diff --git a/{{copier__project_name}}/.envrc.example b/{{copier__project_name}}/.envrc.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b607f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{copier__project_name}}/.envrc.example
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=dummyAccessKeyId
+export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=dummySecretAccessKey
+export AWS_REGION={{copier__aws_region}}
diff --git a/{{copier__project_name}}/.gitignore b/{{copier__project_name}}/.gitignore
index 6b7d724..9aabe9e 100644
--- a/{{copier__project_name}}/.gitignore
+++ b/{{copier__project_name}}/.gitignore
@@ -252,3 +252,6 @@ $RECYCLE.BIN/
 
 # Ignore build folder
 .aws-sam/
+
+.direnv
+.envrc
diff --git a/{{copier__project_name}}/Makefile b/{{copier__project_name}}/Makefile
index 4e5a403..f9b4a72 100644
--- a/{{copier__project_name}}/Makefile
+++ b/{{copier__project_name}}/Makefile
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@ create-table:
 
 setup: dynamo-up wait-for-dynamodb create-table{% else %}
 setup:
-	pip install -r requirements.txt{% endif %}
+	pip install -r requirements.txt{% endif %}; \
+	cp -n .envrc.example .envrc
 
 test:
 	AWS_SAM_STACK_NAME=$(STACK_NAME) PYTHONPATH=. uv run --with pytest,boto3,requests,pytest-mock pytest -v --disable-warnings --tb=short tests