diff --git a/geomagio/api/db/database.py b/geomagio/api/db/database.py
index 74fb3211b2e94bc9f556c62b9c39c497efb7bc0a..8b21cfa80ba94ed8f090a5da7cc8e9c741c6baea 100644
--- a/geomagio/api/db/database.py
+++ b/geomagio/api/db/database.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from sqlmodel import create_engine
 
 from geomagio.api.db.models.metadata import MetadataTable
 from geomagio.api.db.models.metadata_history import MetadataHistoryTable
+from geomagio.api.db.models.session import session
 
 
 class Tables(str, Enum):
@@ -13,4 +14,9 @@ class Tables(str, Enum):
 
 
 database_url = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", "sqlite:///./api_database.db")
-engine = create_engine(database_url)
+
+try:
+    engine = create_engine(database_url)
+except Exception as e:
+    print("error creating engine:", e)
+    pass