diff --git a/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py b/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
index c8b652fcb..e49c64847 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ NUM_RERANKED_RESULTS = 15
 NUM_GENERATIVE_AI_INPUT_DOCS = 5
 # 1 edit per 2 characters, currently unused due to fuzzy match being too slow
 QUOTE_ALLOWED_ERROR_PERCENT = 0.05
-QA_TIMEOUT = int(os.environ.get("QA_TIMEOUT", "10"))  # 10 seconds
+QA_TIMEOUT = int(os.environ.get("QA_TIMEOUT") or "10")  # 10 seconds
 # Include additional document/chunk metadata in prompt to GenerativeAI
 INCLUDE_METADATA = False