diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0c916c7..ab728e3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -92,8 +92,9 @@ This Artificially Assisted User Interface Testing framework is a pioneering tool
 # Installation
 ```
 # Add your Chat-GPT API Keys to the project:
-add your API Key in /core/core_api.py  ->  line 3: client = OpenAI(api_key='insert_your_api_key_here')
-add your API Key in /core/core_imaging.py  ->  line 12: api_key = 'insert_your_api_key_here'
+Create a .env file with your API Key in the project folder 
+and add your key like this: OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-pr....
+
 
 # Install requirements:
 cd pywinassistant
diff --git a/core/core_api.py b/core/core_api.py
index cb3cf5d..2a79647 100644
--- a/core/core_api.py
+++ b/core/core_api.py
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
+import os
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
 from openai import OpenAI
 
-client = OpenAI(api_key='insert_your_api_key_here')
+load_dotenv()
+
+openai_api_key = os.getenv('OPENAI_API_KEY')
+
+client = OpenAI(api_key=openai_api_key) 
 # Available models: "gpt-4-1106-preview", "gpt-3.5-turbo-1106", or "davinci-codex"
 MODEL_NAME = "gpt-3.5-turbo-1106"
 
-
 def api_call(messages, model_name=MODEL_NAME, temperature=0.5, max_tokens=150):
     # if model_name == "gpt-4-1106-preview":
     #     model_name = "gpt-3.5-turbo-1106"
diff --git a/core/core_imaging.py b/core/core_imaging.py
index b94e20d..c4c67a8 100644
--- a/core/core_imaging.py
+++ b/core/core_imaging.py
@@ -2,14 +2,16 @@
 import pygetwindow as gw
 import base64
 import requests
+import os
 import io
 from PIL import Image
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
 
 # Assuming that the `activate_window_title` function is defined in another module correctly
 from window_focus import activate_windowt_title
 
 # OpenAI API Key
-api_key = 'insert_your_api_key_here'
+openai_api_key = os.getenv('OPENAI_API_KEY')
 
 
 # Function to focus a window given its title
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ def analyze_image(base64_image, window_title, additional_context='What’s in th
     # Your logic to call the OpenAI API
     headers = {
         "Content-Type": "application/json",
-        "Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"
+        "Authorization": f"Bearer {openai_api_key}"
     }
 
     payload = {
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 3bde5f1..51375b2 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ uiautomation
 gtts
 pygame
 pyAudio
+python-dotenv
\ No newline at end of file