diff --git a/documentation/docs/.env.example b/documentation/docs/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2ed3461d68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/docs/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/documentation/docs/.gitignore b/documentation/docs/.gitignore
index 46f9bd0984..515d7fce8d 100644
--- a/documentation/docs/.gitignore
+++ b/documentation/docs/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,7 @@ out
 
 # the lock file will break Vercel because it may get committed from a machine with a different build architecture
 package-lock.json
+
+# local env files
+.env*.local
+.env
\ No newline at end of file