diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..200463c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Ignore virtual environment
+venv/
+env/
+
+# Python cache and compiled files
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*.pyo
+
+# Editor/IDE settings
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+
+# Environment variables
+.env
+*.env
+
+# MacOS/Linux/Windows system files
+.DS_Store
+Thumbs.db
+
+# Logs and database files
+*.log
+*.sqlite3
+
+# Jupyter Notebooks checkpoints (if using)
+.ipynb_checkpoints/
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a804e93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# FastAPI stack (optional — keep if you're using it too)
+fastapi==0.111.0
+uvicorn[standard]==0.30.1
+
+# Flask (add-on or alternative)
+Flask==3.0.3
+
+# MongoDB async driver
+motor==3.4.0
+
+# Web3 interaction
+web3==6.18.0
+
+# IPFS client (optional)
+ipfshttpclient==0.8.0a2
+
+# Env var support
+python-dotenv==1.0.1
+
+# Pydantic for validation
+pydantic==2.7.1
+
+# Auth & password hashing
+python-jose==3.3.0
+passlib[bcrypt]==1.7.4
+
+# HTTP requests
+requests==2.32.3