diff --git a/.env_sample b/.env_sample
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5181d91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env_sample
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+SENDGRID_API_KEY='<INSERT YOUR API KEY HERE>';
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e42f508..53e3aae 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# environment variables
+.env
+
 # Logs
 logs
 *.log
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aa8ec03..613b59a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,16 @@ All updates to this library are documented in our [CHANGELOG](https://github.com
 
 - Node.js version 0.10, 0.12 or 4
 
+You need to have a API key to use the app. To configure the API key in the environment variables follow these steps.
+ - create .env file in the root directory of the project.
+ - Copy the contents of .env_sample file in to the .env file
+ - Once you have obtained the API key, find the environment variable SENDGRID_API_KEY and assign your API key as it's value.
+ As an example it should look like this
+ ```
+ SENDGRID_API_KEY='<YOUR_API_KEY>';
+ ```
+
+
 ## Install Package
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/lib/client.js b/lib/client.js
index 78d98c3..ad954c1 100644
--- a/lib/client.js
+++ b/lib/client.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict'
 
+require('dotenv').config();
 var https = require('https')
 var http = require('http')
 var queryString = require('querystring')
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5b1eda0..0dbc2b6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
   "engines": {
     "node": ">= 0.10"
   },
-  "dependencies": {},
+  "dependencies": {
+    "dotenv": "^4.0.0"
+  },
   "devDependencies": {
     "chai": "^3.5.0",
     "eslint": "^2.7.0",