diff --git a/.template/variants/web/.gitignore.rb b/.template/variants/web/.gitignore.rb
index b235fdae..0615792b 100644
--- a/.template/variants/web/.gitignore.rb
+++ b/.template/variants/web/.gitignore.rb
@@ -26,5 +26,8 @@
 
     # Ignore Gemfile.lock file in engines.
     /engines/*/Gemfile.lock
+
+    # Ignore env file
+    .env
   IGNORE
 end
diff --git a/README.md.tt b/README.md.tt
index 91e719fc..c0a29156 100644
--- a/README.md.tt
+++ b/README.md.tt
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@
 
 ### Development
 
+Copy the contents of `.env.example` to `.env`
+
+```sh
+cp .env.example .env
+```
+
 Run the Rails app:
 
 ```sh
 make dev
-``
+```
 
 ## Testing