diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8a6147d..8d93282 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 # BetEdge
 An extensible dockerized full stack sports betting arbitrage application in Python.
+
+See .env.example in root and /backend for environment variables.
diff --git a/backend/ArbBackend/settings.py b/backend/ArbBackend/settings.py
index ec3ec57..9ad4e78 100644
--- a/backend/ArbBackend/settings.py
+++ b/backend/ArbBackend/settings.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
 
 DB_NAME = os.getenv("DB_NAME")
 DB_USER = os.getenv("DB_USER")
-DB_PASSWORD = os.getenv("DB_PASSWORD")
+DB_PASS = os.getenv("DB_PASS")
 DB_HOST = os.getenv("DB_HOST")
 DB_PORT = os.getenv("DB_PORT")
 
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
         'NAME': DB_NAME,
         'USER': DB_USER,
-        "PASSWORD": DB_PASSWORD,
+        "PASSWORD": DB_PASS,
         "HOST": DB_HOST,
         "PORT": DB_PORT,
     }
diff --git a/backend/requirements.txt b/backend/requirements.txt
index 7cca9d7..f767c54 100644
--- a/backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ kombu==5.3.4
 mysqlclient==2.2.0
 prompt-toolkit==3.0.43
 python-dateutil==2.8.2
+python-dotenv==1.0.0
 pytz==2023.3
 redis==5.0.1
 six==1.16.0
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 3d9e01c..988cd6e 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ services:
     env_file:
       - .env  # Add environment variables from file
     environment:
-      # Credentials used to connect to db from db.py __init__ method
+      # Credentials used to connect to db from settings.py
       # Located in root .env file
       - DB_HOST=${DB_HOST}
       - DB_PORT=${DB_PORT}