diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae930a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Copy this file to `.env` and adjust variables as needed
+# URL of your LLM agent
+LLM_AGENT_URL=http://localhost:8000
+# URL of the WhatsApp gateway
+OPEN_WA_URL=https://whatsappbot.interno.com/
+# Optional custom ports
+PORT=3000
+ROUTER_PORT=3001
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c6b3a5e..4c21306 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: sync-from-github sync-to-github
+.PHONY: sync-from-github sync-to-github chat router
 
 # Pull latest changes from the GitHub mirror and push them to Gitea
 sync-from-github:
@@ -8,3 +8,13 @@ sync-from-github:
 # Push local changes to the GitHub mirror
 sync-to-github:
 	git push github main
+
+# Start the chat UI locally (uses variables from .env if present)
+chat:
+	@set -a; [ -f .env ] && . .env || true; set +a; \
+	cd chat-ui && npm install && npm run build && npm start
+
+# Start the WhatsApp router locally (uses variables from .env if present)
+router:
+	@set -a; [ -f .env ] && . .env || true; set +a; \
+	cd whatsapp-router && npm install && npm run build && npm start
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c579a24..9b612c2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,3 +19,12 @@ docker-compose up --build
 ```
 
 The chat UI will be available on [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000). Open-wa exposes its API on port `8080` and the WhatsApp router listens on port `3001`.
+Alternatively you can run the chat UI and router locally using Make:
+
+```bash
+make chat     # start chat-ui
+make router   # start whatsapp-router
+```
+
+Both targets read configuration from a `.env` file if it exists (see `.env.example`).
+