diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d81f12e..4efd331 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 /target
 /.idea
+
+.env
+
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 562274e..ca34347 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -510,6 +510,12 @@ version = "1.0.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "212d0f5754cb6769937f4501cc0e67f4f4483c8d2c3e1e922ee9edbe4ab4c7c0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dotenvy"
+version = "0.15.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1aaf95b3e5c8f23aa320147307562d361db0ae0d51242340f558153b4eb2439b"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "encoding_rs"
 version = "0.8.33"
@@ -1691,6 +1697,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "skynet_discord_bot"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "dotenvy",
  "serenity",
  "surf",
  "tokio",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 381dbbb..bc2fa7e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,5 +8,8 @@ edition = "2021"
 [dependencies]
 serenity = { version = "0.11.6", default-features = false, features = ["client", "gateway", "rustls_backend", "model", "cache"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }
+
 #  to make the http requests
-surf = "2.3.2"
\ No newline at end of file
+surf = "2.3.2"
+
+dotenvy = "0.15.7"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index d7c1535..a20deee 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+use std::env;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
 use std::time::Duration;
-
+use dotenvy::dotenv;
 use serenity::async_trait;
 use serenity::model::gateway::{GatewayIntents, Ready};
 use serenity::model::guild::Member;
@@ -84,18 +85,6 @@ impl EventHandler for Handler {
     }
 }
 
-struct Config {
-    server: GuildId,
-    member_role_current: RoleId,
-    member_role_past: RoleId,
-    auth: String,
-    timing_update: u64,
-    timing_fetch: u64,
-}
-impl TypeMapKey for Config {
-    type Value = Arc<RwLock<Config>>;
-}
-
 #[derive(Default, Debug)]
 struct MembersCount {
     members: i32,
@@ -184,7 +173,8 @@ async fn fetch_accounts(ctx: Arc<Context>){
     };
     let config = config_lock.read().await;
     let auth = &config.auth;
-    let url = format!("http://127.0.0.1:8087/ldap/discord?auth={}", auth);
+    let ldap_api = &config.ldap_api;
+    let url = format!("{}/ldap/discord?auth={}", ldap_api, auth);
     if let Ok(result) = surf::get(url).recv_json::<Vec<String>>().await {
         let members_lock = {
             let data_read = ctx.data.read().await;
@@ -197,14 +187,12 @@ async fn fetch_accounts(ctx: Arc<Context>){
 
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() {
-    // Configure the client with your Discord bot token in the environment.
-    //let token = env::var("DISCORD_TOKEN").expect("Expected a token in the environment");
-    let token = String::from("");
+    let config = get_config();
 
     // Intents are a bitflag, bitwise operations can be used to dictate which intents to use
     let intents = GatewayIntents::GUILDS | GatewayIntents::GUILD_MESSAGES | GatewayIntents::MESSAGE_CONTENT | GatewayIntents::GUILD_MEMBERS;
     // Build our client.
-    let mut client = Client::builder(token, intents)
+    let mut client = Client::builder(&config.discord_token, intents)
       .event_handler(Handler { is_loop_running: AtomicBool::new(false)})
       .await
       .expect("Error creating client");
@@ -218,15 +206,6 @@ async fn main() {
         // a list of all current members
         data.insert::<Members>(Arc::new(RwLock::new(vec![])));
 
-
-        let config = Config {
-            server: GuildId(957961810147938334),
-            member_role_current: RoleId::from(1144760670995370094),
-            member_role_past: RoleId::from(1144760548072886353),
-            auth: String::from("abcdef"),
-            timing_update: 30,
-            timing_fetch: 50,
-        };
         data.insert::<Config>(Arc::new(RwLock::new(config)));
     }
     
@@ -238,4 +217,64 @@ async fn main() {
     if let Err(why) = client.start().await {
         println!("Client error: {:?}", why);
     }
+}
+
+
+struct Config {
+    server: GuildId,
+    member_role_current: RoleId,
+    member_role_past: RoleId,
+    ldap_api: String,
+    auth: String,
+    timing_update: u64,
+    timing_fetch: u64,
+    discord_token: String,
+}
+impl TypeMapKey for Config {
+    type Value = Arc<RwLock<Config>>;
+}
+fn get_config() -> Config {
+    dotenv().ok();
+
+    // reasonable defaults
+    let mut config = Config {
+        server: Default::default(),
+        member_role_current: Default::default(),
+        member_role_past: Default::default(),
+        ldap_api: "https://api.account.skynet.ie".to_string(),
+        auth: "".to_string(),
+        timing_update: 0,
+        timing_fetch: 0,
+        discord_token: "".to_string(),
+    };
+
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("DISCORD_SERVER") {
+        config.server = GuildId::from(str_to_num::<u64>(&x));
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("DISCORD_ROLE_CURRENT") {
+        config.member_role_current = RoleId::from(str_to_num::<u64>(&x));
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("DISCORD_ROLE_PAST") {
+        config.member_role_past = RoleId::from(str_to_num::<u64>(&x));
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("LDAP_API") {
+        config.ldap_api = x.trim().to_string();
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("LDAP_DISCORD_AUTH") {
+        config.auth = x.trim().to_string();
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("DISCORD_TIMING_UPDATE") {
+        config.timing_update = str_to_num::<u64>(&x);
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("DISCORD_TIMING_FETCH") {
+        config.timing_fetch = str_to_num::<u64>(&x);
+    }
+    if let Ok(x) = env::var("DISCORD_TOKEN") {
+        config.discord_token = x.trim().to_string();
+    }
+    config
+}
+
+fn str_to_num<T: std::str::FromStr + Default>(x: &str) -> T {
+    x.trim().parse::<T>().unwrap_or_default()
 }
\ No newline at end of file