diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5505c7cf..15218a37 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ MONGO_URI="mongodb://database/accord"
 NODE_ENV="dev"
 PORT=3000
 WEBSITE_URL="http://localhost:4200"
+SESSION_SECRET="Please ⭐ this repository."
 ```
 
 `backend/test/.env`
@@ -87,4 +88,12 @@ NODE_ENV="dev"
 PORT=3001
 ROOT_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:3001"
 WEBSITE_URL="http://localhost:4200"
+SESSION_SECRET="Please ⭐ this repository."
 ```
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### App does not connect to MongoDB on Windows?
+- Ensure MongoDB is installed.
+- If localhost does not work, use `mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/accord`.
+  - https://stackoverflow.com/a/73139137/8304458
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/.env.example b/backend/.env.example
index d14819da..2876ea93 100644
--- a/backend/.env.example
+++ b/backend/.env.example
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@ EMAIL_PASSWORD="password"
 MONGO_URI="mongodb://localhost/accord"
 NODE_ENV="dev"
 PORT=3000
-WEBSITE_URL="http://localhost:4200"
\ No newline at end of file
+WEBSITE_URL="http://localhost:4200"
+SESSION_SECRET="Please ⭐ this repository."
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/package-lock.json b/backend/package-lock.json
index 144ed315..a06c490c 100644
--- a/backend/package-lock.json
+++ b/backend/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@acrd/backend",
-  "version": "0.0.0",
+  "version": "0.6.0-pre-release",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@acrd/backend",
-      "version": "0.0.0",
+      "version": "0.6.0-pre-release",
       "dependencies": {
         "@acrd/ion": "github:acrdapp/ion",
         "@acrd/types": "file:../frontend/src/types",
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@
         "socket.io": "^4.0.0",
         "striptags": "^3.2.0",
         "typescript": "^4.2.3",
-        "winston": "^3.3.3"
+        "winston": "^3.3.3",
+        "yaml": "^2.3.1"
       },
       "devDependencies": {
         "@types/bad-words": "^3.0.1",
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@
       }
     },
     "../frontend/src/types": {
+      "name": "@acrd/types",
       "hasInstallScript": true,
       "dependencies": {
         "typescript": "^4.9.4"
@@ -7585,6 +7587,14 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/yallist/-/yallist-4.0.0.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-3wdGidZyq5PB084XLES5TpOSRA3wjXAlIWMhum2kRcv/41Sn2emQ0dycQW4uZXLejwKvg6EsvbdlVL+FYEct7A=="
     },
+    "node_modules/yaml": {
+      "version": "2.3.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/yaml/-/yaml-2.3.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-2eHWfjaoXgTBC2jNM1LRef62VQa0umtvRiDSk6HSzW7RvS5YtkabJrwYLLEKWBc8a5U2PTSCs+dJjUTJdlHsWQ==",
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">= 14"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/yargs": {
       "version": "16.2.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/yargs/-/yargs-16.2.0.tgz",
diff --git a/backend/package.json b/backend/package.json
index 58e64501..6039b26a 100644
--- a/backend/package.json
+++ b/backend/package.json
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@
     "socket.io": "^4.0.0",
     "striptags": "^3.2.0",
     "typescript": "^4.2.3",
-    "winston": "^3.3.3"
+    "winston": "^3.3.3",
+    "yaml": "^2.3.1"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@types/bad-words": "^3.0.1",
@@ -88,4 +89,4 @@
     "ts-node": "^10.4.0",
     "ts-node-dev": "^1.1.8"
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/app.ts b/backend/src/app.ts
index b705d2b0..8d4ae17b 100644
--- a/backend/src/app.ts
+++ b/backend/src/app.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ import { connect } from 'mongoose';
 import { config } from 'dotenv';
 config();
 
+import { parse } from 'yaml';
+import fs from 'fs';
+global['config'] = parse(fs.readFileSync('../config.yaml', 'utf-8'));
+
 import './modules/deps';
 import './modules/logger';
 import { User } from './data/models/user';
@@ -13,7 +17,7 @@ connect(process.env.MONGO_URI, {
   useCreateIndex: true,
   serverSelectionTimeoutMS: 0,
 }).catch(error => log.error(error.message || 'Unable to connect to db', { uri: process.env.MONGO_URI }))
-  .then(async (con) => {
+  .then(async () => {
     log.info(`Connected to database.`, { uri: process.env.MONGO_URI });
     await User.updateMany({ $set: { status: 'OFFLINE' } })
   });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/src/email/email.ts b/backend/src/email/email.ts
index 0e01747d..bf13de9b 100644
--- a/backend/src/email/email.ts
+++ b/backend/src/email/email.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ export class Email {
     });
 
     this.email.verify((error) => (error)
-      ? log.error(error)
+      ? log.error(error?.message || 'Failed to login to email service')
       : log.info('Logged in to email service'));
 
     this.email.use('compile', pugEngine({
diff --git a/backend/src/modules/logger.ts b/backend/src/modules/logger.ts
index 045c5efb..c9180e93 100644
--- a/backend/src/modules/logger.ts
+++ b/backend/src/modules/logger.ts
@@ -7,12 +7,12 @@ const colorsAndTime = format.combine(
 );
 
 addColors({
-  info: 'bold blue',
-  warn: 'bold yellow',
-  error: 'bold red',
-  debug: 'bold green',
-  verbose: 'bold grey',
-  silly: 'bold magenta',
+  info: global.config.logger.info,
+  warn: global.config.logger.warn,
+  error: global.config.logger.error,
+  debug: global.config.logger.debug,
+  verbose: global.config.logger.verbose,
+  silly: global.config.logger.silly,
 });
 
 const logger = createLogger({
diff --git a/backend/src/rest/functions/apply-middleware.ts b/backend/src/rest/functions/apply-middleware.ts
index 1281f089..3fbfb935 100644
--- a/backend/src/rest/functions/apply-middleware.ts
+++ b/backend/src/rest/functions/apply-middleware.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export default (app: Application) => {
   app.use(bodyParser.json());
   app.use(passport.initialize());
   app.use(expressSession({
-    secret: 'keyboard cat',
+    secret: process.env.SESSION_SECRET,
     resave: false,
     saveUninitialized: true,
     cookie: { secure: true }
diff --git a/backend/test/.env.example b/backend/test/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..59a397e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/test/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+API_URL="http://localhost:3001/api"
+EMAIL_ADDRESS="...@gmail.com"
+EMAIL_PASSWORD="..."
+MONGO_URI="mongodb://localhost/accord-test"
+NODE_ENV="dev"
+PORT=3001
+ROOT_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:3001"
+WEBSITE_URL="http://localhost:4200"
+SESSION_SECRET="Please ⭐ this repository."
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/types/dotenv.d.ts b/backend/types/dotenv.d.ts
index ec87816a..2f855e53 100644
--- a/backend/types/dotenv.d.ts
+++ b/backend/types/dotenv.d.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ declare global {
       PORT: string;
       ROOT_ENDPOINT: string;
       WEBSITE_URL: string;
+      SESSION_SECRET: string;
     }
   }
 }
-export {};
\ No newline at end of file
+export { };
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/types/global.d.ts b/backend/types/global.d.ts
index 223a034a..0be7c3c1 100644
--- a/backend/types/global.d.ts
+++ b/backend/types/global.d.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 declare global {
   const log: import('winston').Logger;
   const deps: import('../src/modules/deps').Deps;
+  const config: ConfigYAML;
+
+  interface ConfigYAML {
+    logger: {
+      info: string,
+      warn: string,
+      error: string,
+      debug: string,
+      verbose: string,
+      silly: string,
+    }
+  }
 }
-export {}
\ No newline at end of file
+export { }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3319a1c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# This config is public. Use .env for private and secure values.
+# See https://www.npmjs.com/package/winston for custom console log formatting.
+logger:
+  info: 'bold blue'
+  warn: 'bold yellow'
+  error: 'bold red'
+  debug: 'bold green'
+  verbose: 'bold grey'
+  silly: 'bold magenta'
\ No newline at end of file