diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e4862a1..7e40a20 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ cd agent-starter-python
 uv sync
 ```
 
-Set up the environment by copying `.env.example` to `.env` and filling in the required values:
+Set up the environment by copying `.env.example` to `.env.local` and filling in the required values:
 
 - `LIVEKIT_URL`: Use [LiveKit Cloud](https://cloud.livekit.io/) or [run your own](https://docs.livekit.io/home/self-hosting/)
 - `LIVEKIT_API_KEY`
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Set up the environment by copying `.env.example` to `.env` and filling in the re
 You can load the LiveKit environment automatically using the [LiveKit CLI](https://docs.livekit.io/home/cli/cli-setup):
 
 ```bash
-lk app env -w .env
+lk app env -w .env.local
 ```
 
 ## Run the agent
diff --git a/src/agent.py b/src/agent.py
index 99039ad..e49c386 100644
--- a/src/agent.py
+++ b/src/agent.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ from livekit.plugins.turn_detector.multilingual import MultilingualModel
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("agent")
 
-load_dotenv()
+load_dotenv(".env.local")
 
 
 class Assistant(Agent):
diff --git a/taskfile.yaml b/taskfile.yaml
index 882a5de..e8900d9 100644
--- a/taskfile.yaml
+++ b/taskfile.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 version: "3"
 output: interleaved
-dotenv: [".env"]
+dotenv: [".env.local"]
 
 tasks:
   post_create: