diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 86a9058..c23cb4e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,70 +37,62 @@ Click the [Deploy to Netlify Button](https://app.netlify.com/start/deploy?reposi
 
 ## Setup & Run Locally
 
-1. Clone down the repository
-
-    ```bash
-    git clone https://github.com/netlify/netlify-faunadb-example.git
-    ```
-
-2. Enter the repo directory
-
-    ```bash
-    cd netlify-faunadb-example
-    ```
-
-3. Install the dependencies
-
-    ```bash
-    npm install
-    ```
-
-4. Sign up for a FaunaDB account
-
-    https://dashboard.fauna.com/accounts/register
-
-5. Create a database
-
-    In the Fauna Cloud Console:
-    - Click “New Database”
-    - Enter “Netlify” as the “Database Name”
-    - Click “Save”
-
-6. Create a database access key
-
-    In the Fauna Cloud Console:
-    - Click “Security” in the left navigation
-    - Click “New Key”
-    - Make sure that the “Database” field is set to “Netlify”
-    - Make sure that the “Role” field is set to “Admin”
-    - Enter “Netlify” as the “Key Name”
-    - Click “Save”
-
-7. Copy the database access key’s secret
-
-    Save the secret somewhere safe; you won’t get a second chance to see it.
-
-8. Set your database access secret in your terminal environment
-
-    In your terminal, run the following command:
-
-    ```bash 
-    export FAUNADB_SERVER_SECRET=YourFaunaDBSecretHere
-    ```
+### 1. Clone down the repository
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/netlify/netlify-faunadb-example.git
+```
 
-    Replace `YourFaunaDBSecretHere` with the value of the secret that you copied in the previous step.
+### 2. Enter the repo directory
+```bash
+cd netlify-faunadb-example
+```
 
-9. Bootstrap your FaunaDB collection and indexes
+### 3. Install NPM dependencies
+```bash
+npm install
+```
 
-    ```bash
-    npm run bootstrap
-    ```
+### 4. Sign up for a FaunaDB account
+https://dashboard.fauna.com/accounts/register
+
+### 5. Create a database
+In the Fauna Cloud Console:
+  - Click “New Database”
+  - Enter “Netlify” as the “Database Name”
+  - Click “Save”
+
+### 6. Create a database access key
+In the Fauna Cloud Console:
+  - Click “Security” in the left navigation
+  - Click “New Key”
+  - Make sure that the “Database” field is set to “Netlify”
+  - Make sure that the “Role” field is set to “Admin”
+  - Enter “Netlify” as the “Key Name”
+  - Click “Save”
+
+### 7. Configure database access
+Copy the secret key. **You won't get to see it again!** 
+
+Create a `.env` file in the top level of the repo. You can store your Fauna
+server key here as an environment variable and `netlify dev` will load it
+automatically:
+
+```bash
+# .env
+FAUNADB_SERVER_SECRET="SECRET_KEY_HERE"
+```
 
-10. Start developing!
+### 8. Bootstrap your FaunaDB collection and indexes
+```bash
+# create, import Fauna database schema
+npm run bootstrap
+```
 
-    ```bash
-    netlify dev
-    ```
+### 9. Start developing!
+```bash
+# automatically loads variables from your local .env file
+netlify dev
+```
 
 ## TLDR; Quick Deploy