diff --git a/.env.sample b/.env.sample
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..21df91ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.sample
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+MAIL_PASSWORD=
+MAIL_USERNAME=
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f13774e4..28ebe5ea 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ data
 *.idea
 
 .DS_Store
+.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c655d596..00802f87 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,3 +6,16 @@
 
 You can find the frontend of the project in the `frontend` folder
 [here](./frontend/README.md).
+
+
+## Environemnts and secrets
+
+The project uses a `.env` file to store the secrets and environment variables. You can find an example of the file in the `.env.example` file. The dotenv file is used to store the secrets and environment variables for the docker-compose file.
+
+You can copy the sample file to a new file called `.env` and fill in the values.
+
+```bash
+cp .env.sample .env
+```
+
+then fill in the values in the `.env` file.