fix: only pass .env to config if it exists

Author: daniellok-db

slowapi/extension.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import inspect
 import itertools
 import logging
+import os
 import time
 from datetime import datetime
 from email.utils import formatdate, parsedate_to_datetime
@@ -154,8 +155,9 @@ def __init__(
 
         self.logger = logging.getLogger("slowapi")
 
+        dotenv_file_exists = os.path.isfile(".env")
         self.app_config = Config(
-            config_filename if config_filename is not None else ".env"
+            ".env" if dotenv_file_exists and config_filename is None else config_filename
         )
 
         self.enabled = enabled