diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 265fbeb..165ee03 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -40,3 +40,5 @@ package-lock.json ## use yarn.lock instead
 
 # Local Netlify folder
 .netlify
+
+.env
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 28ed415..c65b002 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ $ npm install
 
 You'll need a PostgreSQL instance, either local (see https://www.postgresql.org/download/) or in the cloud (for example, you can spin one up on https://www.digitalocean.com/products/managed-databases-postgresql or https://supabase.com/).
 
-Environment can be set up with an `.env.local` file. You'll need to configure at least `DIGITALOCEAN_POSTGRES` for the fetching to work, and `NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL` for the frontend.
+Environment can be set up with an `.env` file. You'll need to configure at least `DIGITALOCEAN_POSTGRES` for the fetching to work, and `NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL` for the frontend.
 
 See [./docs/configuration.md](./docs/configuration.md) for details.
 
diff --git a/env.example b/env.example
index 36425f8..bf54efe 100644
--- a/env.example
+++ b/env.example
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#### You can copy this file to `.env.local` and modify accordingly.
+#### You can copy this file to `.env` and modify accordingly.
 #### Documentation can be found in `docs/configuration.md`.
 
 # ALGOLIA_MASTER_API_KEY=19b6c2234e50c98d30668659a39e3127