diff --git a/.env b/.env
deleted file mode 100644
index cae8618b..00000000
--- a/.env
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-OPENAI_API_KEY=placeholder
-ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=placeholder
diff --git a/.env.exemple b/.env.exemple
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..55ceb5b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.exemple
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+OPENAI_API_KEY=placeholder
+ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=placeholder
+
+LANGCHAIN_TRACING_V2="true"
+LANGCHAIN_PROJECT="langserve-launch-example"
+LANGCHAIN_API_KEY="your_secret_here"
+
+REDIS_URL="your_secret_here"
+TAVILY_API_KEY="your_secret_here"
+FIREWORKS_API_KEY="your_secret_here"
+YDC_API_KEY="your_secret_here"
+AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your_secret_here"
+AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your_secret_here"
+AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT_NAME="your_secret_here"
+AZURE_OPENAI_API_BASE="your_secret_here"
+AZURE_OPENAI_API_VERSION="your_secret_here"
+AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY="your_secret_here"
+KAY_API_KEY="your_secret_here"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6f92fee2..6dc53908 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
 .env.gcp.yaml
+
+# Allow use of local .env file
+.env.local
+
+# vscode extension for local history
+.history
+
+dump.rdb
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2a5b19a1..df9dd376 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ cd backend
 pip install -r requirements.txt
 ```
 
+**Set up environment variables**
+
+Copy the `.env.example` file to `.env.local` at the root of the project and fill in the values.
+Load the environment variables :
+```shell
+export $(cat .env.local | xargs)
+```
+They will live in the environment of the current shell session.
+
 **Set up persistence layer**
 
 The backed by default uses Redis for saving agent configurations and chat message history.