diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c18dd8d..92afa22 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 __pycache__/
+venv/
diff --git a/pre-devel.sh b/pre-devel.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3a646e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pre-devel.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# source this file before beginning development on this repo
+# create the venv by running this at the project root:
+# python3 -m venv venv
+. venv/bin/activate
+
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..794cc3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+openpyxl