diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef9fd1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# .env.example
+NODE_ENV=development
+PORT=8000
+
+# Set your database connection information here
+DATABASE_HOST=192.168.56.111
+DATABASE_NAME=app1
+DATABASE_USER=homestead
+DATABASE_PASSWORD=secret
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ccb2c80..9a30b15 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 node_modules/
-package-lock.json
\ No newline at end of file
+package-lock.json
+.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index 49349df..3da43c6 100755
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -2,16 +2,21 @@
 const app = require('express')();
 const mysql = require('mysql');
 const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
+
+//Use dotenv to read .env vars into Node
+require('dotenv').config();
+
 const routes = require('./routes');
 
 // the mysql.createConnection function takes in a configuration object which contains host, user, password and the database name.
 const db = mysql.createConnection ({
-    host: 'localhost',
-    user: 'root',
-    password: 'root',
-    database: 'app1'
+    host: process.env.DATABASE_HOST,
+    user: process.env.DATABASE_USER,
+    password: process.env.DATABASE_PASSWORD,
+    database: process.env.DATABASE_NAME
 });
 
+
 // connect to database
 db.connect((err) => {
     if (err) {
@@ -22,7 +27,7 @@ db.connect((err) => {
 
 global.db = db;
 
-const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;
+const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8000;
 
 app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }));
 app.use(bodyParser.json()); // parse form data client
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6f05bb2..84c8055 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
   "license": "ISC",
   "dependencies": {
     "body-parser": "^1.18.3",
+    "dotenv": "^6.2.0",
     "ejs": "^2.6.1",
     "express": "^4.16.4",
     "mysql": "^2.16.0",