diff --git a/.rbenv-vars.template b/.rbenv-vars.template
deleted file mode 100644
index 8c4a4763..00000000
--- a/.rbenv-vars.template
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-ADMIN_EMAILS=
-BREVO_API_KEY=
-GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
-GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=
-SMTP_PASSWORD=
-STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=
-TELEGRAM_TOKEN=
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a4c789ba..282fe86f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,9 +43,6 @@ npm install
 docker compose up -d
 rails db:setup
 
-# setup local env vars
-cp .rbenv-vars.template .rbenv-vars
-
 # launch the server
 bin/dev
 
@@ -55,8 +52,18 @@ export API_URL=http://localhost:3001/api
 cherry backfill --api-key=28ea02ee-c6e5-4e5f-b2b6-690c4cd6ca2f # Copy command from http://localhost:3001/user/projects
 ```
 
-> The env vars step above assumes you're using the rbenv-vars plugin. If you don't have it installed, check their docs
-> [here](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv-vars) or use an alternative method to load your environment variables.
+> Secrets are stored in `config/credentials.yml.enc`. To decrypt them you need `config/master.key` (or the
+> `RAILS_MASTER_KEY` env var) — ask a maintainer for it.
+
+### Heroku shortcuts (parity)
+
+The [`parity`](https://github.com/thoughtbot/parity) gem provides shortcuts like `production console`,
+`production logs`, and `development restore production` to sync the prod database into dev. It expects a git remote
+named after each environment:
+
+```sh
+heroku git:remote -r production -a cherrypush-production
+```
 
 ## Contributing
 
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 857dfd65..69b89c1b 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@
         "prettier-plugin-erb": "^0.4.0",
         "vite": "^6.2.3",
         "vite-plugin-ruby": "^5.0.0"
+      },
+      "engines": {
+        "node": "20.x"
       }
     },
     "node_modules/@aashutoshrathi/word-wrap": {