diff --git a/.env.template b/.env.template
index 173bacf..c94fa6a 100644
--- a/.env.template
+++ b/.env.template
@@ -36,4 +36,4 @@ VOICE="Matthew" # e.g. en_us_002
 TTsChoice="polly" # todo add docs
 
 # IN-PROGRESS - not yet implemented
-STORYMODE="False"
+STORYMODE="False"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2701ca5..1c28a20 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -169,4 +169,6 @@ results/*
 reddit-bot-351418-5560ebc49cac.json
 /.idea
 *.pyc
-/video_creation/data/videos.json
\ No newline at end of file
+/video_creation/data/videos.json
+utils/envUpdate.py.old
+envVars.txt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index b4e1123..bfb3ba3 100755
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from os import getenv, name
 from reddit.subreddit import get_subreddit_threads
 from utils.cleanup import cleanup
 from utils.console import print_markdown, print_step
+from utils.envUpdate import envUpdate
 from video_creation.background import download_background, chop_background_video
 from video_creation.final_video import make_final_video
 from video_creation.screenshot_downloader import download_screenshots_of_reddit_posts
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ reddit2fa = getenv("REDDIT_2FA")
 
 
 def main():
+    envUpdate()
     cleanup()
 
     def get_obj():
diff --git a/utils/envUpdate.py b/utils/envUpdate.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f225419
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/envUpdate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import os
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import logging
+
+from os import path
+from sys import platform, stderr
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+def envUpdate():
+    if path.exists(".env.template"):
+        if platform == "win32" or platform == "cygwin":
+            runPS('utils\envUpdateWin.ps1')
+            f = open("envVars.txt", "rb")
+            envTemplate = f.read()
+        elif platform == "darwin" or platform == "linux":
+            envTemplate = subprocess.check_output(
+                "awk -F '=' 'NF {print $1}' .env.template | grep --regexp=^[a-zA-Z]",
+                shell=True,
+            )
+            return
+        tempEnv = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
+        tempEnv.write(envTemplate)
+        tempEnv.seek(0)
+        envVars = tempEnv.readlines()
+
+    missing = []
+    isMissingEnvs = False
+    for env in envVars:
+        try:
+            env = env.decode("utf-8").strip()
+        except AttributeError:
+            env = env.strip()
+
+        if env not in os.environ:
+            isMissingEnvs = True
+            missing.append(env)
+
+    if isMissingEnvs:
+        log.error(
+            f"[ERROR] The following environment variables are missing: {missing}.)"
+        )
+        exit(-1)
+
+def runPS(cmd):
+    completed = subprocess.run(["powershell", "-Command", cmd], capture_output=True)
+    return completed
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/utils/envUpdateWin.ps1 b/utils/envUpdateWin.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1eb8f64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/envUpdateWin.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+$envFile = Get-Content ".\.env.template" 
+
+$envFile -split "=" | Where-Object {$_ -notmatch '\"'} | Set-Content ".\envVarsbefSpl.txt"
+Get-Content ".\envVarsbefSpl.txt" | Where-Object {$_ -notmatch '\#'} | Set-Content ".\envVarsN.txt"
+Get-Content ".\envVarsN.txt" | Where-Object {$_ -ne ''} | Set-Content ".\envVars.txt"
+Remove-Item ".\envVarsbefSpl.txt"
+Remove-Item ".\envVarsN.txt"
+
+Write-Host $nowSplit
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