docs/README.md

@@ -46,11 +46,23 @@ Then run from the command line:
 
 ## Configuration
 These are the configuration parameters for the program:
-- Canvas API URL
-- Canvas API key
-- Canvas User ID
+- Canvas API URL - this is the URL of your institution, for example `https://example.instructure.com`
+- Canvas API key - this can be created by going to Canvas and navigating to `Account` > `Settings` > `Approved Integrations` > `New Access Token`
+- Canvas User ID - this can be found at `https://example.instructure.com/api/v1/users/self` in the `id` field
 - Directory in which to download course information to (will be created if not present)
 - List of Course IDs that should be skipped
 
+### Loading credentials from a file
+To avoid manually entering credentials every time you run the program, you can create a `credentials.yaml` file in the same directory as the script that has the following fields:
+
+```yaml
+API_URL: < URL of your institution >
+API_KEY: < API Key from Canvas >
+USER_ID: < User ID from Canvas >
+```
+
+You can then run the script as normal:
+`python export.py`
+
 # Contribute
 I would love to see this script's functionality expanded and improved! I welcome all pull requests :) Thank you!