diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b0092e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+MAIN_GUILD_ID=793280245359837214
+MYSQL_DATABASE=USER_DB_NAME
+MYSQL_USER=MYSQL_USER
+MYSQL_PASSWORD=DATABASE_PASSWORD
+MYSQL_HOST=localhost
+MYSQL_PORT=3306
+PUID=1000
+PGID=1000
+REDIS_PORT=6379
+REDIS_HOST=localhost
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ab1ad97..6fea9a3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 /target
 .idea/
-appdata/
\ No newline at end of file
+appdata/
+.env.local
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 59d5d3d..2d49c94 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -771,6 +771,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "hm-discord-bot"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "dotenvy",
  "hex",
  "once_cell",
  "poise",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 02e8113..6c542da 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ hex = "0.4.3"
 serial_test = "3.0.0"
 time = "0.3.34"
 once_cell = "1.19.0"
+dotenvy = "0.15.7"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1a80d2c..b30ea93 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,6 +2,26 @@
 
 This is the code for the **Sebastian** Bot used on HM Discord Servers
 
+# Local setup
+
+Start a mariadb and redis instance, for example through the provided docker-compose:
+
+```bash
+docker compose up -d redis mariadb
+```
+
+Put your discord bot token in a `.env.local` at the root of the repo:
+
+```bash
+BOT_TOKEN=...
+```
+
+Start the bot:
+
+```bash
+cargo run
+```
+
 # Redesign documentation
 
 In an effort to improve the Bot, the bot will be rewritten from ground up, switching from Python to Rust.
diff --git a/src/env.rs b/src/env.rs
index 8698d60..5bfd737 100644
--- a/src/env.rs
+++ b/src/env.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ pub static BOT_TOKEN: OnceLock<String> = OnceLock::new();
 pub static LOG_LEVEL: OnceLock<tracing::Level> = OnceLock::new();
 
 pub fn init() {
+    dotenvy::dotenv().unwrap();
+
+    #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
+    let _ = dotenvy::from_filename(".env.local");
+
     LOG_LEVEL.get_or_init(|| {
         env::var("RUST_LOG")
             .map(|level| {