diff --git a/.env.local b/.env.local
index b182e68..27d6778 100644
--- a/.env.local
+++ b/.env.local
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-SHOPIFY_API_KEY=
-SHOPIFY_API_SECRET=
-DJANGO_SECRET=
\ No newline at end of file
+SHOPIFY_API_KEY=''
+SHOPIFY_API_SECRET=''
+DJANGO_SECRET=''
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3025cb9..e9a5df1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -88,3 +88,6 @@ local_settings.py
 .env
 db.sqlite3
 
+#virtual environments
+venv
+virtual
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b468a22..8d6d122 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,24 +35,31 @@ for the next steps.
 cp .env.local .env
 ```
 
-2. Generate a secret key and add it to `.env` by running the following in the command line: 
-
-```
-python -c 'import random; print("".join([random.choice("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*(-_=+)") for i in range(50)]))' >> .env
-```
-
-**For PC Users:** Run this command in [GIT Bash](https://git-scm.com/) or [Windows Subsystem For Linux](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10). Alternatively, you can generate a secret key using the Python interpreter. This requires you to manually add the Django secret key to your `.env` file by doing the following:
+2. Generate a secret key and fill out the `DJANGO_SECRET` value in `.env` file by running the following in the terminal 
 
 Open the python interpreter:
 ```
-python
+python or python3
 ```
 Inside the python interpreter, generate the secret key, copy it, and exit:
+
 ```python
 >>> import random
 >>> print("".join([random.choice("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*(-_=+)") for i in range(50)]))
 >>> exit()
+
+```
+Or use the command below in your terminal. Copy and paste the output into the value of `DJANGO_SECRET` in .env
+
 ```
+python3 -c 'import random; print("".join([random.choice("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*(-_=+)") for i in range(50)]))' >> .env
+```
+
+
+**For Windows Users:** Run this command in [GIT Bash](https://git-scm.com/) or [Windows Subsystem For Linux](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10). Alternatively, you can generate a secret key using the Python interpreter. This requires you to manually add the Django secret key to your `.env` file by doing the following:
+
+**[For Windows OS]:** Use ```python``` instead of  ```python3``` in CMD
+
 
 
 3. [Optional] you can add the api version and api scopes environment variables to the `.env` file:
@@ -61,6 +68,50 @@ Inside the python interpreter, generate the secret key, copy it, and exit:
 
   * `SHOPIFY_API_SCOPE` a comma-separated list of scopes, default is `read_products,read_orders`
 
+### Manual Setup [Optional] 
+
+4. Create virtual environment
+
+For Linux and macOS
+
+```
+python3 -m venv virtual         # 'virtual' can be any name/term
+```
+
+
+5. Activate the virtual environment
+
+For Linux and macOS 
+```
+. virtual/bin/activate
+```
+or 
+```
+source virtual/bin/activate
+```
+
+For windows
+```
+source virtual\Scripts\activate
+
+```
+
+6. Install dependencies
+```
+pip install -r requirements.txt
+```
+
+7. Apply Migrations
+```
+python3 manage.py migrate
+```
+
+8. Run the app
+```
+python3 manage.py runserver
+```
+
+
 
 ### Run the App
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e26e3e4..e5a072c 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-asgiref==3.2.10
-Django==3.0.8
+asgiref==3.7.2
+Django==5.0
 pyactiveresource==2.2.1
+python-dotenv==1.0.0
 pytz==2020.1
 PyYAML==5.3.1
 ShopifyAPI==8.0.1
diff --git a/shopify_app/apps.py b/shopify_app/apps.py
index 9a52b53..4eb2c17 100644
--- a/shopify_app/apps.py
+++ b/shopify_app/apps.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 from django.apps import AppConfig
 import os
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+
+load_dotenv()
 
 
 class ShopifyAppConfig(AppConfig):
@@ -15,8 +18,8 @@ class ShopifyAppConfig(AppConfig):
     #
     # You can ignore this file in git using the following command:
     #   git update-index --assume-unchanged shopify_settings.py
-    SHOPIFY_API_KEY = os.environ.get('SHOPIFY_API_KEY')
-    SHOPIFY_API_SECRET = os.environ.get('SHOPIFY_API_SECRET')
+    SHOPIFY_API_KEY = os.environ['SHOPIFY_API_KEY']
+    SHOPIFY_API_SECRET = os.environ['SHOPIFY_API_SECRET']
 
     # API_VERSION specifies which api version that the app will communicate with
     SHOPIFY_API_VERSION = os.environ.get('SHOPIFY_API_VERSION', 'unstable')