diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 1f86901..0000000
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-// For format details, see https://aka.ms/devcontainer.json. For config options, see the README at:
-// https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-dev-containers/tree/v0.238.0/containers/docker-existing-dockerfile
-{
-	"name": "Existing Dockerfile",
-
-	// Sets the run context to one level up instead of the .devcontainer folder.
-	"context": "..",
-
-	// Update the 'dockerFile' property if you aren't using the standard 'Dockerfile' filename.
-	"dockerFile": "../Dockerfile",
-	
-	// Add the IDs of extensions you want installed when the container is created.
-	"extensions": [
-		"ms-python.python"
-	],
-
-	// Install OS dependencies
-	"postCreateCommand": "apt-get update && apt -qq install -y sox && apt-get install -y libsox-fmt-all"
-}
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1c28a20..9a8b2b2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -153,22 +153,91 @@ dmypy.json
 cython_debug/
 
 # PyCharm
-#  JetBrains specific template is maintained in a separate JetBrains.gitignore that can
-#  be found at https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/Global/JetBrains.gitignore
-#  and can be added to the global gitignore or merged into this file.  For a more nuclear
-#  option (not recommended) you can uncomment the following to ignore the entire idea folder.
-.idea/
+# Covers JetBrains IDEs: IntelliJ, RubyMine, PhpStorm, AppCode, PyCharm, CLion, Android Studio, WebStorm and Rider
+# Reference: https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/articles/206544839
+
+# User-specific stuff
+.idea/**/workspace.xml
+.idea/**/tasks.xml
+.idea/**/usage.statistics.xml
+.idea/**/dictionaries
+.idea/**/shelf
+
+# AWS User-specific
+.idea/**/aws.xml
+
+# Generated files
+.idea/**/contentModel.xml
+
+# Sensitive or high-churn files
+.idea/**/dataSources/
+.idea/**/dataSources.ids
+.idea/**/dataSources.local.xml
+.idea/**/sqlDataSources.xml
+.idea/**/dynamic.xml
+.idea/**/uiDesigner.xml
+.idea/**/dbnavigator.xml
+
+# Gradle
+.idea/**/gradle.xml
+.idea/**/libraries
+
+# Gradle and Maven with auto-import
+# When using Gradle or Maven with auto-import, you should exclude module files,
+# since they will be recreated, and may cause churn.  Uncomment if using
+# auto-import.
+# .idea/artifacts
+# .idea/compiler.xml
+# .idea/jarRepositories.xml
+# .idea/modules.xml
+# .idea/*.iml
+# .idea/modules
+# *.iml
+# *.ipr
+
+# CMake
+cmake-build-*/
+
+# Mongo Explorer plugin
+.idea/**/mongoSettings.xml
+
+# File-based project format
+*.iws
+
+# IntelliJ
+out/
+
+# mpeltonen/sbt-idea plugin
+.idea_modules/
+
+# JIRA plugin
+atlassian-ide-plugin.xml
+
+# Cursive Clojure plugin
+.idea/replstate.xml
+
+# SonarLint plugin
+.idea/sonarlint/
+
+# Crashlytics plugin (for Android Studio and IntelliJ)
+com_crashlytics_export_strings.xml
+crashlytics.properties
+crashlytics-build.properties
+fabric.properties
+
+# Editor-based Rest Client
+.idea/httpRequests
+
+# Android studio 3.1+ serialized cache file
+.idea/caches/build_file_checksums.ser
 
 assets/
 out
 .DS_Store
 .setup-done-before
-assets/
 results/*
-.env
 reddit-bot-351418-5560ebc49cac.json
 /.idea
 *.pyc
 /video_creation/data/videos.json
-utils/envUpdate.py.old
-envVars.txt
\ No newline at end of file
+/video_creation/data/envvars.txt
diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 0d2e482..0000000
--- a/.vscode/launch.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "version": "0.2.0",
-    "configurations": [
-        {
-            "name": "Python: Main.py",
-            "type": "python",
-            "request": "launch",
-            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/main.py",
-            "console": "integratedTerminal",
-            "justMyCode": true
-        }
-    ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index bfb3ba3..6f478b1 100755
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -6,7 +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 utils.checker 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
diff --git a/utils/checker.py b/utils/checker.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0372514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/checker.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import os
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+from os import path
+from sys import platform
+
+ACCEPTABLE_TO_BE_LEFT_BLANK = ['RANDOM_THREAD', 'TIMES_TO_RUN']
+
+
+def envUpdate():
+    if path.exists(".env.template"):  # if .env.template exists and .env does not exist
+        if platform == "win32" or platform == "cygwin":
+            runPS('utils/scripts/FileGrabber.ps1')
+            with open(".\\video_creation\\data\\envvars.txt", "rb") as f:
+                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, )
+        else:
+            raise OSError("Unsupported platform")
+    elif path.exists(".env"):
+        if platform == "win32" or platform == "cygwin":
+            runPS('utils/scripts/FileGrabberenv.ps1')
+            with open(".\\video_creation\\data\\envvars.txt", "rb") as f:
+                envTemplate = f.read()
+        elif platform == "darwin" or platform == "linux":
+            envTemplate = subprocess.check_output("awk -F '=' 'NF {print $1}' .env | grep --regexp=^[a-zA-Z]",
+                                                  shell=True, )
+        else:
+            raise OSError("Unsupported platform")
+    else:
+        raise FileNotFoundError("No .env or .env.template file found")
+    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:
+            if str(env) in ACCEPTABLE_TO_BE_LEFT_BLANK:
+                continue
+            isMissingEnvs = True
+            missing.append(env)
+
+    if isMissingEnvs:
+        printstr = ''
+        [printstr + str(var) for var in missing]
+        print(f"The following environment variables are missing: {printstr}. Please add them to the .env file.")
+        exit(-1)
+
+
+def runPS(cmd):
+    completed = subprocess.run(["powershell", "-Command", cmd], capture_output=True)
+    return completed
diff --git a/utils/envUpdate.py b/utils/envUpdate.py
deleted file mode 100644
index f225419..0000000
--- a/utils/envUpdate.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
-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 $1}' .env.template | grep --regexp=^[a-zA-Z]",
-                shell=True,
-            )
-            return
-        tempEnv = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
-        tempEnv.write(envTemplate)
-        tempEnv.seek(0)
-        envVars = tempEnv.readlines()
-
-    missing = []
-    isMissingEnvs = False
-    for env in envVars:
-        try:
-            env = env.decode("utf-8").strip()
-        except AttributeError:
-            env = env.strip()
-
-        if env not in os.environ:
-            isMissingEnvs = True
-            missing.append(env)
-
-    if isMissingEnvs:
-        log.error(
-            f"[ERROR] The following environment variables are missing: {missing}.)"
-        )
-        exit(-1)
-
-def runPS(cmd):
-    completed = subprocess.run(["powershell", "-Command", cmd], capture_output=True)
-    return completed
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/utils/scripts/FileGrabber.ps1 b/utils/scripts/FileGrabber.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a820d2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/scripts/FileGrabber.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+$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 ".\video_creation\data\envvars.txt"
+Remove-Item ".\envVarsbefSpl.txt"
+Remove-Item ".\envVarsN.txt"
+
+Write-Host $nowSplit
diff --git a/utils/envUpdateWin.ps1 b/utils/scripts/FileGrabberenv.ps1
similarity index 77%
rename from utils/envUpdateWin.ps1
rename to utils/scripts/FileGrabberenv.ps1
index 1eb8f64..ffb021b 100644
--- a/utils/envUpdateWin.ps1
+++ b/utils/scripts/FileGrabberenv.ps1
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-$envFile = Get-Content ".\.env.template" 
+$envFile = Get-Content ".\.env"
 
 $envFile -split "=" | Where-Object {$_ -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"
+Get-Content ".\envVarsN.txt" | Where-Object {$_ -ne ''} | Set-Content ".\video_creation\data\envvars.txt"
 Remove-Item ".\envVarsbefSpl.txt"
 Remove-Item ".\envVarsN.txt"
 
-Write-Host $nowSplit
\ No newline at end of file
+Write-Host $nowSplit
diff --git a/video_creation/data/.gitignore b/video_creation/data/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index a8731e5..0000000
--- a/video_creation/data/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-videos.json
- #todo add videos on github