diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 093add60ce9e..55ba5371b35f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,6 +37,17 @@ Browse to `http://localhost:8910` to see the web app. Lambda functions run on
 `yarn hammer generate component MyShinyComponent` will create a component
 and place it under `web/src/components/MyShinyComponent`
 
+### .ENV
+
+Auth0 requires a few environmental variables, none of those are private,
+so just go ahead and use these:
+
+```
+AUTH0_DOMAIN=p4p8.eu.auth0.com
+AUTH0_CLIENT_ID=b7vN4sVz6yjGrq82ctXJW9NRTvlWzkFU
+AUTH0_AUDIENCE=BILLABLE_API
+```
+
 ### Transpiling packages
 
 There are a bunch of packages in this repository that will eventually be published
diff --git a/api/package.json b/api/package.json
index c3d6396104ab..43ba88066539 100644
--- a/api/package.json
+++ b/api/package.json
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@hammerframework/hammer-api": "0.0.0",
     "apollo-server-lambda": "^2.6.2",
+    "dotenv": "^8.0.0",
     "express-jwt": "^5.3.1",
     "graphql": "^14.3.1",
     "jwks-rsa": "^1.5.1",
diff --git a/api/src/functions/test.js b/api/src/functions/test.js
index 10654fed5ca8..f1bb94fb591f 100644
--- a/api/src/functions/test.js
+++ b/api/src/functions/test.js
@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@
 import jwt from "express-jwt";
 import jwksRsa from "jwks-rsa";
 
+import dotenv from "dotenv";
+
+// hammer base dir.
+dotenv.config("../../.env");
+
 // Set up Auth0 configuration
 const authConfig = {
-  domain: "p4p8.eu.auth0.com",
-  audience: "BILLABLE_API"
+  domain: process.env.AUTH0_DOMAIN,
+  audience: process.env.AUTH0_AUDIENCE
 };
 
 // Define middleware that validates incoming bearer tokens
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index f356dcda4f2f..be5c82e20e29 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2745,6 +2745,11 @@ dotenv@^6.2.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/dotenv/-/dotenv-6.2.0.tgz#941c0410535d942c8becf28d3f357dbd9d476064"
   integrity sha512-HygQCKUBSFl8wKQZBSemMywRWcEDNidvNbjGVyZu3nbZ8qq9ubiPoGLMdRDpfSrpkkm9BXYFkpKxxFX38o/76w==
 
+dotenv@^8.0.0:
+  version "8.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/dotenv/-/dotenv-8.0.0.tgz#ed310c165b4e8a97bb745b0a9d99c31bda566440"
+  integrity sha512-30xVGqjLjiUOArT4+M5q9sYdvuR4riM6yK9wMcas9Vbp6zZa+ocC9dp6QoftuhTPhFAiLK/0C5Ni2nou/Bk8lg==
+
 duplexer3@^0.1.4:
   version "0.1.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/duplexer3/-/duplexer3-0.1.4.tgz#ee01dd1cac0ed3cbc7fdbea37dc0a8f1ce002ce2"