diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2707c02..41a7dd0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
# ignore settings files
settings.*
+venv/
# https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/blob/main/.gitignore
.DS_Store
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7f5884f..ddcc0e3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,3 +8,14 @@ Includes:
OpenAPI description file
MySql init file
+
+## Initial project setup
+Open a new terminal and navigate to the project folder, then follow these steps.
+
+| Step | Command | Description |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| 1 | `python3 -m venv venv` | Create the `venv` directory |
+| 2 | `. venv/bin/activate` | Activate the `venv` |
+| 3 | `pip install --upgrade pip` | Upgrade pip |
+| 4 | `pip install -r requirements.txt` | Install **requirements** |
+| 5 | `python simpleAuthService.py` | Start **development server** |
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de1a13c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+argon2-cffi==21.3.0
+argon2-cffi-bindings==21.2.0
+certifi==2022.12.7
+cffi==1.15.1
+charset-normalizer==3.0.1
+click==8.1.3
+cryptography==39.0.0
+Flask==2.2.2
+Flask-Cors==3.0.10
+idna==3.4
+itsdangerous==2.1.2
+Jinja2==3.1.2
+MarkupSafe==2.1.2
+mysql-connector-python==8.0.32
+oauthlib==3.2.2
+protobuf==3.20.3
+pycparser==2.21
+PyJWT==2.6.0
+requests==2.28.2
+six==1.16.0
+urllib3==1.26.14
+Werkzeug==2.2.2