diff --git a/image_app_simple/README.md b/image_app_simple/README.md
index 5915a12..bfecd3b 100644
--- a/image_app_simple/README.md
+++ b/image_app_simple/README.md
@@ -4,25 +4,10 @@ This example shows an interface for a text-to-image model. The user enters a des
 
 ![Screenshot](screenshot.png)
 
-
-This app requires setting REPLICATE_API_KEY as a variable in the Railway project or as an environment variable for running locally.
+This app requires setting `REPLICATE_API_KEY` as a variable in the Railway project or as an environment variable for running locally: `REPLICATE_API_KEY=<your_api_key> python main.py`
 
 **WARNING**: Deploying this publically will 1) let anyone see all images generated and 2) let anyone generate images (using up your replicate credits). We recommend NOT doing this! See the `image_app_session_credits` example for one that adds usage limits and the ability for users to donate "credits" to the public pool.
 
-If you want to try with a free alternative to Replicate, you can use the Pollinations API (for now) with:
-
-```python
-# URL (for image generation)  
-def get_url(prompt): 
-    return f"https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/{prompt.replace(' ', '%20')}?model=flux&width=1024&height=1024&seed=42&nologo=true&enhance=true"
-
-...
-
-@threaded
-def generate_and_save(prompt, id, folder):
-    full_url = get_url(prompt)
-    Image.open(requests.get(full_url, stream=True).raw).save(f"{folder}/{id}.png")
-    return True
-```
+If you want to try with a free alternative to Replicate, you can use the Pollinations API (for now) and not having to specify the Replicate API key: `python main.py` 
 
 (Thanks to [Zaseem](https://github.com/Zaseem-BIsquared) for the suggestion!)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/image_app_simple/main.py b/image_app_simple/main.py
index 1ffdc91..190f72b 100644
--- a/image_app_simple/main.py
+++ b/image_app_simple/main.py
@@ -5,11 +5,44 @@
 
 
 # Replicate setup (for generating images)
-replicate_api_token = os.environ['REPLICATE_API_KEY']
-client = replicate.Client(api_token=replicate_api_token)  
+replicate_api_token = os.getenv('REPLICATE_API_KEY', None)
+
+if replicate_api_token:
+    client = replicate.Client(api_token=replicate_api_token)
+
+    # Generate an image and save it to the folder (in a separate thread)
+    @threaded
+    def generate_and_save(prompt, id, folder):
+        output = client.run(
+            "playgroundai/playground-v2.5-1024px-aesthetic:a45f82a1382bed5c7aeb861dac7c7d191b0fdf74d8d57c4a0e6ed7d4d0bf7d24",
+            input={
+                "width": 1024,"height": 1024,"prompt": prompt,"scheduler": "DPMSolver++",
+                "num_outputs": 1,"guidance_scale": 3,"apply_watermark": True,
+                "negative_prompt": "ugly, deformed, noisy, blurry, distorted",
+                "prompt_strength": 0.8, "num_inference_steps": 25
+            }
+        )
+        Image.open(requests.get(output[0], stream=True).raw).save(f"{folder}/{id}.png")
+        return True
+
+    print("Replicate client initialized")
+
+else:
+    # URL (for image generation)  
+    def get_url(prompt):
+        return f"https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/{prompt.replace(' ', '%20')}?model=flux&width=1024&height=1024&seed=42&nologo=true&enhance=true"
+
+    @threaded
+    def generate_and_save(prompt, id, folder):
+        full_url = get_url(prompt)
+        Image.open(requests.get(full_url, stream=True).raw).save(f"{folder}/{id}.png")
+        return True
+
+    print(f"No Replicate API Key. Use Pollinations API (for now) for image generation")
+
 
 # gens database for storing generated image details
-tables = database('data/gens.db').t
+tables = database('data/gens.db')
 gens = tables.t.gens
 if not gens in tables.t:
     gens.create(prompt=str, id=int, folder=str, pk='id')
@@ -63,19 +96,5 @@ def post(prompt:str):
     clear_input =  Input(id="new-prompt", name="prompt", placeholder="Enter a prompt", hx_swap_oob='true')
     return generation_preview(g), clear_input
 
-# Generate an image and save it to the folder (in a separate thread)
-@threaded
-def generate_and_save(prompt, id, folder):
-    output = client.run(
-        "playgroundai/playground-v2.5-1024px-aesthetic:a45f82a1382bed5c7aeb861dac7c7d191b0fdf74d8d57c4a0e6ed7d4d0bf7d24",
-        input={
-            "width": 1024,"height": 1024,"prompt": prompt,"scheduler": "DPMSolver++",
-            "num_outputs": 1,"guidance_scale": 3,"apply_watermark": True,
-            "negative_prompt": "ugly, deformed, noisy, blurry, distorted",
-            "prompt_strength": 0.8, "num_inference_steps": 25
-        }
-    )
-    Image.open(requests.get(output[0], stream=True).raw).save(f"{folder}/{id}.png")
-    return True
 
 if __name__ == '__main__': uvicorn.run("main:app", host='0.0.0.0', port=int(os.getenv("PORT", default=5000)))