diff --git a/create_ticket_api.php b/create_ticket_api.php
index e4a85a9..17d35be 100644
--- a/create_ticket_api.php
+++ b/create_ticket_api.php
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ ini_set('display_errors', 0);
 require_once __DIR__ . '/middleware/RateLimitMiddleware.php';
 RateLimitMiddleware::apply('api');
 
-// Load environment variables with error check
-$envFile = __DIR__ . '/.env';
-if (!file_exists($envFile)) {
+// Early friendly JSON error if .env is missing, before config.php's own
+// (plain-text die()) handling would otherwise run — this is a JSON API
+// endpoint and must always respond with a JSON body.
+if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . '/.env')) {
     echo json_encode([
         'success' => false,
         'error' => 'Configuration file not found'
@@ -18,37 +19,17 @@ if (!file_exists($envFile)) {
     exit;
 }
 
-$envVars = parse_ini_file($envFile, false, INI_SCANNER_TYPED);
-if (!$envVars) {
-    echo json_encode([
-        'success' => false,
-        'error' => 'Invalid configuration file'
-    ]);
-    exit;
-}
+// Load application config so UrlHelper can resolve APP_DOMAIN, and so the
+// DB connection below (via Database::getConnection()) gets the same
+// charset/timezone sync as every other endpoint instead of a hand-rolled
+// second connection.
+require_once __DIR__ . '/config/config.php';
+require_once __DIR__ . '/helpers/Database.php';
 
-// Strip quotes from values if present (parse_ini_file may include them)
-foreach ($envVars as $key => $value) {
-    if (is_string($value)) {
-        if (
-            (substr($value, 0, 1) === '"' && substr($value, -1) === '"') ||
-            (substr($value, 0, 1) === "'" && substr($value, -1) === "'")
-        ) {
-            $envVars[$key] = substr($value, 1, -1);
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-// Database connection with detailed error handling
-$conn = new mysqli(
-    $envVars['DB_HOST'],
-    $envVars['DB_USER'],
-    $envVars['DB_PASS'],
-    $envVars['DB_NAME']
-);
-
-if ($conn->connect_error) {
-    error_log('create_ticket_api: DB connection failed: ' . $conn->connect_error);
+try {
+    $conn = Database::getConnection();
+} catch (\Throwable $e) {
+    error_log('create_ticket_api: DB connection failed: ' . $e->getMessage());
     http_response_code(500);
     echo json_encode([
         'success' => false,
@@ -57,9 +38,6 @@ if ($conn->connect_error) {
     exit;
 }
 
-// Load application config so UrlHelper can resolve APP_DOMAIN
-require_once __DIR__ . '/config/config.php';
-
 // Authenticate via API key
 require_once __DIR__ . '/middleware/ApiKeyAuth.php';
 require_once __DIR__ . '/models/AuditLogModel.php';
@@ -349,7 +327,7 @@ if ($existing) {
             (new StatsModel($conn))->invalidateCache();
         }
 
-        $conn->close();
+        Database::close();
         echo json_encode([
             'success'            => true,
             'ticket_id'          => $existingId,
@@ -386,7 +364,7 @@ if ($existing) {
     // Ticket reopened (Closed → Open) — refresh dashboard stats.
     (new StatsModel($conn))->invalidateCache();
 
-    $conn->close();
+    Database::close();
 
     require_once __DIR__ . '/helpers/NotificationHelper.php';
     NotificationHelper::sendTicketNotification($existingId, [
@@ -484,7 +462,7 @@ if ($inserted) {
     // New ticket created — refresh dashboard stats.
     (new StatsModel($conn))->invalidateCache();
 
-    $conn->close();
+    Database::close();
 
     require_once __DIR__ . '/helpers/NotificationHelper.php';
     NotificationHelper::sendTicketNotification($ticket_id, [
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index d5982c0..248f1cd 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ require_once 'config/config.php';
 require_once 'middleware/SecurityHeadersMiddleware.php';
 require_once 'middleware/AuthMiddleware.php';
 require_once 'models/AuditLogModel.php';
+require_once 'helpers/Database.php';
 
 // Apply security headers early
 SecurityHeadersMiddleware::apply();
@@ -17,15 +18,12 @@ $requestPath = strtok($request, '?');
 
 // Create database connection for non-API routes
 if (!str_starts_with($requestPath, '/api/')) {
-    $conn = new mysqli(
-        $GLOBALS['config']['DB_HOST'],
-        $GLOBALS['config']['DB_USER'],
-        $GLOBALS['config']['DB_PASS'],
-        $GLOBALS['config']['DB_NAME']
-    );
-
-    if ($conn->connect_error) {
-        die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
+    try {
+        $conn = Database::getConnection();
+    } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+        error_log('index.php: database connection failed: ' . $e->getMessage());
+        http_response_code(500);
+        die('Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again shortly.');
     }
 
     // Authenticate user via Authelia forward auth
@@ -444,5 +442,5 @@ switch (true) {
 
 // Close database connection if it was opened
 if (isset($conn)) {
-    $conn->close();
+    Database::close();
 }