diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4c49bd78f1d08f2bc09fa0bd8191ed38b7dce5e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.env
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4dd7fe57d240439123dcbdefcab0341defdc5c6d..d745a4a967910db285c751b43ce3e5015e307ae9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,7 +25,13 @@ Make sure to [add your user to the `docker` group](https://docs.docker.com/insta
 
 ## Configuration
 
-Edit the `.env` file to change the default IP address, MySQL root password and WordPress database name.
+1. Copy the example environment into `.env`
+
+```
+cp env.example .env
+```
+
+2. Edit the `.env` file to change the default IP address, MySQL root password and WordPress database name.
 
 ## Installation
 
@@ -150,4 +156,4 @@ wp plugin list
 
 You can also visit `http://127.0.0.1:8080` to access phpMyAdmin after starting the containers.
 
-The default username is `root`, and the password is the same as supplied in the `.env` file.
\ No newline at end of file
+The default username is `root`, and the password is the same as supplied in the `.env` file.
diff --git a/.env b/env.example
similarity index 100%
rename from .env
rename to env.example