diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5a6c722f..2debae3a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ This repo contains a docker-compose environment that will run the following comp
 
 # Quick start
 
-1. Install Docker if you don't have it already, see [here](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/)
+1. Install Docker if you don't have it already, see [here](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/). It will also be helpful to get Docker Desktop to manage the different containers. In addition, ensure you have python installed (version not later than 3.11.9).
+
 2. Check out the Data Recipes AI GitHub repo
 
     Go to the [repo](https://github.com/datakind/data-recipes-ai) in Github, and click the big green '<> Code' button. This provides a few options, you can download a zip file, or check the code out with git. If you have Git installed, a common method would be ...
@@ -125,7 +126,9 @@ This repo contains a docker-compose environment that will run the following comp
 
 7. Restart so the assistant ID is set, `docker compose up -d`
 
-8. Go to [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/) and sign-in using the values in your `.env` file for `USER_LOGIN` and `USER_PASSWORD`
+8. Go to [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/). 
+
+9. It will also be helpful to have a database tool like [DBeaver](https://dbeaver.io) to access and interact with your data and recipes. 
 
 ## Stoping/Starting the environment
 
@@ -135,6 +138,8 @@ The steps above are mostly one-time. Going forward you only need to stop and sta
 - To start the environment `docker compose up -d`, then go to [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/)
 - To start with rebuild `docker compose up -d --build` (for more details about development, see [CONTRIBUTION](CONTRIBUTION.md))
 
+You can also do the above through Docker Desktop.
+
 ## Using Recipes
 
 We are in a phase of research to identify and improve recipes, but for now the system comes with some basic examples to illustrate. To find out the list, enter "Get all recipes" in the chat interface.