diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5c25ed4..bfcc8f0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # python-demo test
 
-before running any stage you will need to set up a 'CS_TOKEN' env var containing an Codesphere API key
+before running any stage you will need to set up a 'CS_TOKEN' env var containing an Codesphere API key.
 
 # open backend api docs
 
diff --git a/ci.Qa.yml b/ci.Qa.yml
index 32367e1..3d0f976 100644
--- a/ci.Qa.yml
+++ b/ci.Qa.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ prepare:
     - name: install uv standalone version
       command: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | env
         UV_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/app" sh && chmod +x $HOME/app/uv
+    - command: cp -n .env.sample .env
     - name: "set ev vars "
       command: . .env && cs set-env -w $WORKSPACE_ID -t $TEAM_ID --env-var
         UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR=$PWD/.codesphere-internal/.uv-python-install
diff --git a/ci.yml b/ci.yml
index 01109f7..66d4bd9 100644
--- a/ci.yml
+++ b/ci.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ prepare:
     - name: install uv standalone version
       command: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | env
         UV_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/app" sh && chmod +x $HOME/app/uv
+    - command: cp -n .env.sample .env
     - name: "set ev vars "
       command: . .env && cs set-env -w $WORKSPACE_ID -t $TEAM_ID --env-var
         UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR=$PWD/.codesphere-internal/.uv-python-install