diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2eea525d885
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c0af8ca0dda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+{
+    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
+    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
+    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
+    "version": "0.2.0",
+    "configurations": [
+        {
+            "name": "Danswer backend",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "module": "uvicorn",
+            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/backend",
+            "env": {
+                "LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG",
+                "DISABLE_AUTH": "True",
+                "TYPESENSE_API_KEY": "typesense_api_key",
+                "DYNAMIC_CONFIG_DIR_PATH": "./dynamic_config_storage",
+            },
+            "args": [
+                "danswer.main:app",
+                "--reload",
+                "--port",
+                "8080"
+            ]
+        },
+        {
+            "name": "Danswer indexer",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "danswer/background/update.py",
+            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/backend",
+            "env": {
+                "LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG",
+                "PYTHONPATH": ".",
+                "TYPESENSE_API_KEY": "typesense_api_key",
+                "DYNAMIC_CONFIG_DIR_PATH": "./dynamic_config_storage",
+            },
+        },
+        {
+            "name": "Danswer temp files deletion",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "danswer/background/file_deletion.py",
+            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/backend",
+            "env": {
+                "LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG",
+                "PYTHONPATH": "${workspaceFolder}/backend",
+            },
+        },
+        // For the listner to access the Slack API,
+        // DANSWER_BOT_SLACK_APP_TOKEN & DANSWER_BOT_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN need to be set in .env file located in the root of the project
+        {
+            "name": "Danswer slack bot listener",
+            "type": "python",
+            "request": "launch",
+            "program": "danswer/listeners/slack_listener.py",
+            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/backend",
+            "envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.env",
+            "env": {
+                "LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG",
+                "PYTHONPATH": ".",
+            },
+        }
+    ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/.gitignore b/backend/.gitignore
index 29c7cf8c484..8fcbadd18a9 100644
--- a/backend/.gitignore
+++ b/backend/.gitignore
@@ -5,4 +5,5 @@ site_crawls/
 api_keys.py
 *ipynb
 qdrant-data/
-typesense-data/
\ No newline at end of file
+typesense-data/
+.env
\ No newline at end of file