwrap();
+    info!(Source = "Bootloader .NET"; "The startup env file was created successfully.");
+}
+
 /// Starts the .NET server in a separate process.
 pub fn start_dotnet_server() {
 
     // Get the secret password & salt and convert it to a base64 string:
     let secret_password = BASE64_STANDARD.encode(ENCRYPTION.secret_password);
     let secret_key_salt = BASE64_STANDARD.encode(ENCRYPTION.secret_key_salt);
+    let api_port = *API_SERVER_PORT;
 
     let dotnet_server_environment = HashMap::from_iter([
         (String::from("AI_STUDIO_SECRET_PASSWORD"), secret_password),
         (String::from("AI_STUDIO_SECRET_KEY_SALT"), secret_key_salt),
         (String::from("AI_STUDIO_CERTIFICATE_FINGERPRINT"), CERTIFICATE_FINGERPRINT.get().unwrap().to_string()),
+        (String::from("AI_STUDIO_API_PORT"), format!("{api_port}")),
         (String::from("AI_STUDIO_API_TOKEN"), API_TOKEN.to_hex_text().to_string()),
     ]);
 
     info!("Try to start the .NET server...");
     let server_spawn_clone = DOTNET_SERVER.clone();
     tauri::async_runtime::spawn(async move {
-        let api_port = *API_SERVER_PORT;
-        let (mut rx, child) = match is_dev() {
-            true => {
-                // We are in the development environment, so we try to start a process
-                // with `dotnet run` in the `../app/MindWork AI Studio` directory. But
-                // we cannot issue a sidecar because we cannot use any command for the
-                // sidecar (see Tauri configuration). Thus, we use a standard Rust process:
-                warn!(Source = "Bootloader .NET"; "Development environment detected; start .NET server using 'dotnet run'.");
-                Command::new("dotnet")
-
-                    // Start the .NET server in the `../app/MindWork AI Studio` directory.
-                    // We provide the runtime API server port to the .NET server:
-                    .args(["run", "--project", "../app/MindWork AI Studio", "--", format!("{api_port}").as_str()])
-
-                    .envs(dotnet_server_environment)
-                    .spawn()
-                    .expect("Failed to spawn .NET server process.")
-            }
-
-            false => {
-                Command::new_sidecar("mindworkAIStudioServer")
-                    .expect("Failed to create sidecar")
-
-                    // Provide the runtime API server port to the .NET server:
-                    .args([format!("{api_port}").as_str()])
-
-                    .envs(dotnet_server_environment)
-                    .spawn()
-                    .expect("Failed to spawn .NET server process.")
-            }
-        };
+        let (mut rx, child) = Command::new_sidecar("mindworkAIStudioServer")
+                .expect("Failed to create sidecar")
+                .envs(dotnet_server_environment)
+                .spawn()
+                .expect("Failed to spawn .NET server process.");
 
         let server_pid = child.pid();
         info!(Source = "Bootloader .NET"; "The .NET server process started with PID={server_pid}.");
@@ -140,7 +151,7 @@ pub async fn dotnet_ready(_token: APIToken) {
     // held.
     {
         let mut initialized = DOTNET_INITIALIZED.lock().unwrap();
-        if *initialized {
+        if !is_dev() && *initialized {
             error!("Anyone tried to initialize the runtime twice. This is not intended.");
             return;
         }
diff --git a/runtime/src/main.rs b/runtime/src/main.rs
index d600db36..b8a8eba0 100644
--- a/runtime/src/main.rs
+++ b/runtime/src/main.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ use mindwork_ai_studio::log::init_logging;
 use mindwork_ai_studio::metadata::MetaData;
 use mindwork_ai_studio::runtime_api::start_runtime_api;
 
+#[cfg(debug_assertions)]
+use mindwork_ai_studio::dotnet::create_startup_env_file;
+
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() {
     let metadata = MetaData::init_from_string(include_str!("../../metadata.txt"));
@@ -44,6 +47,12 @@ async fn main() {
 
     generate_certificate();
     start_runtime_api();
-    start_dotnet_server();
+    
+    if is_dev() {
+        create_startup_env_file();
+    } else {
+        start_dotnet_server();
+    }
+    
     start_tauri();
 }
\ No newline at end of file