diff --git a/src/services.cpp b/src/services.cpp
index 94dee8d..02e0ee6 100644
--- a/src/services.cpp
+++ b/src/services.cpp
@@ -226,10 +226,22 @@ void get_all_service_env_vars(const std::string &server_name, const std::string
     all_env_vars.merge(env_vars);
     }
 
+    // determine template name.
+    auto it = all_env_vars.find("TEMPLATE");
+    if (it == all_env_vars.end()) {
+        std::cerr << "Error: TEMPLATE variable not defined in service " << service_name << " on server " << server_name << std::endl;
+        return;
+    }
+    std::string template_name = it->second;
+    template_info tinfo;
+    if (!get_template_info(template_name, tinfo)) {
+        std::cerr << "Error: Template '" << template_name << "' not found" << std::endl;
+        return;
+    }
+
     { // load _default.env from the template on this machine - gets overridden by service.env
     std::map<std::string, std::string> env_vars;
-    auto service_info = get_service_info(server_name, service_name);
-    std::string defaultenvpath = service_info.local_template_path + "/_default.env";
+    std::string defaultenvpath = tinfo.local_template_path + "/_default.env";
     if (std::filesystem::exists(defaultenvpath)) {
         envmanager env_manager(defaultenvpath);
         env_manager.load();