diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 7d8fe56dd..fc458e605 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -54,7 +54,11 @@
  * NOTE: If you change these, also change the error_reporting() code below
  */
 	#define('ENVIRONMENT', isset($_SERVER['CI_ENV']) ? $_SERVER['CI_ENV'] : 'development');
-	define('ENVIRONMENT', 'development');
+	if (file_exists('.debug')) {
+		define('ENVIRONMENT', 'development');
+	} else {
+		define('ENVIRONMENT', 'production');
+	}
 
 /*
  *---------------------------------------------------------------