diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..efc937001
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
+export SECRET_KEY="7(2w1sedok=aznpq)ta1mc4i%4h=xx@hxwx*o57ctsuml0x%fr"
+
+# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
+export DEBUG=true
+
+export DOMAIN=your.domain.here
+
+## Leave unset to allow all hosts
+# export ALLOWED_HOSTS="localhost,127.0.0.1,[::1]"
+
+export OL_URL="https://openlibrary.org"
+
+## Database backend to use.
+## Default is postgres, use sqlite is for dev quickstart only (NOT production!!!)
+export FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND=postgres
+
+export MEDIA_ROOT="images/"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8710b9464..9de360055 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ This creates two users, `mouse` with password `password123` and `rat` with passw
 
 And go to the app at `localhost:8000`
 
-For most testing, you'll want to use ngrok. Remember to set the DOMAIN in settings.py to your ngrok domain.
+For most testing, you'll want to use ngrok. Remember to set the DOMAIN in `.env` to your ngrok domain.
 
 
 ## Structure
diff --git a/fedireads/settings.py b/fedireads/settings.py
index 3fb98936b..e4e134049 100644
--- a/fedireads/settings.py
+++ b/fedireads/settings.py
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 ''' fedireads settings and configuration '''
 import os
 
+from environs import Env
+
+env = Env()
+
 # Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
 BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 
@@ -8,15 +12,15 @@ BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 # See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/howto/deployment/checklist/
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
-SECRET_KEY = '7(2w1sedok=aznpq)ta1mc4i%4h=xx@hxwx*o57ctsuml0x%fr'
+SECRET_KEY = env('SECRET_KEY')
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = True
+DEBUG = env.bool('DEBUG', True)
 
 # TODO: annoying that I keep changing and re-commiting this
-DOMAIN = '26863dc9.ngrok.io'
-ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']
-OL_URL = 'https://openlibrary.org'
+DOMAIN = env('DOMAIN')
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = env.list('ALLOWED_HOSTS', ['*'])
+OL_URL = env('OL_URL')
 
 # Application definition
 
@@ -66,8 +70,10 @@ WSGI_APPLICATION = 'fedireads.wsgi.application'
 # Database
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/settings/#databases
 
-DATABASES = {
-    'default': {
+FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND = env('FEDIREADS_DATABASE', 'postgres')
+
+FEDIREADS_DBS = {
+    'postgres': {
         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
         'NAME': 'fedireads',
         'USER': 'fedireads',
@@ -77,6 +83,10 @@ DATABASES = {
     }
 }
 
+DATABASES = {
+    'default': FEDIREADS_DBS[FEDIREADS_DATABASE_BACKEND]
+}
+
 LOGIN_URL = '/login/'
 AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'fedireads.User'
 
@@ -118,4 +128,4 @@ USE_TZ = True
 
 STATIC_URL = '/static/'
 MEDIA_URL = '/images/'
-MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'images/')
+MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, env('MEDIA_ROOT', 'images/'))
diff --git a/fedireads/wsgi.py b/fedireads/wsgi.py
index 06edda621..1d48ac6a8 100644
--- a/fedireads/wsgi.py
+++ b/fedireads/wsgi.py
@@ -9,8 +9,12 @@ https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/howto/deployment/wsgi/
 
 import os
 
+from environs import Env
+
 from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application
 
+Env.read_env()
+
 os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "fedireads.settings")
 
 application = get_wsgi_application()
diff --git a/manage.py b/manage.py
index f9976ef67..086138392 100755
--- a/manage.py
+++ b/manage.py
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
+from environs import Env
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    Env.read_env()  # load environment variables from .env
     os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "fedireads.settings")
     try:
         from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
diff --git a/rebuilddb.sh b/rebuilddb.sh
index fd82950ec..536288be1 100755
--- a/rebuilddb.sh
+++ b/rebuilddb.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
+
+if [ ! -f .env ]; then
+  echo "No .env found -- copying .example.env to .env!"
+  cp .env.example .env
+fi
+
 dropdb fedireads
 createdb fedireads
 python manage.py makemigrations fedireads
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2db75c8b9..1320435c7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Django==3.0.3
 django-model-utils==4.0.0
+environs==7.2.0
 Pillow==7.0.0
 psycopg2==2.8.4
 pycryptodome==3.9.4